Hi all...
Did you know that Brooklyn's ComAlert system of re-entry (lauded in 2007 NYTimes editorial below) has been proven to cut the recidivism rate in half there over the last decade?...(it's true!)...
[for 11/29/07 NYTimes editorial "The Right Way to Handle Former Inmates" click here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/29/opinion/29thu3.html?ref=opinion ]
My point?...Wouldn't it be great if Dutchess County could put into place a truly effective system of re-entry the way that Brooklyn (and/or Rev. Peter Young) has?...(especially since ours is 56%-- meaning well over half of the folks who leave our county jail are incarcerated again in three years)...
[crucial issue-- as if we have effective re-entry program in place, costly jail expansion could be avoided!]
Well-- get out your calendars, folks-- save the date-- Saturday, August 20th, 2011!...
...because that's the day that John Chaney, Executive Director for Brooklyn's ComAlert system of re-entry, will be speaking (at 11 am) at our next Jobs Not Jails forum at Holy Light Pentecostal Church at 33 Clover Street in Poughkeepsie!...(see http://www.BrooklynDA.org/toc/reentry.htm -- DA's office!)...
[and yes, we'll still have a Jobs Not Jails business mtg. that same day, same morning before; have confirmed this with Holy Light's Bishop Gause and Elder Ann Perry; thx tons to them both on this...but....just so y'all know-- Ann just suggested to me that we start that mtg. that morning at 10 am; k?]
Recall http://www.petitiononline.com/comalert (sign on!)-- petition I launched on this several years ago for local action on this after NYTimes editorial came out; thx to Doris Kelly and Karl Volk for signin' on...
[see: Erin Jacobs & Bruce Western, Report on the Evaluation of the ComAlert Prisoner Reentry Program (Oct. 2007) http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/soc/faculty/western/pdfs/report_1009071.pdf ; also, see recent Journal of Court Innovation report on the re-entry miracles Brooklyn is making happen:
http://www.brooklynda.org/News/pdf/journal_of_court_innovation.pdf !]
[finally-- scroll down below-- check out ComAlert'Doe Fund's "Ready, Willing & Able" jobs program-- wouldn't it be great if Poughkeepsie and Dutchess had something like it?...(have invited W. Brown too)]
Pass it on...(and don't forget-- your letters to all of us at countylegislators@co.dutchess.ny.us COUNT!)...
Joel
444-0599/876-2488
joeltyner@earthlink.net
http://www.JobsNotJails.weebly.com
[don't forget-- unlike Molinaro, Dan French is against jail expansion-- http://www.DanFrenchExec.com !]
p.s. Last Weds. I had a chance to attend a mtg. of our county's Criminal Justice Council-- and what Fred Bunnell has been telling us was confirmed strongly...
[Fred's right-- high time to enact a "rocket docket" here for Dutchess similar to what NYC has put into place in their criminal justice system-- see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_docket ]
As our county's Acting Public Defender Tom Angell pointed out at last Weds. morning's CJC meeting, describing a letter he emailed to fellow CJC members July 1st, 80% of those now sitting in our county jail at $130 a day haven't even gone to trial yet-- a drastically higher number than most other county jails. According to Angell, "the length of stay of nonviolent felonies has increased by 46% over the last 12 months, but arrests have gone down 13% from 12 months ago, violent felony arrests have decreased 25%, and drug felony arrests have gone down 27%-- yet our county jail population has increased by approximately 5% over the past year. We should have seen a corresponding decrease in our county jail population"(!)...
p.p.s. Yes-- don't forget-- I'd still love to see a bunch of you all Mon. Aug. 8th at 5:30 pm at the Palace Diner at 194 Washington St. in Poughkeepsie-- so we can do some strategizing on what y'all might be able to speak up about at the next full board mtg. of our County Legislature on all this (that same night-- at 7 pm on 6th floor of our County Office Building at 22 Market St. in Poughkeepsie)...
