Just the Facts, For you Skeptics Out There…

I received a lot of supportive emails from people that viewed yesterday’s article, and I appreciate them all.  I also got one email from one of my conservative friends that echoes the words spoken by our conservative leaders.  Here it is:

Free Health Care for inmates will reduce costs in the long run?  Hmmmmm,  Sound sorta like the Welfare  plan that was sold to us back in the day.  If We give Free Food, shelter and cable tv to people that don’t really feel like working it will reduce crime!  That was the battle cry… and look how it has snowballed.

His opinion was very close to that of a local police officer I met last week downtown in Hemming Plaza.  I was meeting with a colleague to discuss the idea of turning one of his properties into a reentry center to provide housing, counseling, and medical care to non-violent offenders that are getting out of the local jail.  The officer stopped by to say hello to my friend, and engaged in our conversation.

After we explained our proposal to him, his first reaction was to ask “So what are you going to do with the guys that just want to keep doing drugs, and keep doing crimes?  Why would you give them a shelter in which to operate out of?”  “A lot of these people don’t have any desire to get a job, and giving them housing and health care encourages them to abuse the sytem.”

To which I explained that the program isn’t designed to solve 100 percent of the problems.  We have no delusions about what our success rate will be.  There will of course be people that refuse to be helped.  The program is made to help those that want help.  Plain and simple.  By not offering any programs, no-one gets help.  If no-one gets help, nothing improves.  Whether or not a person uses the tools provided to them to improve themselves is entirely a personal choice.  But they need to have the opportunity to make the right choice.

So, to these skeptics, and those like them, I have compiled some statistics for your consideration.  Whether you use the tools I provide for your benefit, is a choice. 

You’re never too old to learn, so don’t think you know everything without studying the facts.

Rising Rates of Incarceration

• The total population of U.S. federal and state prisons and local jails in 2000 exceeded 2,000,000 people. When the 4.5 million people on parole and probation are included, the total is 6.5 million representing a 240% increase since 1980.
• The United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world at 699 inmates per 100,000 population. This surpasses Russia’s rate of 644 and South Africa’s of 400 and compares unfavorably to the United Kingdom at 125, Canada at 110 and Japan at 40.
• These increase are primarily due to mandatory sentencing policies such as mandatory minimums, three-strikes and truth in sentencing, rather than increasing crime rates.
• 52% of U.S. prison inmates are housed for non-violent offenses related to drugs, property or public disorder/other.

Profile of Inmates

• Whites represent 69% of the general population, 35% of the adult prison population and a white male has a 4.4% chance of going to prison in his lifetime.
• Hispanics represent 12.5% of the population, 16% of the adult prison population and Hispanic males have a 16% chance of going to prison.
• Blacks represent 12.3% of the general population, 46% of federal and state adult prison inmates and a black male has a 28% chance of going to prison in his lifetime.
• Among people on probation, 64% are white, 34% are black and 21% are Hispanic.
• 93% of prison inmates are male and 7% are female.
• Between 1986 and 1991 the number of black women incarcerated on drug offenses increased 828%.

Generational Impacts of Incarceration

• In 1999 721,500 prisoners were parents to 1.5 million children under the age of 18. 22% of these children were under 5 years of age.
• Prior to incarceration, 44% of the fathers lived with their children and 64% of the mothers.
• These children are at substantially higher risk for future involvement with drug use and the criminal justice system.
• In 1997, the juvenile offenders in residential placement were 40% black, 37% white and 18% Hispanic.
• Black juveniles accounted for the majority of placements for drug trafficking and drug offenses. White juveniles accounted for the majority of placements for sexual assault, arson and status offenses.

Difficulties of Successful Reentry 

• 97% of incarcerated inmates return to the community.
• Since 1998 about 600,000 people per year are released from U.S. prisons. In 1980, 170,000 people were released.
• In 1998, 88% of those returning were men and 12% were women.
• Current adult re-arrest rates are approximately 66% with nearly 50% returning to prison within three years.
• Lack of successful reintegration impacts society in three ways: increased threats to public safety, increased taxpayer expenditures for prison construction and increased social costs, such as homelessness, public health risks, and lost connections to family and community. (J. Travis, The Urban Institute, Justice Policy Center)

Emphasis on Punishment Not Rehabilitation

• “Prisons and other fear-based punitive programs are ‘criminogenic’-meaning they increase the behavior they are meant to treat.” (RAND) This results in increased barriers to employment, broken connections to family and recidivism.
• In 1996, 6% of prison budgets were spent on rehabilitative programs and 94% went for building, staffing and maintaining prisoners.
• Among state prison inmates in 1997:
  

  ­ -10% in drug treatment programs-down from 25% in 1991

  - 9% are in full time job training or education programs

  - 24% are completely idle

  “Because states sharply curtailed education, job training and other rehabilitation programs inside prisons, the newly released inmates are far less likely than their counterparts two decades ago to find jobs, maintain stable family lives or stay out of the kind of trouble that leads to more prison.” (F. Butterfield, New York Times, 11/29/00)

• Minimal resources are allocated for post-release supervision and community-based reentry programs with a focus on treatment interventions.

