COUNTY JAIL'S APPROACH WITH INMATES ADMIRABLE

Jails are not meant to be places of luxury, but to provide minimal accommodations for those who are sent there to await disposition of their cases or because they have committed crimes.

Jails should, however, offer basic social services to their occupants. That particularly is true of county jails where, unlike state or federal prisons, prisoners are incarcerated for short periods of time under different circumstances. Their immediate needs go beyond those of hardened criminals in long-term prison confinement.

Under the direction of Sheriff Norman Copeland, prisoners in the Cape Girardeau County Jail at Jackson are being offered a number of social and rehabilitative services that inmates in many other county jails are not fortunate enough to get. The sheriff and his staff, and the organizations that offer the services, are to be commended for their efforts aimed at helping those who wish to take advantage of them.

Every night the jail offers rehabilitative programs for the inmates to attend. They are provided at no cost to the inmates or the county by the sponsoring organizations. Attendance varies, jail officials said. On some nights, as many as three-quarters of the jail population is in attendance.

The programs include Gideon Bible services, Narcotics Anonymous, Community Counseling and Alcoholics Anonymous. Clergymen are allowed to visit with the inmates privately on one day of the week. Also, if an inmate expresses a desire to take high school equivalency test courses, the jail will arrange for an instructor.

In addition, a prisoner work program initiated by the circuit judges a few years ago has served the county and prisoners well. Selected inmates are allowed to work under supervision in the county's parks, thereby giving their time to the community and helping to save the county money in park upkeep.

Cape County prisoners no longer must sit in their cells all day, either. Inmates may now spend the bulk of their day in a jail activity area, where picnic tables permit them to visit, play board games and cards, and read. They also have access to black-and-white television during the day.

Idleness can breed discontent, and discontented prisoners can bring about problems in a jail. By permitting prisoners limited freedoms, allowing some to participate in the work program, and offering rehabilitative services, the county is displaying a genuine interest in the well-being of those under its care. At the same time, jail problems are kept at a minimum.