The economics that drive the prison "industry" UGH!!

Here's a story from NPR today...one more example of profits before people...and how "privatizing" in many cases is a dirty word. Check it out here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130833741

Relo....

Since moving to Hollywood about a year ago my focus has changed a bit...in a way I've become even more in tune with the crisis of homelessness.

At Hollywood Lutheran Church we've been working to help avoid recidivism among parolees, and we're learning lots of important lessons. It's so easy to want to over help...to make life easier for people by simply providing for them. But in so many cases, that kind of care and concern has made exacerbated the problem. Take people away from the "edge" and there's less motivation to find permanent and supportive environments. For providers, finding balance between helping and harming is almost an art form.

But here's the key: people have to live their own lives. As painful as that is, at times, it may mean that the choices they make wind them up in all kind of messes. We can help people see how alternative choices may be better for them, but we can't make those choices for them. Many providers need to "move out" of old ways of doing things and find new paradigms for assistance: not models of giving, but models of accompanying.