Treatment Programs are Effective

• For every grade level advance in education, the inmate’s probability of re-offending drops by 2.9% (Source: Florida DOC, May 2001 Recidivism Report)
• According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons there is an inverse relationship between recidivism rates and education. The more education received, the less likely an individual is to be rearrested or re-imprisoned. (The Soros Foundation, Research Brief, Education as Crime Prevention, 1997)
• Research by RAND indicates that an additional $1 million spent on treatment for individuals with a drug offense would reduce serious crime 15 times more than expanding the use of mandatory prison terms.
• If quality drug treatment were made available to all who needed it, recidivism could be reduced by 36-60%. (Source: Dr. R. Casper, CURE-NY)
• A study of inmates in San Diego who completed drug treatment in prison and then participated in a community-based after-care program had a recidivism rate of 27% compared to a control group who did neither and had a recidivism rate of 75%. (F. Butterfield, New York Times, 11/29/00)
• The Oregon Department of Corrections conducted research on what community-based strategies work to reduce recidivism. Among their findings are:
  

  - A balance of community supervision, sanctions and treatment

  - Community alcohol and drug treatment

  - Parole transition services

  - Cognitive skills development

  - Targeting high and moderate risk individuals

Sources: The Safer Foundation, The Sentencing Project, Bureau of Justice Statistics, US Census Bureau, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency, and the New York Times.

A Little Less Conversation, A Little More Action, Please…

Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton will not be in attendance today at the US Conference of Mayors. 

You may recall that less than 90 days ago, Mayor Peyton announced his grand new initiative to reduce crime which he named,  ”The Jacksonville Journey“.  The major areas of focus for this program are: Education, Truancy, Dropout & Literacy; Funding; Intervention and Rehabilitation; Law Enforcement and Deterrence; Neighborhood Safety and Stability; Positive Youth Development; and Public Relations.

With the topic of the US Mayor’s Conference today focusing on Prisoner Re-entry and reducing crime in our cities, how is it that neither the Mayor, nor any of his staff are in attendance at this important event?  

Check out this response to my email inquiring if the Mayor or someone from his office would be in attendance today: 

Dear Mr. Longfield-Smith,

Thanks for taking the time to suggest participation at the US Conference of Mayor meeting today.  Unfortunately, Mayor Peyton is no longer a member of this organization due to increasing budget constraints and the costs associated with the I.S. Conference.  However, we continue to receive their literature and alerts and will pay particular attention to this.  Thanks again, 

Susie Wiles

Susie Wiles is the Director of the Mayor’s steering committee for “The Jacksonville Journey”.

It would appear as if this initiative is more lip service than substance.  I don’t think we, as a community, are really interested in solving the issues that lead to crime, instead, we are more focused on punishing those that commit them. 

One of the big stories in the Times-Union today was on the task force’s grilling of State Attorney, Harry Shorstein.  They were pressing him to be tougher on crime.  Don’t get me wrong, I believe that violent criminals should be punished, and put in jail.  What I don’t agree with is throwing away the lives of the non-violent offenders that make juvenile mistakes.  I also believe that once an offender has served his sentence, he deserves a second chance.  With that second chance he should be afforded every opportunity to start life fresh. 

These are people that have no place to live, no job skills, no medical care, and many times need mental health care.  Without support from our communities, the surest way for them to get food and a warm place to sleep is to re-offend.

Study after study has shown that the best way to reduce recidivism rates is through comprehensive rehabilitation.   Most people think that this is a handout, or that it costs too much.  The reality is, the overall budget of a community can be reduced through the establishment of these types of programs. 

By supplying medical care to newly released inmates and the homeless population, the overall costs of health care to the community can drop by up to 25%.  How?  It keeps this population from having to utilize the emergency rooms for basic care.  It also reduces the number of catastrophic health care cases that every community has to pay for when the person receiving the care is from the local indigent population. 

Additionally, studies show that when a newly released inmate is provided with housing, job training, employment help, mental health counseling, and substance abuse counseling, the recidivism rate drops by 20-30%.

In plain english, it is actually more fiscally responsible to provide these programs than to deny them and make these people go back to jail, or die in the streets.

This is the message I am trying to get out to the people of Jacksonville.  I was hoping the Mayor was serious when he launched “The Jacksonville Journey”, but it would appear as if it was just another case of posturing for the media. 

As a matter of fact, when I called the TU reporter on the Shorstein story to find out if she had heard whether the Mayor was heading to NYC or not, she informed me that she knew he wasn’t, because he was coming in to their office today.  Undoubtedly to put out some more quotes on how hard they are working, and what strides they are making with “The Jacksonville Journey”.

Where Will Your Mayor be Tomorrow?

Hopefully in NYC to address the issue of prisoner reentry…

U.S. Mayors to Tackle Prisoner Reentry and Employment at Urban Summit

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — U.S. Conference of Mayors President Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and other U.S. mayors will gather in New York for the biggest-ever national summit to tackle the crisis of mass incarceration and prisoner relapse that is crippling urban neighborhoods. 

The Mayors Summit on Reentry and Employment brings together mayors, policymakers, leading academics, foundations and practitioners to share information, practices and strategies for helping former inmates find steady jobs after their release — and avoid going back to prison.

With 1 in 31 American adults in prison, jail, on parole or probation, the US prison system is in crisis.  Hundreds of prisons nationwide are overcrowded to the breaking point, and high recidivism rates are largely to blame: 39 percent of prisoners have served three or more sentences.

This cycling in and out of prisons is taking a devastating economic toll on already-vulnerable urban communities. At this critical moment, policymakers and experts are determined to come together and develop concrete solutions to making sure that people who leave prison do not reoffend and go back.

A report focusing on strategies that cities can use to tackle these problems will be released in the weeks following the summit.

WHO: The United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) Public/Private Ventures (P/PV) New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service The City of New York

WHAT: From Options to Action: The Mayors’ Summit on Reentry and Employment

CONFIRMED ATTENDEES: Trenton (NJ) Mayor Douglas H. Palmer, USCM President New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg Philadelphia (PA) Mayor Michael Nutter, USCM, Memphis (TN) Mayor Willie Herenton, USCM Ex-Offender Reentry Task Force Co-Chair, New Haven (CT) Mayor John DeStefano, USCM Elizabeth (NJ) Mayor Chris Bollwage, USCM Brownfields Task Force Co-Chair Baltimore Deputy Mayor Salima Siler Marriott Former Philadelphia Mayor W. Wilson Goode, Sr. P/PV President Fred Davie Wagner School of Public Service Dean Ellen Schall

PRESS Q&A/ KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Mayor Palmer & Mayor Bloomberg 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM, Thursday, February 28th

WHERE: Twenty Four Fifth 24 5th Avenue, New York City

** Please also consider joining us on the evening of Wednesday, February 27th, at 6pm for a cocktail reception at the Torch Club (18 Waverly Place, New York City), followed by a screening of the reentry documentary Hard Road Home (http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/hardroadhome/) at 7:15pm at New York University’s Cantor Film Center (36 East 8 Street).

