VIEWPOINT | Executive branch should lean on Corrections Commission, not abandon it

Guest column by Rep. Kevin Jensen

With all the recent problems at our corrections facilities, I feel compelled to speak out. I was appointed to the Corrections Commission as the House member in my first term in 2017. I continued to serve on the commission for three terms until being replaced in 2023. Prior to Covid, our meetings were often held at various corrections facilities around the state, reviewing programs and touring the facilities. During those tours we were able to visit with staff, inmates and of course, the facility management. For example, when we visited the Mike Durfee State Prison in Springfield, we toured the cabinet shop, the art shop, the construction program building the Governor’s houses and a new area just opening that was a worship center. The inmates I visited with were proud of what they were doing, and many indicated that upon release they would like to find work using the skills they learned during their incarceration. Isn’t that the goal? 

We also looked at the education programs intended for inmates with low-level math and reading skills designed to bring them up to at least sixth grade education standards. In other areas we had the metal shop, the print shop and outside work opportunities with nonprofit partners. These are all “programs” designed to help rehabilitate the inmates before release, so they have a better chance to break the cycle and not return to prison. Remember, most of the inmates will be back in their respective communities in a couple years. 

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