Addiction affects us all

Every family in Iowa is affected by alcohol or drug abuse either because family members or friends suffer from it, or because we all pay the costs through higher taxes for incarceration and treatment programs--and the criminal activity that often goes hand-in-hand with the addiction.

There is a growing recognition that our Iowa prisons are being filled with mostly non-violent, non-assaultive drug abusers. Eventually, overcrowding causes early release of all prisoners. Even violent criminals are being pushed out of prisons early in response to the overcrowding.

As The Des Moines Register wrote in a March 11, 2000, editorial, "the state almost certainly will have to come up with at least $38 million for yet another prison....There is another way: Iowa could curb its appetite for locking up so many people, especially those who pose no real threat of violence and are the best prospects for becoming productive members of society."

In Iowa, 75 to 80 percent of all correctional clients entering the Department of Correction facilities have a history of substance abuse, according to the report of Iowa's Drug Control Strategy 2000.

Within Bridges of Iowa, each individual is at a different stage on his or her own "bridge" to personal freedom. The client becomes an integral part of a highly structured, diverse community.

 

Return to top