es. Though it is keptin mind that people do not change overnight, the Churchbelieves that anyone can change, as long as they are willingto.An alternative to prison and a form of rehabilitation isthe AIC as described in an article by Heather O' Neill. Shewrites on how certain criminals can benefit from the program.This form of rehabilitation for some offenders is cheaper thanprison(costing $5,000 a year as opposed to $25,000 a year perinmate), and seems to be more helpful to society. InConnecticut where this article was written, O'Neill says, "jailis meaningful again (O'Neill 1)". Instead of serving 2 yearsfor a 20 year sentence, the AIC has improved the system nowthat criminals serve an average of at least 75% of theirsentence, a drastic improvement over the years. Rehabilitationservices like this seem a good idea, helping society that much,so services liek this one should be popping up in other partsof the country soon. This rehabilitation is exactly what theU.S Catholic Bishops mean when they say it is the mostimportant part of prison....