[...for sure, info described in this email should provide some grist for mill of public comment that night-- as well as, of course, pushing for Dutchess County, again, to implement a truly comprehensive (meaning cost-saving) system of re-entry-- with a program like the one Rev. Peter Young recently described to us (program to cut recidivism rate for his participants from 63% to 8% according to the SUNY-Albany School of Criminal Justice!)...(recall-- http://www.PYHIT.com -- proven recently also to get literally 400 ex-cons jobs in Albany County over the last year-- saving taxpayers there $14 million!)...]
p.p.p.s. Yep-- your letters to editor to all these eleven publications below can make difference on this(!):
Poughkeepsie Journal-- letterstoeditor@poughkeepsiejournal.com
Daily Freeman-- letters@freemanonline.com
Southern Dutchess News-- newsplace@aol.com
Northern Dutchess News-- northerndutchess@sdutchessnews.com
The Hudson Valley News-- editorial@thehudsonvalleynews.com
Times Herald-Record-- letters@th-record.com
The Register Star [northern Dutchess newspaper]-- [web form] http://www.registerstar.com/forms/letters/
New York Times-- letters@nytimes.com
Daily News-- voicers@edit.nydailynews.com
Albany Times-Union-- [web form] http://web.timesunion.com/forms/emaileditor.asp
The New York Progressive-- whvw@whvw.net and jillian.egan1@gmail.com
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From http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/29/opinion/29thu3.html?ref=opinion ...
NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL
The Right Way to Handle Former Inmates
Published: November 29, 2007
To control recidivism, and thus have a shot at controlling prison crowding and costs, the states and localities need to develop comprehensive programs that help former inmates find jobs, housing, training, drug treatment and mental health care. A promising model has emerged in Brooklyn, where District Attorney Charles Hynes started his re-entry program long before other jurisdictions even realized they were necessary.
Created in 1999 in Brooklyn, ComAlert was recently the subject of a state-funded study carried out by the district attorney's office in collaboration with Bruce Western of Harvard, a sociologist and criminal justice expert. The program is still evolving and is far from perfect. But the study shows that former inmates are more likely to get jobs and keep jobs - and more likely to remain out of jail - if they undergo a rigorous regime of counseling and drug treatment while participating in a companion program that offers them immediate work experience and job training.
Drug treatment, counseling and drug testing are cornerstones of the ComAlert program. In addition to being counseled and tested, participants are also encouraged to sign up with Ready, Willing & Able, a highly regarded work and training program offered by the Doe Fund, a nonprofit organization in New York.
Many of those who join the program have little or no experience with the world of work. They begin to get that experience by working full time in low-skill jobs like street cleaning, which pays between $7.40 and $8.15 per hour. Most participants are eventually moved into vocational programs where they are trained in one of several areas, including food preparation, pest control, office services and building management. They are often referred to jobs at companies that have longstanding relationships with the program.
According to the report, ComAlert graduates are less likely be re-arrested after leaving prison and much more likely to be employed than either program dropouts or members of the control group. Participants who complete the Doe Fund work-training component do even better. They have an employment rate of about 90 percent, somewhat higher than the ComAlert graduates generally and several times higher than the control group.
These results are quite promising...the program is clearly headed in the right direction and deserves to be expanded and emulated elsewhere. It represents an impressive start toward the goal of helping newly released inmates forge viable lives on the outside.
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From http://www.BrooklynDA.org/toc/reentry.htm ...
ComALERT
(Community and Law Enforcement Resources Together)
The ComALERT ("Community and Law Enforcement Resources Together") program was created in 1999 by District Attorney Charles J. Hynes to act as a bridge between prison and the community for parolees returning to Brooklyn. ComALERT assists formerly incarcerated individuals to make a successful transition from prison to home by providing drug treatment and counseling, mental health treatment and counseling, GED, and transitional housing and employment. ComALERT also provides permanent job placement assistance to those parolees who have marketable skills upon their release. ComALERT services begin almost immediately upon release from prison, increasing the success rate for its clients compared to the non-treated re-entry population.
A newly released inmate is required to report to the Division of Parole within 24 to 48 hours of release from prison. Based on a pre-release assessment need for treatment, a referral may be made by the parole officer to Parole's ACCESS center. At this center, a ComALERT "CASAC" ("certified alcohol and substance abuse counselor") interviews the parolee about his past activities and future goals. This psychosocial assessment forms the basis for any future re-entry planning and treatment in ComALERT. After the assessment, the eligible client is directed to report to the ComALERT Counseling Service EDNY Center at 210 Joralemon Street in downtown Brooklyn, for a program orientation and assignment to a social worker who will work with the client to help him comply with his conditional release requirements that include substance abuse treatment and employment.