The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are 1,139 such cities in the country today. Each city is represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the mayor. The primary roles of the Conference of Mayors are to promote the development of effective national urban/suburban policy; strengthen federal-city relationships; ensure that federal policy meets urban needs; provide mayors with leadership and management tools; and create a forum in which mayors can share ideas and information. More information about the Conference is available at usmayors.org.

Public/Private Ventures is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve the effectiveness of social policies, programs and community initiatives, especially as they affect youth and young adults. In carrying out this mission, P/PV works with philanthropies, the public and business sectors, and nonprofit organizations.

Progress in Arizona Prisons

 In the past, Arizona has had the reputation of running one of the toughest prison systems in the country.  Now, with a new leader, and a focus on reform and rehabilitation, the results they are seeing clearly make the case for change in our prisons.  The following story is a great example of what can be accomplished when programs are put in place which do more than punish offenders.

New prison programs cut violence, drug use

More prisoners earning GEDs, getting jobs when released

A.J. FLICK
Tucson Citizen

It took three trips to prison for Michele Keller to realize she needed all the help she could get.  “Each time I went in, I had a different mentality,” said Keller, 37, who was convicted of drug offenses.

While serving her first two prison sentences in the late 1990s and shortly thereafter, Keller said she didn’t care what programs were offered inside the prison.  “Yes, I did the classes, but I needed the mentality to change,” Keller said.

When Keller returned to prison in January 2006 on a three-year sentence for selling drugs, something different happened.  “It wasn’t the same this time,” she said. “I took all the classes I could in regard to programming and the education provided for me.”

Now Keller, who got an early release in September, is determined to stay out of prison.

The Arizona Department of Corrections is operating under a vastly different system than it did before director Dora Schriro took over in June 2003.

“It’s a humongous difference,” said Tixoc Muñoz, who represents correctional officers in the Arizona Conference of Police and Sheriffs union.  “We’re in a lot better shape now,” Muñoz said.

In the roughly four years Schriro’s reforms have been in effect, inmate violence and drug use are down, more inmates are enrolled in education classes and have earned their GEDs and early results of recidivism studies show that fewer released prisoners are committing crimes and returning to prison.

Schriro was hired after previous director Terry Stewart retired. She brought a national reputation for reducing recidivism through an innovative program she started in Missouri’s prison system called “parallel universe,” which teaches inmates how to live productive lives after release.

Muñoz said Schriro’s willingness to listen to officers and staff has helped turn things around.  Officers also are more actively involved in how inmates are rehabilitated, he said.

“In the old times, inmates would bring attention to themselves by screaming, yelling, throwing water or whatever,” Muñoz said. “The inmates, you can see that they feel more comfortable speaking to us about their issues, their problems, whatever the case may be.

“In the old times, they would just let the inmates scream and yell and say, ‘Who cares?’ “

Muñoz said the number of officers staffing 16 state prison facilities has remained steady – around 5,500 – while the inmate population has steadily increased – just over 31,000 as of Thursday, up from 27,700 in 2003.

Yet, he said, inmate assaults on staff have been drastically reduced.  “Five years ago, before Schriro came in, there used to be two, three assaults a day,” Muñoz said. “Today, probably there’s one a week.

Assaults on staff fell from 239 in 2003 to 140 in 2007, DOC statistics show.  “The reason is because now we speak to the inmates,” Muñoz said. “Remember, the old regime was to lock them up and throw away the key, who cares what’s going on?”

Other areas that have improved include reductions in inmates assaulting inmates and officers, sex assaults, technical revocations of community supervision (formerly called parole), ex-offenders committing new crimes, prisoner grievances, lawsuits filed by inmates, positive drug tests, and improvement in completion of drug and educational programs, Schriro said.

Schriro’s parallel universe takes the form of many programs across the state.

For instance, inmates at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Tucson, 10000 S. Wilmot Road, recently made teddy bears that were given to local shelters for abused women and children. Such “restorative justice” programs make inmates aware of how criminal activity creates victims, said Schriro.

“In general, it makes them far less likely to act impulsively and do bad things,” Schriro said. “They learn to stop and think and realize that there are consequences for things that they do and that they and they alone are responsible for the circumstances that they are in. They find themselves prepared to accept the consequences of the decisions they make.”

At the same time, Schriro said, statistics show inmates are better prepared to re-enter society.

Which is what happened to Keller.  “While I was in the walls, I found out where to get help for every scenario I knew of because I knew when I got out, I would have to do it on my own,” Keller said.

The numbers speak for themselves.  The number of inmates earning the equivalent of a high school diploma has soared 318 percent from 791 in 2003 to 3,306 in 2007.

During that same time, 3,665 inmates earned work-based education certificates from 61 on-site real-world job training programs. About 63 percent of the inmates who can work were employed full or part time as of the end of last fiscal year, June 30. Inmates tested positive for drugs 24 percent less in 2007 than they did in 2003. Of the 18,619 inmates released in fiscal year 2007, 40 percent served less than six months.

And so far the results of the recidivism study are promising. From 2006 to 2007, the number of ex-offenders who served six months or fewer before release and then committed new crimes fell from 1.63 percent to 1.39 percent.

