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| A
failed system |
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| For
addicts, prison is the wrong cure
for the wrong problem |
| interview
by Chris LaRoche |
“It’s
a process of elimination” Esther
Flowers, 49, is currently unemployed
and living in Renton.
Real Change:
What’s your story? Describe your
first interactions with the law.
Esther Flowers:
I was addicted to crack, which lead
to homelessness and crime. As my
addiction got worst, so did my criminal
activities. My first conviction
was for theft- I stole clothes because
I was cold. There was an assault
charge because I was protecting
myself because I was homeless. I
even turned to prostitution to get
money for my addiction. During this
time, they never addressed the issue:
my drug addiction. They threw me
into jail because of theft, but
they never addressed the issue.
They never gave me any treatment
for my drug addiction. Sure, they’d
tell me to go to a “drug counseling
class”, but those things are a joke.
RC:
How did you escape it?
Flowers: Things
got so horrible — this cycle of
addiction, homelessness and incarceration
— it just got to be too much. My
family tried to help but got tired
of it and gave up on me. I was failing
everything. I even attempted suicide
a couple times. Once they even brought
me back to life at Harborview! After
that, I just broke down and cried
and surrendered myself to God. That’s
when I turned it around. And thanks
to God giving me strength, I never
looked back.
RC: Did the
system help you turn it around?
Flowers: No, I
had no help. I was getting GA-U
(General Assistance - Unemployable),
but it was a catch-22: either stay
on GA-U, struggle with $339/month
for a year and try going to school
or work making $10/hr. I chose work.
If I had to do it over again, I
would’ve stuck it out and gone to
school.
RC:
How is your son in the same cycle?
Flowers: He’s been
a drug addict now for 15 years.
He started when he was 16 years
old. Because of my condition, he
lived with foster parents. He was
in and out of homes and not very
stable. He started smoking crack
in high school, quickly became addicted
and started this cycle of homelessness.
His folder now is four inches thick.
He’s institutionalized — he’s more
comfortable in the prisons than
out. He’s got a bed, three meals
a day, he can get drugs, all his
friends are inside the system. So
why should he want to leave? I’ve
begged them for treatment, that
they treat his drug addiction. I’ve
begged them, but they don’t want
to address the problem. They don’t
want to address his addiction. They
just want to throw him back in prison.
I’ve asked counselors in the prison
to prepare him for some sort of
life-skills, but they don’t. They
do “job preparation,” but how does
that work for someone who never
had a job and is addicted to drugs?
I would like them to develop a real
life-skills type of course. When
they can see a pattern of drug abuse
and institutionalization, they need
to attack that problem, not just
a basic drug and alcohol class.
They need to tackle the deep-rooted
issue through extensive one-on-one
counseling. And not just for a month
or two or a year, but until the
issue is resolved, however long
it takes.
RC: He does
drugs in prison?
Flowers: I can
tell you from personal experience,
that you can get drugs, cigarettes,
anything, in jail. Another example
of how flawed things are: once my
son was sent to a work release house
in a major drug area in Miller Park,
just off of Madison. I was sitting
with him there on the front porch,
and 30 feet away from us people
are buying and smoking dope. I could
tell that it made him very nervous.
It made me upset too. Why have him
there? He lasted four days. He got
there on a Monday and was gone on
Thursday. He started smoking drugs
again and broke his parole. I called
up his PO and said they could find
my son downtown at his same spot
using drugs. It took them three
months to go get him. All the police
and detectives know what he looks
like. They all know him by face
and personally by name. But they
let him stay down there and smoke
dope and live on the streets for
three months.
RC: Do the
judges show any sympathy?
Flowers: No! He’s
31 now. This issue has been going
since he was 16 years old. So when
he has a file that is four inches
thick, and you can see he’s been
on this merry-go-round since he
was 16, and you see it’s drug related,
and you hear a parent who after
15 years is still pleading to deal
with the drug problem and not just
lock him up, what do you do? All
they do is shrug their shoulders.
RC: Not even
concern?
Flowers: None.
The drug problem is just not addressed.
A few years later, he’ll get out
and there won’t be a treatment program.
They just release him to the streets,
to the parole officer’s address.
RC:
So if he doesn’t have a home, they
just release him to the PO’s address?
Flowers: Yes.
RC:
Nothing else?
Flowers: They’ll
try finding him a shelter to live
in, but the shelters are all in
the drug-infested area. How long
is that person going to last? Maybe
two days, then they’re on the streets
again.
RC:
Where’s your son right now?
Flowers: He’s in
Stafford Creek [Corrections
Center, in Aberdeen] for another
six months. He got out last September
and was incarcerated again three
months later. He’ll get out and
get another PO who’ll find him a
shelter, most likely in the Downtown
Emergency Service Center, in his
familiar area where he smokes dope.
He’ll last there probably less than
a week. It’s going to be the same
thing. Nothing’s been addressed.
RC:
How would you characterize the criminal
justice system based on your experience?
Flowers: The criminal
justice system is failing. But I
believe they’re doing what they
want to do, what they are designed
to do: fail the poor, the addicts,
the homeless, and cast them out
of society. It’s a process of elimination:
they have the power to eliminate
you, if need be, or you can end
up eliminating yourself. Whichever
one you want to do.
RC:
What would you like to see instead?
Flowers: The system
cannot overlook the severity and
the great number of people who are
addicted, homeless and mentally
ill. Don’t overlook it, attack THAT
problem, instead of just throwing
people into prison. Everyone has
to suffer the consequences of their
crimes, but if you keep overlooking
the problem, it’s not going to be
solved. And the system is overlooking
it. There is funding, there is government
money, but it’s being wasted. The
whole issue is helping people. Let’s
put some funding towards ending
homelessness, treatment centers
and drug habilitation. Let’s put
more money in sending people to
school. Put money into helping people,
not just building more penitentiaries.
If you don’t start putting more
funding towards people, addictions,
homelessness, and crime will continue
to get worse. Put more money into
training POs. The ones I’ve talked
to need a whole lot of training.
They don’t know what’s going on
in the streets. The only thing they
see are a pen and a paper and why
someone is getting out of prison.
Let’s give the POs more avenues
to go through to help a particular
individual. Let’s cut their loads
a little. One PO came to my house
for a home visit for my son, and
he noticed through his file that
my son had been in jail since he
was 16 years old. He realized and
sympathized with me. But he said
that his caseload was so large that
he could not look at each case individually.
That’s kind of defeating the purpose!
But maybe that’s asking too much
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