Most ComALERT clients have substance abuse issues, and many are actively abusing illegal drugs and alcohol. This abuse places them in direct contradiction of standard conditional release mandates and increases the likelihood that they will engage in illegal behaviors and return to prison. Thus, substance abuse treatment and counseling form the basic framework for ComALERT's initial three-month enrollment. Though the typical period at ComALERT is one to two years depending on personal progress, the first three months have been identified as crucial to the client's ultimate success. If not engaged in the re-entry process during that time, it is likely that the client will not make a successful transition from prison to the community.
In addition to drug counseling and treatment, many clients will receive a referral to and preferential placement in, the ComALERT "Ready, Willing, & Able" Program, which provides transitional employment through the Doe Fund's Ready, Willing, and Able employment programs. In addition to receiving meals and a weekly stipend of $200 cash for manual labor jobs for up to nine consecutive months, the Day program provides the group support and reinforcement needed by the clients to maintain their sobriety. ComALERT provides weekly individual and group counseling, as well as random drug testing, to reinforce "Ready, Willing, & Able Day's" zero-tolerance policy.
Working closely with the Division of Parole, ComALERT monitors its clients to ensure public safety. A failure to cooperate or a violation of any program condition is brought to the immediate attention of the client's parole officer. A law enforcement sanction-up to and including parole revocation-can be employed at the discretion of the parole officer. Lesser sanctions, such as more frequent drug testing, can also be used for less serious infractions.
ComALERT's goal is to reduce criminal recidivism by providing the formerly incarcerated with the tools and support they need to remain drug-free, crime-free, and employed.
For more information about these programs, contact:
John R. Chaney
Executive Director
LaNina N. Cooke
Deputy Executive Director
Norma Fernandes
Community Coordinator
ComALERT Offices:
718-250-3281
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More from http://www.BrooklynDA.org/toc/reentry.htm ...
ComALERT offers its most motivated participants an opportunity to enroll in the Doe Fund's "Ready, Willing & Able" program and offers:
¨ Paid Work
Ready, Willing, & Able offers work in their Community Improvement Project and IMMEDIATELY start earning $7.40/hr. They will bring home $185/week after putting $74 into their mandatory savings accounts. After 6 months their pay will be raised to $8.15 per hour and, after a deduction of $60 for mandatory savings, will bring home $225.25/week.
¨ Vocational Training and Jobs
Ready, Willing, & Able works with each individual to help them find a permanent job by offering one-on-one case management and mentoring from counselors and graduates. Clients are also eligible for vocational training in fields such as: Pest Control, Food Service, Commercial Driving, Mailroom Operations, and Community Improvement Supervision.
¨ Education
Ready, Willing, & Able offers GED preparation courses, computer/literacy classes and individual tutoring, and vocational certification opportunities.
¨ Aftercare
Ready, Willing, & Able Aftercare Department provides supportive services to help each graduate keep their job and provide incentives for job retention.
¨ Drug and Alcohol Counseling
Some Ready, Willing, & Able participants will receive weekly substance abuse counseling for their first three months through ComALERT Counseling Service EDNY. In addition, participants are drug tested, at least weekly, and referred to daily self-help meetings or related services.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED CONTACT:
William Brown, Assistant Director, RWA Intake
718-628-3219
917-363-5696
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More from http://www.BrooklynDA.org/toc/reentry.htm ...
EDNY
(ComALERT Counseling Service)
ComALERT Counseling Service EDNY
210 Joralemon Street, 3rd Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11201
718-250-5557
In September 2004, ComALERT joined forces with Brooklyn-based treatment provider Counseling Service EDNY to expand ComALERT's employment-focused outreach for formerly incarcerated individuals to include on-site substance abuse treatment and counseling.
ComALERT Counseling Service EDNY ("CSEDNY") offers OASAS-licensed outpatient substance abuse treatment services for recently released Brooklyn parolees. CSEDNY's staff works directly with parolees who have a substance abuse treatment mandate as a condition of release and parole supervision. CSEDNY offers individual and group therapies, anger management, relapse prevention and anger management workshops, as well as other supportive treatment protocols.
Many ComALERT clients have substance abuse issues that place them in direct contradiction of standard conditional release mandate, and increase the likelihood that they will engage in illegal behaviors and return to prison. Thus, substance abuse treatment and counseling form the basic framework for the initial three-month enrollment in ComALERT.
In addition to drug counseling and treatment, motivated clients receive a referral to and preferential placement in the ComALERT First Step program. First Step provides transitional employment through the Doe Fund's Ready, Willing, and Able employment programs. Other services, such as transitional housing, in-patient detox, medical care, and mental health diagnosis and treatment, are available by referral to other ComALERT partner agencies.
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