Discuss the case of Michael Vick, the star quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons. Was he rehabilitated in prison?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answers may vary.Michael Vick was the star quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons until he and his codefendants were arrested and charged with running a dogfighting kennel in Virginia. In September 2007, while he was awaiting trial, Vick tested positive for marijuana. He was convicted of these charges in federal court and received a sentence of 23 months in the federal system. He left Virginia in January 2008 to serve his sentence at a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility in Leavenworth, Kansas.How would the Bureau of Prisons have attempted to rehabilitate Michael Vick? First, he would have gone through "classification" (a period of assessment and individualized information gathering) to decide where he would be assigned. If he had a long sentence for a very serious charge, presented a substantial risk to harm others, or appeared to be an escape risk, he would probably have been assigned to a high-security facility. Apparently he did not meet these criteria, however, as Leavenworth is a minimum-security prison. Then, prison staff would have needed to decide what particular deficits contributed to his involvement in the dogfighting charges of which he was convicted.Another issue was drug use. Given that Vick tested positive for marijuana three months before he was sentenced, he might have been referred for substance abuse treatment by prison staff. Bureau of Prisons policy on treating drug abuse involves having those in treatment (lasting at least 500 hours over a period of 6-12 months) set apart from the general prison population.Michael Vick was released from federal prison in May 2009. His story is familiar to those who follow professional football, and many who do not. Following his release from prison, he returned to his home in Hampton, Virginia, where he served the two remaining months of his sentence on home confinement. He was subsequently signed by the Philadelphia Eagles as a back-up quarterback. During the 2010-2011 season, he moved from third-string quarterback to starter after the Eagles traded Donovan McNabb and Kevin Kolb suffered a concussion in the season-opening game.For Michael Vick, his return to the community, his family, and his profession seems to have gone well. His professional football career is now over, but there have been no reports of additional problems with the law. How much of this is attributable to his months in prison? That is a difficult question, and certainly not one that can be answered without knowing more about Mr. Vick than can be judged from publicly available information. But his apparently successful return to society and professional football does highlight one important reality: some individuals coming out of prison can (and do) take advantage of the "second chance" they are given to function as law-abiding citizens in our society.