Schriro said DOC’s method of operating has altered from the moment an inmate enters the prison system, closely examining how inmates are classified when they enter prison, which determines housing.

The department has created “fast-track facilities” for short-term inmates – Level 1 units – where they can be placed as soon as possible and begin to address issues and skills needed upon release.

Level 1 units began at three prisons, including the Tucson facility, and will expand to all prisons soon, Schriro said.  Of 618 ex-offenders from the first Level 1 units, only five committed new crimes within a year of release, department data shows.

“Not only do we determine what custody level the inmate ought to be, but also what other kinds of skill deficiencies that need to be addressed and whether we have enough time to address them all in the department,” Schriro said.

Inmates are reclassified yearly to determine whether their needs have changed. They are assigned to programs based on how much intervention they need, the risk they pose to themselves and others, length of sentence and how open they are to treatment.  Inmates who are not confined to high-security units are taught how to structure their lives in prison, including work and leisure time.

There are no more mass wake-up calls, either. Inmates are expected to know where they are supposed to be and when they are supposed to be there. They know when meals are served and if they don’t get to the chow hall on time, they miss the meal.

Inmates who are busy improving themselves and learning social skills not only are less likely to threaten safety inside the prison, but they are less likely to threaten communities once they are released, Schriro said.  “We want to see they get the optimal time to practice inside what they have to do outside,” she said.

In 2007, the Arizona Legislature approved two programs as part of parallel universe.

Teaching Offenders to Live is intended to offer treatment and relapse prevention services to help inmates live independently.

Lawmakers also allowed a family reunification program in prisons on the theory that inmates who have strong family ties on the outside have a better chance of succeeding after release.

Keller and some Tucson officials who help ex-offenders applaud Schriro’s restructuring, but say drug and alcohol abuse programs have fallen victim to budget cuts and are desperately needed.

“I don’t fault DOC entirely,” said Caroline Isaacs, director of the Arizona American Friends Service Committee, a prisoner rights organization. “They do what they can even when they’re given nothing by the Legislature.  “Pilot programs for substance abuse issues pop up overnight, but go away just as quickly,” Isaacs said.

“Sixty-two percent of people released from prison suffer from some kind of substance abuse,” said Peggy Hutchinson of the Tucson-based Primavera Foundation, which helps ex-offenders through its Prisoner Re-entry Program.  “Doesn’t it make sense to make sure you have within the prisons substance abuse treatment?”  “It’s not that we need to figure out what works,” she said. “We know what works. We need to invest in that.”

“The pressure goes on the state Legislature to give DOC the tools to fully implement parallel universe,” Isaacs said. “DOC has made great strides and we’re really appreciative of their interest and intention, but it’s not quite there.”

Keller is determined to stay sober and out of prison. She recently defied some occupational advice and completed training as a recovery support specialist.

“They told me I couldn’t do that,” Keller said. “But I did it. They told me I needed to find work in fast food, but I refused to believe that.  “I’m reaching out. I’m helping others do what they want to do because I know what it’s like to get out and take the easy road and I know what it’s like to struggle for what you want.”

UA professor: Motivation key to inmates’ rehabilitation

A longtime University of Arizona law professor says innovative prison programs such as Arizona’s “parallel universe” are more successful when offenders are willing to participate.

“The data shows that motivation is an element in whether correctional programs work,” said David B. Wexler, who discussed his ideas in a UA discussion paper, “Therapeutic Jurisprudence and Readiness for Rehabilitation” in January.

“The data shows when people are involved in what happens to them, they feel that the process was fair and are more likely motivated to comply,” he said.  The process should start before the offender sets foot in prison, Wexler said.  Judges and defense attorneys can help by doing such simple things as pronouncing the offender’s name right and looking them in the eye, said Wexler, professor emeritus at UA’s James E. Rogers College of Law.

“How a judge acts at a hearing is going to impact whether someone is going to comply or not,” Wexler said, calling from his home in Puerto Rico recently.  A judge who just lays down the punishment with an attitude such as “These are the conditions. Good luck. Hope to not see you again,” probably won’t see as much compliance with the defendant as a judge who takes the time to know who the person being sentenced is, Wexler said.

“A dialogue that leads to probationary conditions in essence creates a bilateral contract instead of something that’s unilaterally imposed by the judge,” Wexler said.  Though research in this area is hard to compile without some kind of controlled experiment, Wexler said, “general data is coming out that is supportive of these types of techniques.”

These techniques are most often effective in specialty courts that deal with drug cases or mental health issues.   Speciality courts often reward participants with graduation ceremonies that boost the ex-offenders’ confidence in staying out of trouble, Wexler said.

“It’s very reinforcing,” Wexler said. “They’re showing that they’re not just there to nail someone who’s out of compliance, but give them a pat on the head because they’re doing well. It’s a very good way to monitor how the offender is doing and see whether the system is properly performing.”

Pima County Superior Court Judge Richard S. Fields calls Wexler one of the “pioneers” in this area of the law.  “He has a very sharp, analytical mind and makes some valid points,” said Fields, who was a student of Wexler’s at UA.  “To some extent, I think that some judges incorporate some of his suggestions just by nature,” Fields said. “I try to, although perhaps not on a daily basis, depending on how heavy the caseload is and how much time I have to deal with individual defendants.  “I do try to remind people being sentenced of their strengths to encourage them to rise above their weaknesses.”

Another former student of Wexler’s, Joel Parris of the Federal Defender’s Office in Tucson, has incorporated some of his ideas.  For instance, Parris encourages clients about to be sentenced to write down reasons probation is appropriate for them to show the judge.

Wexler said therapeutic jurisprudence not only motivates offenders, but judges as well.

“A lot of studies suggest that judicial satisfaction is higher among judges who take a more therapeutic or holistic approach,” Wexler said. “They feel they’re not dispensing revolving-door justice.”

