Recently  I had to visit a inmate at the house of corrections.  As you walk towards the main entrance, it says "house of corrections" right there on the building and everytime I see it i crack a smile because I always think to myself "what is it they are correcting and how are they correcting it?" 

One thing to remember is that prison and jail are not the same thing.  When someone is sentenced to the house of corrections, the maxium sentence is 2 1/2 years, while prison can be any amount of time.  i mentioned in a prevoius blog about having inmates earn a college degree or high school diploma while they are in prison, that would be one way to correct something.  Sure 2 1/2 years may not be enough time for someone to earn enough credits for a degree or diploma but what else could they do?  How about anger management groups, AA meetings, religious groups, and the like. 

One thing the inmates can do is go out into the community and do work for an orginazation.  Locally, the inmates recently painted the Council on Aging facility in town.  Not only did they do a great job, but the people who use the facility were so thankful for them doing it.  It is a win/win for everyone. Plus let me include this. one elderly person whose sight is very bad dropped $15 while the inmates were painting.  An inmate saw this and alerted the sheriff who got them then money back.  I know lot of people who have never been to jail before who would have kept that money in a heartbeat. 

And so I have to crack another smile because maybe there is some correcting going .. all.