Another example of California's myopic priorities is illustrated in a story in today's San Jose Mercury News.
Faced with the choice of their teeth or their children, women prisoners are getting their teeth pulled out.
The Journalism Center on Children and Families sent me an e-mail today talking about Edwin Garcia's piece, which reveals that In California women’s prisons, dozens if not hundreds of inmates are faced with the same wrenching decision: To gain access to a host of vocational-training and drug-rehabilitation programs for non-violent offenders, they must be cleared of pre-existing health problems. Prized programs include a course that teaches parenting skills while allowing them to live with their children in special housing. One rotted tooth could block women from entering a program, but there’s a severe shortage of dental care in prisons.
Faced with a long waiting list, inmate Sarina Borg had a tough choice to make. She could wait for months, maybe more than a year, to have her rotting teeth fixed by a dentist; or she could get them pulled – and be reunited with her baby daughter. Officials with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation say the dental and health clearances are necessary because the specialized programs are based at smaller community prisons and don’t have dentists or doctors on site.
OK, how is this fish-brained logic? Let me count the ways: First, everything possible should be done to keep mothers bonding with their infants. Poor bonding leads to a whole host of problems not only with the mother, but her child.
Second, when was the last time your company hired a woman without half her teeth? That leads to joblessness, which leads to poverty and all of its pathologies. Poor dental care is an open door to all kinds of future health problems, which leads to a whole new set of very expensive remedies. The suffering should be consideration enough, but if you just care about the money in your own pocket, it's a whole cheaper to fix a few teeth than to fix unemployment, poverty, homelessness, severe health problems and emotional damage.
Is anyone out there thinking beyond the next election cycle?
I agree with the health aspect of it but the statye needs to have more dentists available. I would have my limbs cut off to be with my kids.
This is so typical of the problems that our prison system is creating for our country! We need to start looking beyond the "quick fix" to a long term solution. This will requires a committment of real funds - so be it. It will be well worth the effort in the long run!
I don't think anyone is trying to find a solution therefore they are not putting funds into the system. They are too busy spending money on useless crap. I would love to get my hands on the state budget as well as the federal one. I would love to cut out all the unnecessary garbage.