Rev. Watts

July 24, 2007

The prison population in West Virginia is on a runaway course, and only strong community intervention can turn it around, Rev. Matthew J. Watts told Putnam Rotarians at their luncheon meeting today.

West Virginia's prison population had the third highest growth rate in the nation for 1996 to 2003, Watts said. The growth of over 73 percent in West Virginia during that period compares to a growth of under 13 percent in Virginia -- Moreover, the growth is expected to continue from some 5,300 inmates in 2004 to over 6,100 by 2014.

The cost to the state is a staggering $450 million each year: This includes not only the cost of the prisons and the regional jail system, but care for dependent children of inmates, and legal services.

Watts, the pastor of Charleston's Grace Baptist Church, pointed his finger at drug abuse as a primary cause of the burgeoning growth in incarcerations, and also faulted the juvenile justice system.

Some 7,000 children in West Virginia each year appear before a circuit judge or probation officer on some 8,000 violations of the law. "Juvenile cases are heard behind closed doors," he said. "Nobody in the community knows what is happening. It teaches a disrespect for the law."

Watts has encouraged a number of "grass-roots" initiatives to overcome the problems of poverty and crime in local communities. These include HOPE (Helping Others Pursue Excellence) Community Development Corporation, which since 1994 has been providing services to at-risk and high-risk young people.

HOPE is the sole service provider for the Workforce Investment Board, Region III, for Kanawha County. The corporation also operates an Abstinence Education Project for the state Department of Health & Human Resources.

The Daymark program, starting in 1974, operates a group hojme for runaway and homeless youth, a GED classroom, and job readiness program.

The ROCS (Re-Entering Our Communities Successfully) manages substance abuse treatment programs anmd transitional services for juveniles returning to the community from incarceration.

Responsible civic intervention is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty and crime that eventually would destroy our society.

Matthew Watts labors in the front lines, and invites the rest of us to pitch in.