‘What we do doesn’t work’: As warden,
he tried to radically change the culture of
Alaska’s maximum-security prison. It led to his exit.
Alaska Daily News,
by
Michelle Theriault Boots
Original Article
Posted By: John C,
3/6/2020 8:11:32 PM
SEWARD — Bill Lapinskas started working at Alaska’s only maximum-security prison when he was a young man, just a few years out of high school. Over the next two decades he rose through the ranks, spending his days alongside guys doing life for murder.
By the time he became superintendent in 2016, he was convinced: Prison takes broken people and makes them worse.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
MickTurn 3/6/2020 8:22:50 PM (No. 338956)
First question...what are they in prison for. If it's very bad stuff and they will be there for life, tough Stuff!
If they can be rehab'ed fine, they prove they are worth it etc.
What we can't do is let them out to do more crime, THAT ALSO does NOT work!
9 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
wilarrbie 3/6/2020 9:55:42 PM (No. 339024)
The programs were for those who WILL be getting out after time served. In better preparing prisoners for release, perhaps they will not be back. But....rules are rules, right?
4 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
BarryNo 3/6/2020 9:57:27 PM (No. 339025)
I agree. Long term prison makes the incarcerated worse, and those incarcerated alongside them highly dangerous when they're released because they take lessons from monsters on how to be monstrous.
The solution is the death penalty. Eliminate those who must be held 'for life's. Their executions eliminate the monstrous teachings and vows those who might lean that way. There is nothing like putting the fear of the hereafter in a bully to make him behave.
15 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Timber Queen 3/6/2020 10:18:25 PM (No. 339038)
I agree with what Lapinskas was trying to do. It seemed he was balancing between punishment and allowing for personal growth. Successful re-entry into society was his primary goal, a good for all concerned. Not every exception proves the rule, but often times exceptions move human society forward. It does us no good if people are released from prison full of hate and resentment.
7 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Wendybird 3/6/2020 10:22:49 PM (No. 339040)
I suspect that is pretty much true. The variability and arbitrariness of the “justice” system is a major part of the problem. One person gets life while somebody gets a slap on the wrist for the same offense. A first step would be to do as Shakespeare advised, something like “first, kill all the lawyers”. I don’t mean all, a small portion are fair and honest.
3 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
SALady 3/6/2020 10:28:39 PM (No. 339043)
Anyone else notice how they snuck that one sentence in there about the riot in his "re-entry mods" that caused $100,000 in damage.
This is a maximum security prison. These are not nice men serving time for making little mistakes like writing bad checks or smoking a couple of joints. These are violent and very bad men who have done very bad, and usually very violent, things. The odds are very high that 95% of them will be back in prison if they get out. They just can't help themselves. They see any act of kindness or giving them freedom as signs of pure weakness, and will take full advantage of abusing it in any way possible.
You can't change human nature, especially about very bad men!!!!!!
10 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
curious1 3/6/2020 10:38:35 PM (No. 339046)
I highly recommend the book, Inside the Criminal Mind, by Stanton E. Samenow.
Most of those with life sentences need the needle. Or rope, or lead.
The leftards started a great machine back in the 60s that has churned out countless humans who cannot safely exist alongside normal people. Supporting them, even in prison, helps bankrupt our nation.
8 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
dirtyjersey 3/6/2020 11:05:33 PM (No. 339053)
A good friend was a CO at a maximum security prison. He said his first surprise was how utterly stupid the worst ones were. Truly mentally defective and dumb. He also noted how many of them were seriously mentally ill.
No amount of discipline or compassion makes any difference to these types. It comes down to the safety of the COs, the public and the other prisoners. The rest is just political posturing.
9 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
garyhope 3/7/2020 12:06:10 AM (No. 339075)
Why not pay some inmates, with their permission and consent to be voluntarily put to death and pay their families and victims a portion of what it would cost to keep them incarcerated for so many years. It costs a lot to keep someone in prison doesn't it. Would it be cheaper to pay them to voluntarily go and meet their maker? Offer the victims 50 to 60% of what it would cost to keep the inmates in prison. Death might be better than being in prison for some of them. They might choose it.
3 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Rinktum 3/7/2020 5:05:54 AM (No. 339132)
I thought prison was for punishment. What gets lost in all this are the victims. Human nature will not change without the only “Changer” that can make that happen. All men in prison are not lost forever but it is going to take a life changing meeting with the God of the Universe. Only He can satisfy your soul and heal a sin sick soul. There is hope for everyone but we must understand that God forgives us for wrongdoing when we ask in true repentance, but He does not erase the consequences of our actions. Prison is a deterrent and punishment is the reason because of the actions of the perpetrator. We must never lose sight that there are innocent victims who have been victims. We should all have compassion but it just be tempered with justice. The whole prison system is not a good one, but it is a necessary one.
3 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
4Justice 3/7/2020 5:40:17 AM (No. 339145)
No, death is NOT an acceptable answer to those with life sentences!! That is sick. First of all, some people get life sentences for non-violent crimes. Second, not all lifers are heinous murderers. Third, there are some wrongly convicted people in prison. While most are guilty, there are still quite a few who aren't. Innocent people sometimes get convicted especially when our system is so twisted and when people in power have incentive to prosecute and convict for political reasons.
That said, there are a lot of convicts who want to turn their lives around. Unfortunately, a lot of politicians (like former Senator Barbara Boxer) have taken away programs, like education, that would help a lot of them re-enter society with a chance to make it. They usually do it to "save money" (so they can use it for their own pet projects) or to look like they are "tough on crime" when they are actually adding to the recidivism rate.
1 person likes this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
Turninggrey 3/7/2020 7:30:02 AM (No. 339214)
I think the answer is not to condemn them to death, because that is too harsh. They just simply need to be late term aborted. Apparently that does not hurt.
2 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
jlw509 3/7/2020 8:01:23 AM (No. 339244)
Apparently --- from the article --- security was *not* compromised, and the cons had a chance to actually rehabilitated and become fit for a better future.
Public policy should be based on fact, evidence --- which is to say, results --- and they should not stop programs which actually accomplish the obvservable, quantifiable, positive results they said they would.
2 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
DVC 3/7/2020 12:17:54 PM (No. 339538)
"Doesn't work"???? This can only be in response to some sort of a question about the purpose of a prison.
IMO, almost the entire purpose of a prison is to protect the other 99.9% of people from these violent, criminal people.
Rehabilitation seems to be WAY to oversold in this whole deal. If there is a possibility to rehabilitate, that is great, I'm not against it, but frankly, most of them do not WANT to be rehabilitated, and will strongly resist all efforts at rehab. Rehab has failed massively, spectacularly for centuries. It is unlikely. Try it? Sure, but don't get your hopes up too much. Make an effort at rehab? Sure, if it isn't too expensive. Kinda like putting a quarter in a slot, "just for the hell of it", count on it as lost money, because although you COULD win, it is very unlikely.
But my view is that the old complaint "We are just warehousing them!", always said with sad exasperation, entirely misses the point. No criminal harms an innocent person while he is still inside a prison - THAT is the 100% certain win, that is the purpose of a prison, and it really DOES work for that.
2 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
DVC 3/7/2020 12:22:31 PM (No. 339542)
A pretty heavy load of Pollyanna on some posters today.
2 people like this.
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Rules are rules. Prisoners are not as important as the government rules and they lost a good program to the rules.