Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Thursday, December 27, 2007
La Crosse County plan makes sense for female jail inmates
La Crosse County’s proposal to offer more services to women jail inmates — and to deal with them through electronic monitoring and in a halfway house rather than in jail — has caught the attention of “men’s rights” advocates throughout the nation.
They are flooding the Tribune with e-mails about what a disgusting idea this is, and how it will result in violent women being released on the community. You can read their comments on Tribune county government reporter Reid Magney’s blog at www.rivervalleyblogs.com/magney.
Unfortunately for some of the claims made in the e-mails, this proposal does not deal with violent women. In the case of women with violent tendencies, from which the community needs protection, there still would be incarceration.
The vast majority of the 20 to 25 women in the La Crosse County Jail are there for property crimes or drug abuse.
While most women inmates are not necessarily threats to community safety, they have all sorts of issues and needs. That’s why the county is looking for opportunities to provide programming and treatment to allow these women to deal with their problems and get skills that they need to get by in the world.
About 15 of the average 20 to 25 women could be handled through electronic monitoring. But there also is a subset of the jailed female population that has been through domestic abuse and does not have a home or a place from which electronic monitoring would be appropriate.
For that population, county officials are considering developing a halfway house where the women could live.
La Crosse County also needs to do a better job with men who have anger management, drug abuse and other issues. There needs to be more of an effort to deal with the root causes of behavior that lead to arrest and either incarceration or supervision.
But this proposal to deal with women in the criminal justice system through release and monitoring is a step forward.
So, curb your hysteria. We’re not talking about the release of “Bonnie and Clyde”-style offenders.
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