Thread: NC - Illegal aliens may have benefited from programs

Illegal aliens may have benefited from programs
Dan Kane - Staff Writer
Published: Fri, Feb. 20, 2009 12:30AMModified Fri, Feb. 20, 2009 05:19AM

Nearly three years ago, Steve Mitchel saw a growing problem within the state prison system: Spanish-speaking inmates were unable to take advantage of drug and alcohol counseling programs conducted in English.

Mitchel, then the director of the substance abuse treatment programs at Wayne Correctional Center near Goldsboro, thought he had a simple fix: He'd set up -- at no additional cost -- a Spanish-language version of the program already in place for more than 150 inmates at Wayne.

He pitched the idea to supervisors and received positive feedback. He kept them updated through e-mail, his timesheet and an activities report. But a month after he got the program going, his superiors drove to Wayne and pulled the plug. Then they accused him of setting up an "unauthorized" program and issued him a written warning.

Mitchel had thought he had the OK.

"To say I was shocked and confused is a great understatement," Mitchel said in a written account. "Right up to the time they left, they acted as if they had discovered 'Watergate.' "

Correction officials involved in the dispute either declined comment or could not be reached. Correction spokesman Keith Acree said that Mitchel may have thought he had permission to start the program, but he did not.

English encouraged

Behind the dispute is a question that has been dogging state and local agencies: how far they should go to provide Spanish programs that likely help illegal immigrants. Officials in other areas of state government, such as the Division of Motor Vehicles, have taken considerable heat for actions that have been perceived as benefitting illegal immigrants.

Acree said the department has had a policy that encourages Spanish-speaking inmates to learn English to take advantage of prison programs. Inmates are tested on their English skills when they arrive, and if they do poorly, they are assigned to one of 17 prisons that have English as a Second Language classes.

"We want these offenders to speak English so they can better help themselves," Acree said.

The prison system has roughly 750 Spanish-speaking inmates who do not speak English, Acree said. That's a tiny percentage of the roughly 40,000 inmates in 79 prisons across the state.

Mitchel said Spanish-speaking inmates were turning up in increasing numbers in his drug and alcohol counseling programs. Those who also could speak English did fine, but others either misinterpreted much of what was said or had no clue. So in summer 2006, he pitched that a treatment group be conducted in Spanish.

Correspondence shows that department officials did not move quickly on the request. But on Aug. 8, 2006, Virginia Price, the assistant Correction secretary in charge of drug and alcohol programs, gave Mitchel what he interpreted as the go-ahead.

"I am going to pursue the plan to direct all Spanish speaking inmates to Wayne in the interim ...," Price wrote.

Mitchel responded: "great! were [sic] ready!"

He started the program eight days later, and planned ultimately to serve about 20 inmates. The treatment typically lasts about 35 days, Mitchel said.

On Sept. 22, 2006, Bob Lewis, then the deputy director for prison support services, rejected the proposed program. By then, it had been running for more than a month. A disciplinary letter to Mitchel two months later said he had misled his supervisors about having approval. The written warning, however, was rescinded a short time later, with no written reason given.

'Absurd' requirement

Mitchel said he stayed long enough to qualify for full retirement and left the department last March. He said he held back on going public to give prison officials an opportunity to reinstate the program or something similar. It doesn't make sense, he said, for the system not to provide the help.

"Something like 98 percent of the people in the penitentiary are coming out," Mitchel said. "That's why you should try to do something for them while they're in the joint."

Tony Asion, executive director of El Pueblo, a Latino advocacy group, called the department's policy of requiring inmates to learn English before entering drug and alcohol treatment "absurd."

"If you have a problem where you need rehab, it's going to be very difficult to learn in an ESL program," he said.

dan.kane@newsobserver.com


http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1412389.html

Call ICE to communicate.

Tony Asion, executive director of El Pueblo, a Latino advocacy group, called the department's policy of requiring inmates to learn English before entering drug and alcohol treatment "absurd."

He's right! The whole damn thing is absurd. They should serve their sentences and then be deported! NO ESL, NO alcohol programs...just get these people out of here once their sentences have been completed. Let their own worthless government try to convince them that being drunks isn't a good thing. What a worthless group of people these illegals are!!

They might be benefitting from programs paid for by American families? Like there's a chance they haven't been all along!!