While the police are booting doors on eight-year-old warrants to seize guns; and their sheriffs are tearing up the roads shooting at passersby; and the police are rejecting any officer who might have a cognizant thought; this is what the state of Connecticut is doing about the real problem. I have posted part of the story and the bolding is mine. For the complete story go to:
http://www.courant.com/news/special/article/special7.stm
From the Hartford (CT) Courant (11-1-99)
State Barely Looking For Hundreds Of
Escapees
By DAVE ALTIMARI and JACK DOLAN
This story ran in the Courant November 1, 1999
Nearly once a week since 1994, a convict has escaped from the Department
of Correction.
These aren't the over-the-wall, sirens-wailing jailbreaks of the movies. An
inmate simply walks away from a halfway house or stops reporting to the
officers assigned to monitor him through the department's home release
program.
But these incidents are so prevalent that the correction department now has
on its books more escapees from halfway houses or home release - 950 as
of Oct. 1 - than legitimate participants in either one of the programs.
And once inmates escape, no one takes responsibility for finding them - not
the correction officials, who figure they're at the end of their sentences
anyway, or state police, who don't count escapees as high-priority cases.
Often, they are caught only when they commit another crime - generally a
relatively minor breach such as a drug violation, but sometimes more serious
offenses, including murder.
Since 1995 the number of escapees has fluctuated between 1,052 and 858.
``The per-month average sounds very high,'' said state Sen. Donald E.
Williams Jr., D-Killingly, co-chairman of the legislature's judiciary committee.
``It's a danger to the community and it undermines the program that was
designed for nonviolent offenders to help reintegrate them into society.''
Department of Correction Commissioner John Armstrong declined to be
interviewed for this story, but agreed through a spokeswoman to answer
written questions. In his response he wrote, ``In most cases, supervision is
successful and beneficial to public safety,'' and he noted that the total
number of escapees from all department programs has declined by 20
percent in the past five years.
http://www.courant.com/news/special/article/special7.stm
From the Hartford (CT) Courant (11-1-99)
State Barely Looking For Hundreds Of
Escapees
By DAVE ALTIMARI and JACK DOLAN
This story ran in the Courant November 1, 1999
Nearly once a week since 1994, a convict has escaped from the Department
of Correction.
These aren't the over-the-wall, sirens-wailing jailbreaks of the movies. An
inmate simply walks away from a halfway house or stops reporting to the
officers assigned to monitor him through the department's home release
program.
But these incidents are so prevalent that the correction department now has
on its books more escapees from halfway houses or home release - 950 as
of Oct. 1 - than legitimate participants in either one of the programs.
And once inmates escape, no one takes responsibility for finding them - not
the correction officials, who figure they're at the end of their sentences
anyway, or state police, who don't count escapees as high-priority cases.
Often, they are caught only when they commit another crime - generally a
relatively minor breach such as a drug violation, but sometimes more serious
offenses, including murder.
Since 1995 the number of escapees has fluctuated between 1,052 and 858.
``The per-month average sounds very high,'' said state Sen. Donald E.
Williams Jr., D-Killingly, co-chairman of the legislature's judiciary committee.
``It's a danger to the community and it undermines the program that was
designed for nonviolent offenders to help reintegrate them into society.''
Department of Correction Commissioner John Armstrong declined to be
interviewed for this story, but agreed through a spokeswoman to answer
written questions. In his response he wrote, ``In most cases, supervision is
successful and beneficial to public safety,'' and he noted that the total
number of escapees from all department programs has declined by 20
percent in the past five years.