The Criminal Justice Conundrum
By Michael “Mickey” Rosenberg
A Department of Corrections or a Department of Incarceration?
As Shakespeare said, ” To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or take arms against a sea of troubles…”
Shakespeare words are as usual, applicable to almost every outrageous situation.
In the private sector if a person is an executive of a large company, he or she is always proud to say that they oversee an organization of thousands of people. The same is applicable to administrators in the world of jails and prisons. Human nature is such that we think more is better and size matters. Is it possible that we have this backwards when it comes to criminal justice?
Shouldn’t a Warden of a prison be proud to say, “When I started, three years ago, I was responsible for three thousand inmates, and now I am responsible for only three hundred inmates.” Did he or she fail or did the Warden really succeed? This administrator successfully reduced recidivism so dramatically that the Governor wants to triple his or her salary and that of Warden’s Recidivism Reduction Team, “RRT”, and move them all to another facility to replicate their results.
Dedication (not lip service) to true rehabilitation in mental health, youth and adult facilities as well as programs focused on drug addiction, and behavioral health issues will now be rewarded and revered rather than scorned and mocked.
Modular Jail and Prison Builders and their construction teams are quickly moving to the New Living Units that are focused on Behavioral / Mental Health. Built for general well-being and using evidence-based designs which incorporate living unit components that help to reduce patient anxieties while increasing safety, privacy, ease of orientation, and use of natural light. The Living Units that are pioneered by Steel Cell of North America, a Georgia based manufacturer, will dramatically transform the way modern facilities are built and operated and result in an overall increase in rehabilitation by providing better solutions with better outcomes.
We know that crime will never disappear and justice facilities will always exist, but how we deal with individuals in these facilities is the real rub.
Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or take dedicated steps to motivate, elevate, rehabilitate and celebrate the unending potential and goodness that exists in the majority of mentally sound men and women throughout the civilized world.
“Mickey” Rosenberg is the managing director of M.R. Secure Sales, LLC, which represents leaders in Modular Global Correctional Facilities, Modular Police/Jail and Prison New Living Units, Modular Hospital Intensive Care Units (ICU’S), Hospital Isolation Rooms and Negative Pressure Infectious Disease Isolation Rooms, Modular COVID-19 Testing Centers Swab Booths With Protected Gloved Hand Portals , Clean Rooms, Guard/Security/Parking Booths & Bus Shelters, Observation Towers, Offsite Sustainable Construction of Steel and Concrete Multi-Story Modular Schools, Dorms, Condos, Town Houses, Senior Housing, Hotels, Retail Stores, Emergency Care Facilities, Equipment/Telecommunication Shelters, Modular Offices and Mezzanines within in Factories and Warehouses, and Miscellaneous Metals and Custom Steel Railings and Stairs.