Wexler said that feeling also extends to defense attorneys as well as family and friends of the offender, who may view the justice system in a new light.  “It’s been proven that doctors who have a better bedside manner, who take the time to talk to patients and explain things, are sued much less for malpractice than those who don’t,” Wexler said.

Progress in Santa Barbara

Here’s a great article that touches on the tough issues surrounding the implementation of community based programs to reduce recidivism rates.  A truly comprehensive re-entry program provides physical and mental health care, job training, substance abuse counseling, and housing for inmates coming back to  our communities.  Without these types of programs, inmates often have no choice but to re-offend in order to have their needs met.  We are not talking about a welfare program, we are talking about giving people a second chance, and the tools to make the right choices.  Good luck Sheriff Brown! 

  

Sheriff Unveils Plan for New Jail, Expanded Prevention Program

By Nick Welsh – The Santa Barbara Independent 

Thursday, February 14, 2008

History, like politics, makes for strange bedfellows. When Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown took his plans to relieve chronic overcrowding at the county jail to the Board of Supervisors this past Tuesday, he was responding to a chain of events set in motion 27 years ago by a convicted hitman named Dennis Boyd Miller. It was Miller — sentenced to life in prison for killing a high-profile Santa Barbara sculptor, his business partner, and his lover — who first filed a lawsuit charging that Santa Barbara’s county jail was so overcrowded that it violated constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment. Although Miller’s lawsuit was first filed in 1981, it’s been amended several times since then, and today remains very much alive. Superior Court Judge Brian Hill — the fifth jurist to wrestle with the problem — has repeatedly threatened to find Santa Barbara County in contempt of court if Sheriff Brown doesn’t make big changes at the jail. And soon.

But if Tuesday’s hearing was any indication, finding consensus on fixing the overcrowded jail is still a long, likely contentious way off. Although the supervisors praised Brown’s hard work and pledged to move forward as expediently as possible, they were seriously inquisitive about details small and large. The hearing, albeit a big step, was just the latest one in perhaps the longest political hike ever endured in county history.

Without a solution, the county jail (whose exercise yard is pictured above) has no choice but to set some prisoners free before they’ve served their time.

By any measure, the changes proposed by the sheriff — and the Blue Ribbon Commission he appointed early last year to address the problem — qualify as innovative, comprehensive, and perhaps even historic. They focus almost as much on keeping people out of jail — through prevention, intervention, and rehabilitation programs — as they do on providing a new one. And Brown is offering more than the usual sweet talk about prevention; he’s committed to spending roughly $6 million a year on programs to help get people clean and sober, off the streets, out of gangs, and into as much therapy and counseling as they need. These groups were targeted because adult gang members comprise 42 percent of the jail population, substance abusers 85 percent, the mentally ill 30 percent, and homeless 18 percent. (Although illegal immigrants make up 12 percent of the jail population, Brown does not regard their removal as a solution. “Even if Congress were to approve the most strident measure, we’re still going to have illegal immigrants in our jail system for a very long time to come,” he said.)

More than that, Brown and his Blue Ribbon Commission have identified an income source from whence such funds would spring. “Bottom line, this is not about being warm and fuzzy,” said Brown. “It’s about public safety. We’re always going to have criminals and people we need to incarcerate. But by investing in prevention, we can chip away at our notoriously high recidivism rate.”

For Brown’s proposals to have any chance, however, county politicos and bureaucrats will have to act exceedingly fast. More than that, a super-majority of Santa Barbara voters must agree to a half-cent increase in the sales tax, something that’s never happened in the county. Without either, the plan falls apart.

Dollars & Cents

In a nutshell, Brown is proposing to build a new 300-bed county jail just outside Santa Maria. The current facility — located off the 101’s El Sueno exit — was built in 1972, and is rated to accommodate 818 prisoners but routinely houses closer to 1,000. (Even the 818 figure is misleading; in order for jails to maintain the flexibility required to segregate volatile populations — Eastside and Westside gang members, for example — they’re not supposed to operate at more than 85 percent capacity.) Brown said this new facility, to be located in the North County where 59 percent of the inmates were living at the time of their arrest, will take some of the bite out of a fierce space crunch that necessitated the early release of nearly 1,700 prisoners from the county jail last year.

BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A HALF-CENT? Sheriff Bill Brown and his Blue Ribbon Commission are proposing a half-cent sales tax raise to help pay for the new North County jail. Such a hike would need to be approved by more than two-thirds of voters, which means that Brown might soon be knocking on your door in search of support.

Jail overcrowding has long been responsible for “triple bunking” and “floor sleeping among the inmates.” But nearly three years ago, jail administrators decreed that the situation had grown so intolerable that they were refusing to house all but the most serious of accused criminals. As a result, the jail will detain only a small percentage of the defendants charged with misdemeanors; all others are currently booked and released.

Brown’s proposed new jail, however, is notably smaller than the 800-bed facility that a private consultant predicted back in 1999 the county would need by 2020. It’s also smaller than the 400-bed jail proposed by Jim Thomas in 1999. But when Thomas took that plan to the voters, it got thrashed, with 61 percent voting against it and 39 percent in favor. Part of the problem was the high price tag — $53 million, and that was before construction costs had skyrocketed. But whatever the price, California voters are notoriously stingy when it comes to financing new jails.

Brown is hoping to finesse the construction costs of the new jail — $76 million — with substantial infusions of state aid. He said the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation could underwrite as much as two-thirds the construction costs — $55 million — and intends to submit an application later this month. This funding was approved by the California Legislature last year as part of a broader program to alleviate the state’s more serious prison overpopulation problem. The Department of Corrections is hoping to induce communities throughout California to take tens of thousands of prisoners and house them in proposed new state-run “re-entry” facilities (none currently exist). These institutions will be designed to provide nearly a year’s worth of training and rehabilitation for state inmates shortly before the completion of their sentences in hopes of slowing down the revolving door of recidivism that state prisons have become. Currently, roughly 1,000 state inmates return to Santa Barbara County each year, and Brown is among the most enthusiastic supporters of the new re-entry strategy.

