Alternative to Solitary Confinement
To the Editors:
RE: "I Survived the Box" by Anthony Spratley, Jan-March '04 issue
The job of prisons is to rehabilitate their inmates and give the best professional care and help to do so. My suggestion is to make sure alternative housing environments are available with constant medication and therapy for people who cannot obey the prison rules and regulations. This will allow [for] less problems in prisons with the job of rehabilitation and assimilation back into society…The success stories [will have] the ability to contribute their skills and talents to help society as a whole.
Mark Robert Spector via the Internet
The "Personal" Aspect of PROS
To the Editors:
RE: "PROS: An Update" by Ray Schwartz, Jan-March '04 issue I have read [the above] article and listened to all the hype about PROS and I have come to the following conclusions. I use my own recovery as a case study in what I have to say. I feel I am no different in this respect than anyone else. I spent eight years in denial of my illness. For me, those eight years were a waste and I simply floated through the "System." "Personal Recovery Oriented Services" (PROS) would not have helped one bit; there was no "Personal" to be had. When you're in denial, the best you can do is float through the "System." Second, once I did accept my illness and wanted to do something about it, I had to wait another fifteen years for medications to be developed and then adjusted to my body. Again, even though I accepted my illness, there was no "Personal" to be had. I was just too sick to have any "System" work for me, so I simply floated through the "System." Finally, when medications kicked in to where I could take control of my life, I took out a personal vendetta to make whatever "System" there was out there work for me on a "Personal" level. This is the only place where I feel that PROS would work well for the average person in recovery: if they are ready to educate themselves, take on some responsibility and work on their recovery on a personal level. Those of us in recovery and making the "System" work for us have another word for it: "Empowerment." What I see as the real gains of PROS are the benefits derived by agencies and the state, which is not a bad thing. A good percentage of the clientele in recovery today will derive no benefit from the "Personal" aspects of PROS. Thank you for your time.
James T. Barbieri
Johnson City, New York