| Here is just one of the many letters advocating for her release.....
Patricia Columbo and those supporting her plea for parole attribute her rehabilitation to having successfully obtained a college degree and participated in other programs which, as she correctly observed, have virtually disappeared in today's correction system.
Some may wonder why we should care to spend a nickel on rehabilitating the incarcerated. But there are sound reasons for Illinois to seriously consider restoring meaningful programs and educational opportunities for its entire prison population.
First, rehabilitation of all prisoners makes prisons safer for the people who work there. Second, 95 percent of all those serving time leave prison at some point. Investing in their rehabilitation improves public safety. Third, long-termers and lifers should not be excluded from rehabilitative programming because the way they serve their time affects other prisoners who will be leaving.
The Sun-Times series raises a second important issue. Whatever one thinks of the merits of Columbo's case, parole, which is not available to inmates sentenced today, should be reintroduced in Illinois. Over time, some of the worst offenders end up turning their lives around in prison, are no longer threats to public safety, and have a lot to offer to the outside world. The parole process provides a mechanism to decide whether continued incarceration is necessary or desirable for an individual inmate.
There are men and women in prison whom none of us would want to see released. But the system should not be designed to treat every prisoner as if they were the worst of the worst or, for that matter, the best of the best. We should have a system that can release prisoners who have served substantial time, based on equity, fairness and the individual.
Shaena Fazal, director,
Long-Term Prisoner Policy Project,
John Howard Association of Illinois
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