But with or without a re-entry facility, the state aid will not cover the entire cost of building a new county jail. The county would have to pay for the remainder by issuing roughly $20 million in Certificates of Participation, a specialized form of governmental IOU.

The Blended Approach

What makes Brown’s jail proposal unique is its reliance on intervention and prevention programs. They are absolutely central to the plans. To the extent that they succeed, Brown said, the county won’t need as big a facility or nearly as many beds. In a best-case scenario, Brown estimated the right mix of intervention and prevention programs could cut the number of people booked into the county jail by as much as 21 percent. That translates into 210 fewer inmates a year. “Imagine 210 fewer criminals committing crime,” he said. “Imagine that year after year. Imagine how this helps break the cycle of violence.”

Brown described this as “the blended approach,” and likens it to an aquarium, where incoming infusions of water must be carefully balanced with water flowing out or the whole thing spills over. And that, he contends, is exactly what has happened to California’s prison system since the mid 1970s, when all pretenses at inmate rehabilitation were abandoned in favor of warehousing prisoners in large new prison complexes. “The problem is that warehousing worked for a while,” Brown said. “Crime rates went down. But as prison populations grew and grew and grew, so did the expenses associated with running the system. We simply don’t have the resources to maintain that approach anymore.” Prisoners come out less able to cope than when they went in. Within three years of their release, 70 percent of state prisoners commit new crimes that get them sent back. That, in part, explains why the California Department of Corrections finds itself trying to cram 170,000 prisoners in facilities designed to hold no more than 100,000. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is now confronting intense pressure from a panel of federal judges to reform the medical care afforded state prisoners. And that’s just the beginning. In this context, state corrections officials are hoping to alleviate the pressure on their existing penal warehouses by embracing “re-entry.”

Intervention, prevention, and rehabilitation are all labor-intensive. They all cost lots of money. So does running a jail. Brown figures that for every dollar he will spend administering the new county jail — estimated at about $12 million a year — roughly half that amount should be devoted to prevention efforts. He’s proposed the creation of a new standing committee, to be appointed by the Board of Supervisors, to dole out the funds and monitor how they’re spent. This new committee is modeled on the county’s First 5 program, which distributes the proceeds from actor Rob Reiner’s statewide ballot initiative to fund programs for kids during the first five years of their lives.

One of the key advantages of giving this new committee fiduciary and programmatic responsibility — as opposed to keeping it within the confines of a county government agency — is that the new entity can raise matching funds from private philanthropic sources while a governmental one could not.

In addition, Brown has concluded that local law enforcement agencies should receive the same amount as the prevention and intervention programs. In some ways, this was a strategic afterthought. Brown figured he could use the carryover to help out local law enforcement. That this might build a constituency of interested stakeholders come Election Day was hardly lost on Brown. If and when that day ever arrives, Brown and his funding measure will need all the help they can get. That’s because a two-thirds “super-majority” of the electorate is required to approve a tax increase.

TENDER RONEY: When he retired as a Silicon Valley executive, Rick Roney turned his attention to helping state prisoners move back to Santa Barbara, expertise that he brought to the Blue Ribbon Commission on Jail Overcrowding.

Brown doesn’t pretend he thought up this blended plan all by himself. In fact, he takes pains to share the credit with the Blue Ribbon Commission on Jail Overcrowding that he created shortly after talking office last year. During his election campaign, Brown — who was Lompoc’s police chief at the time — had been derided by rivals as “too Mayberry” and too small-town to run so large a department and tame such intractable problems as jail overcrowding. How could he promise success when the four sheriffs who came before him failed? But Brown’s appointments to the Blue Ribbon Commission suggest his critics might have underestimated their foe. For starters, he named retired Silicon Valley executive Rick Roney to chair the committee. Roney moved to Santa Barbara eight years ago, and almost immediately threw himself into easing the way for state prisoners moving back to Santa Barbara. He founded his own private operation, which today is devising specialized re-entry plans for 80 prisoners soon to be returning home. It’s too soon to begin talking about results, Roney said, but already, he’s made a name for himself in Sacramento among corrections officials.

Brown also enlisted the services of Joan Petersilia, a part-time Santa Barbara resident and an academic supernova when it comes to penal reform. Petersilia now teaches at UC Irvine. Before that, she worked for 20 years with the RAND Corporation think tank. In recent years, she’s specialized on the hardships confronted by state prisoners returning to society. To the extent anyone has studied what programs work and which ones don’t, it’s Petersilia.

Also invited were plenty of high-ranking county bureaucrats, both current and retired, who know how to work the system. Jim Laponis served in the county administrator’s office for about 30 years and Sue Gionfriddo was the county probation department. And Dave Dorsey, who retired from the Sheriff’s Department six years ago, remembers how the department devised an ambitious intervention and prevention program way back in the ’70s. But that, he said, was scuttled by the supervisors in the face of budgetary concerns.

The 20-person commission met twice a month for nine months in the basement under the jail. Each meeting lasted four to five hours. Their ranks included experienced and knowledgeable players among factions that often don’t see eye-to-eye. Brown and Roney worried the group might get bogged down in polarized posturing, pitting prevention programs against incarceration. But that either/or rift never materialized.

No Prisoner Left Behind

What emerged was consensus on several crucial points. The first was that a new jail was desperately needed. The second was a hard-nosed appreciation that rehabilitation was not pie-in-the-sky and that a combination of intervention and prevention programs could keep potential offenders out of jail. The commissioners also agreed that the county could not afford to build the new jail without state aid, let alone run it. To do so, warned Laponis, would require the jail operation to rape and pillage the budgets of every other county department. “If not now, when? If not us, then who?” asked Laponis.

