Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 15, 1993 TAG: 9304150462
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
PREVENTING CRIME - AND DISEASE
IN THE March 30 issue of the Roanoke Times & World-News, there were two printed items regarding our state's current practice of criminal rehabilitation and incarceration.The recent escape at the Juvenile Detention Home in Coyner Springs was due to overcrowding, which is problematic, as is overcrowding in the city jail, Roanoke County jail and other outlying area jails. From a public-health perspective, this overcrowding presents a dilemma for the practice of preventing the spread of tuberculosis at a time when the resurgence of the disease is partly linked to improperly maintained corrections facilities.
The city's current proposal to spend in excess of $6 million to build to incarcerate these individuals falls short of addressing the primary issue, which is to prevent the need for incarcerating youth and adults and to develop programs and interventions for prevention.
A Catawba resident suggested in her March 30 letter to the editor that the inmates build their own jails as a means to develop employable skills during their incarceration. The detention-home director appropriately pointed out that the bricks-and-mortar project was not a comprehensive solution to the criminal issues in the city. The health-care system model would also remind us that procedures such as cardiac bypass are an excellent intervention to the preventable problem of arteriosclerosis and coronary artery disease, but improved lifestyle behavior of an individual is a much more appropriate solution to coronary artery disease that riddles our country.
The budgets for Medicaid and the Virginia Department of Corrections are the two largest expenditures in the commonwealth. Both systems' expenditures are problem-focused and not prevention-focused. I am hoping our community can come together and begin studying the root causes of rising crime rates and increasing needs for incarceration of youths and adults.
I encourage citizens to become involved with their local criminal-justice programs as advisory board members and help develop the solutions that will prevent criminal behavior. Our cures are clearly not working and we desperately need to improve our system. MOLLY L. HAGAN, M.D. Director, Alleghany Health District FINCASTLE