about the vicious cycle of crime.
He applied for and was hired by a public service organization to coordinate an
educational program. He knew that, if he ran it correctly, he would be able to reduce
the overall recidivism rate and help his community.
His first day on the job, he was confronted by an evil inmate at the county jail.
He asked the evil inmate if he would be willing to work hard in the classes that he
intended to set up at the jail. The evil inmate snarled, "Blow it out your bagpipes!"
The well-meaning prison activist decided that he would have no part of this and
informed the professional deputy sheriff, who moved the evil inmate to the
non-threatening area of the jail.
The well-meaning prison activist decided that he would simply not tolerate additional
belligerence from evil inmates. Although he knew that over 80 percent of all of the
inmates had substance abuse issues, he would limit his educational classes to those that
did not have limited attention spans and recuperation problems. "Only those who
want to learn will attend my classes," he said. He ignored the question that was
brought before him, "What are we going to give those with limited attention spans who
cannot tolerate an entire two-hour class?" "I only want those who want to learn!" he
said.
Months later, the classes dwindled to minimal size and the public service organization
volunteers left. Crime in the community continued to rise and the citizens became
terrified. Meanwhile, the well-meaning prison activist continued to assert that he would
punish any evil inmate or volunteer that questioned his authority in managing his
educational program.
Eventually, the well-meaning prison activist realized that crime was on the rampage in
his community and that he had done more harm than good. He was forced to leave in
shame, knowing that evil inmates with substance abuse and attention span problems
had been released and were committing more crime.
The moral of this story is if you intend to be a well-meaning prison activist, you should
be a well-informed one.
Michael Anderson 10/17/03
http://www.michaelsopinionpage.com
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