Brown made a point to also invite Robert Sanger — the criminal defense attorney who, on behalf of Dennis Boyd Miller, filed the initial lawsuit against the county for jail overcrowding — to be part of the commission. At the time of the suit, Sanger — now better known for his role in the Michael Jackson defense — said he heard complaints from many of his clients about how atrocious the jail was — no privacy, no space, sleeping on the floor, and the threat of violence. But none, he said, were willing to sue for fear of retaliation. When Miller voiced these same complaints, Sanger asked him if he was willing to file a lawsuit. “He said, ‘I’ve got nothing to lose,’” Sanger said.

At first, the case seemed destined to die a quick death. Judge Charlie Stevens vacillated between lethal indifference and outright hostility. But after publicly referring to Latinos as “Mexican jumping beans,” the judge found himself in trouble and the case was reassigned to Judge Bruce Dodds. Dodds and Dave Hardy, a reporter then with the News-Press, had themselves surreptitiously placed behind bars for a two-day stint to see what jail conditions were really like. After the first day, Dodds wanted out. But the case got real legs when a sheriff’s sergeant who worked at the jail agreed to testify as a witness. If the jail was too dangerous for prisoners, she told Sanger, it was too dangerous for the correctional deputies working there. Before long, two more sergeants came forward. It was then, Sanger said, that attorneys representing the county capitulated and admitted the jail was unconstitutionally overcrowded.

By then, the matter was before now-retired Judge William Gordon, a gruff ex-Marine who expected results. In 1986, Gordon ordered county officials to take whatever steps were necessary to alleviate the problem. Or else.

To meet the growing demand — and placate Gordon and Sanger — Sheriff Jim Thomas pursued a series of initiatives. He expanded the honor farm, he expanded the work furlough program, he built a new jail wing. He tried to winnow out the less dangerous inmates against whom society needed little defense. It was a constant struggle to find play in the system, and prisoners were still sleeping on the floor and triple bunking. After three inmates managed to escape, Thomas placed a cap on the number of inmates the jail would accept.

Sheriff Thomas also formed a task force, and invited Sanger to participate. Though the task force met frequently, when it came to creative solutions, it fell short. “It was always, ‘Gee, if we had more money we could fix this, but too bad we don’t,’” Sanger said. Unlike other county functions that enjoy substantial subventions from the state government, the county jail is paid for almost exclusively with locally generated tax dollars. And the county’s ability to increase revenues has been severely hamstrung ever since California voters approved Prop. 13 limiting property taxes back in 1978.

The real problem, Sanger said, was that the sheriff was forced to go it alone. Everyone recognized, for example, that the jail was no place to house the mentally ill. But the county’s Mental Health Department didn’t have the beds, so the mentally ill remained in the county jail.

Based on that experience, Sanger was initially skeptical about serving on yet another committee. But Brown made a believer out of him. “I’ve been fighting with the Sheriff [Department] ever since I moved to this town, so praise doesn’t come easily to me. But I have to tell you I’m really impressed with what Bill Brown has done,” he said. “Instead of saying, ‘You can’t get there from here,’ this group was charged with finding practical solutions to the problem and then taking them to the Board of Supervisors.”

Brown and Sanger agree that conditions at the jail have improved. Other members of the commission, like Casa Esperanza’s Executive Director Mike Foley, were impressed by how rundown the jail was not. “There was no rust; the light fixtures aren’t dangling from the ceiling,” he said. “What blew my mind most was how well-run the place was.”

Nevertheless, throughout the years, jail capacity has failed to keep pace with Santa Barbara’s population growth, let alone the increasingly tough-on-crime sentencing laws passed by the State Legislature. According to jail commander Geoff Banks, the number of violent incidents at the county jail has been rising almost every year. With 42 percent of the male population claiming gang membership, keeping rival gang members out of arms’ reach can be a challenge. The jail has also done its best to flush out lightweight nonviolent offenders. The honor farm, for example, was disbanded and replaced by a medium-security lockdown, a huge dorm room with triple-decker beds.

MEN LIKE MILLER: Jail overcrowding affects this unnamed man much as it did Dennis Boyd Miller, the convicted murderer who filed suit against the county 27 years ago for violating cruel and unusual punishment protections. Little has changed in the jail since, and Miller’s lawsuit — shepherded to this day by attorney Robert Sanger — is still alive and standing as the legal impetus for fixing the problem.

Even without overcrowding, most inmates serve only half their actual sentences. Now they’re getting out even earlier than that. Two years ago, one such early release — held on a DUI in North County — drove south and shot a Santa Barbara man he had never met who was pulling out of a driveway on De la Vina Street. But the more typical effect of overcrowding is more subtle than that. Sheriff Brown correctly boasts that the jail detox center is uncommonly effective. But due to funding and space constraints, the waiting list is often two months long. Many addicts will be released from jail before they have a chance to enter the program.

Santa Barbara County runs several drug court diversion programs that rely on the threat of a few days’ jail time — “flash incarceration” — to keep addicts focused on the task of getting clean and sober. When program participants test dirty, judges value the ability to place them behind bars for the weekend. But because of jail overcrowding, that’s become an empty threat. “Lives that could have been saved,” said Foley, “aren’t.” Three years ago, one North County judge grew so exasperated that one repeat petty crook and drug offender kept getting early release that he retaliated by imposing a $1 million bail on the man. It was a futile gesture. The bail made headlines, but it did not keep the man behind bars.

When Brown talks about the consequences of overcrowding, he doesn’t dwell on the dramatic failures. He sees the problem in more subtle, if profound, terms. “At a certain point, the criminal justice system has no teeth. There is no more accountability if you know you’re not going to jail for your behavior. The danger here is a longterm erosion of respect for the rule of law,” he said. “And all because there’s no room at the inn.”

“Trepidation” Tuesday

On Tuesday, the Blue Ribbon Commission’s report was unveiled at the county Board of Supervisors meeting, where heartfelt thanks for the commission’s work were drowned out by a chorus of lingering concerns about finances and logistics. After hearing public comments from a supportive Sister Janet Corcoran, who does social work in North County, and a concerned Andy Caldwell — the conservative watchdog from the Coalition of Labor, Agriculture, and Business who chided the tax raise idea and complained about the millions already being spent on prevention and rehab — the supervisors seemed reluctant to chime in.

But an agitated Brooks Firestone jumped in, saying, “We’re broke.” Supervisor Salud Carbajal questioned whether the cash-strapped state would ever come through on its $55 million end of the bargain, while Supervisor Janet Wolf asked whether a 300-bed facility would be big enough. Supervisors Joe Centeno and Joni Gray also asked detailed questions, but no one braved discussing whether or not they’d support a half-cent sales tax raise — always a potentially volatile notion in politics.

Brown agreed that the funding schemes would have to be worked out during the three to five years that it would take to build the jail. But the Sheriff expressed optimism in a rebounding economy and urged the supervisors to take a “leap of faith.”

When it finally came time on Tuesday for a vote to simply receive the report, Firestone threatened to abstain, citing “great trepidation.” But after being urged to show his support for the commission’s work, Firestone joined the rest of the supervisors in unanimously accepting the report.

And that’s just the kind of urging the rest of the public will be hearing if it comes to approving a half-cent sales tax raise to make the Blue Ribbon Commission’s dream a reality.

Change is Coming to New York City Jails, and it is for the Better…

Correction Commissioner Pushes Against Critics

BY CHRISTOPHER FAHERTY – Staff Reporter of the Sun
February 11, 2008
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/71076

The New York City Department of Correction, led by Commissioner Martin Horn, is implementing some of the most profound changes to the city’s jails in three decades.

To the chagrin of a number of Mr. Horn’s critics, he is pushing ahead with plans to reopen and expand a jail facility in the center of Brooklyn’s court district, and inmates in city jails will soon be subject to stricter rules following his decision to support changes to the Minimum Standards for New York City Correctional Facilities, the first such amendments since the standards were created in 1978.

Despite considerable opposition from local interests, Mr. Horn said he is committed to reopening and expanding the Brooklyn House of Detention and building a new jail in the Bronx, moves that would drastically reduce the inmate population on Rikers Island and distinctly alter the department he runs.

“The city made a mistake years ago. Jails belong near courthouses,” Mr. Horn said during an interview at his office on Rikers Island. “We should keep these men and women close to the courts, their lawyers, families, and the re-entry programs.” By having jails closer to courthouses, Mr. Horn added, the correction department would drastically reduce the number of inmates that each day must be transported between Rikers Island and city courts, saving the city a large amount of money.

Opponents of the plan have argued that reopening the facility in Brooklyn, which was closed in 2003 as part of a cost trimming effort by Mayor Bloomberg, would threaten development in and around downtown Brooklyn, where property values have skyrocketed in the last several years. Some have said the real estate taken up by the 10-story gray monolith situated near the mouth of the Brooklyn Bridge would be better utilized as apartments.

“I have never met someone who doesn’t want to live in TriBeCa because of the tombs,” Mr. Horn said, relating the Brooklyn facility to the Manhattan Detention Complex on Centre Street. “It’s been there since 1937 and no one there complains about getting terrorized by escaped inmates.”

Mr. Horn said the most important aspect of his job is to keep the city’s jails safe, and statistics indicate that he is doing well. In 2007, the number of inmate stabbings in city jails dropped to an all-time low of 19. Mr. Horn’s legacy at the department, though, will likely depend on the outcome of his plan to reduce the city’s reliance on Rikers Island.

In a move espoused by Mr. Horn and staunchly opposed by some civil rights advocates, the oversight board of the correction department voted in December to change the minimum standards for jails. The new standards will require inmates to wear uniforms and allow the department to record inmate phone calls, standard protocol at state and federal prisons.

Mr. Horn said he pushed for the changes because clothing associated with gangs can often spark violence in dormitories, and drug deliveries to the jails are often orchestrated over the phone.

“The goal here is to make our jails better and in turn cut down on recidivism, “Mr. Horn, who began his career as a parole officer in Brooklyn in 1969, said. “We are trying to work smart.”

With the support of the city and a number of donors in the private sector, Mr. Horn has urged the city to put considerably more resources into re-entry programs that provide inmates with vocational training while behind bars, and then assistance with finding jobs after their release.

“They are designed to work almost like an insurance policy,” Mr. Horn said. “We invest so much money into inmates that for just a few dollars more we can keep them out for good.”

To encourage inmates to participate, a number of incentive policies have been implemented, such as reserving privileged work assignments for those enrolled in the programs and offering an hourly wage for attending classes toward high school diplomas.

In another move that Mr. Horn says would lower the department’s costs, he is pushing for the proliferation of videoconferencing. Setting up video meetings between inmates and their probation officers and lawyers has already allowed the department to cut back on the costs of busing inmates around the city. Even some court proceedings are held using the technology.

However, many lawyers have yet to embrace the technology, Mr. Horn said. “For video teleconferencing to truly succeed, it will be about changing the culture of the way things have been done for a long time,” he said.

Mr. Horn, who has dedicated a long career to the criminal justice system, became animated while describing a new program that offers inmates working in kitchens on Rikers Island a class toward earning a food-handlers certificate from the department of health.

“I don’t care if its Subway, McDonalds, or Nobu, a certificate is going to increase someone’s marketability,” he said.