Count dilemma: how to use funds for inmates
Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, December 5, 2011
In a nondescript classroom one block from the San Francisco Hall of
Justice, 10 men gathered on a recent night for a parenting class.
They went around the room, sharing the high and low points of their weeks.
One man said he was relieved that November - the anniversary of both his
brother's and father's deaths - was over. Another was excited and nervous
about an upcoming job interview. The group - many of them ex-convicts, all
of them there because of past involvement with the criminal justice system
- responded with encouragement and support.
The parenting class, run by the nonprofit Community Works and sponsored by
the San Francisco Sheriff's Department, is one of a host of programs
offered both in San Francisco's jails and in the community to help
offenders get their lives back in order. Supporters say that for someone
with a criminal history, a program can mean the difference between
rehabilitation and returning to jail.
And that's why many nonprofit community organizations around California
have been lobbying hard to be included in the pot of money counties are
receiving under the state's criminal justice realignment plan, which
includes keeping more felons at county lockups instead of shipping them to
state prisons.
But how that funding is spent varies by county. Some jurisdictions are
spending the bulk of the money on law enforcement, including the hiring of
police and probation officers, while others are choosing to invest in
nonprofits that offer substance abuse counseling, housing, job training and
other services to criminal offenders.
Experts say counties that choose to invest in services are more likely to
reduce recidivism - and thus the number of people in the state's crowded
jails and prisons.
Studies back that up. A recent report by the Pew Center on the States noted
that the "largest reductions in recidivism are realized when evidence-based
programs and practices are implemented in prisons and govern the
supervision of (offenders) in the community post-release.
One of the participants in the parenting class at the Hall of Justice, a
38-year-old former drug addict, said he is proof that these programs work.
A year ago, he was living in San Francisco County Jail after 10 years of
bouncing between sobriety, drug binges and run-ins with the law. Now, he is
working full time, getting straight
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in with his girlfriend and 1-year-old son.
Last week, he graduated from the parenting class.
"I'm doing really well ... and I'm proud of myself for sticking with it,"
said Scott, who did not want his last name used because he is worried about
future employment opportunities. "A lot of people don't know about drug
addiction, the things we've been through. They think it doesn't work
because statistically, it doesn't always.
"If no one else believes in you, and you don't believe in you, one person,
saying, 'I do' - that's really all it takes."
Investing in solutions
Many Bay Area counties have embraced the idea of investing in services,
with San Francisco, Alameda and Santa Clara each allocating one-quarter to
one-third of their first year realignment budget to nonprofit providers.
"Our belief is that what's really going to help in terms of resolving
recidivism and having a higher success rate is getting folks jobs and
much-needed services," said Santa Clara Probation Chief Sheila Mitchell,
who put 25 percent of the county's $15.4 million into services. "Our
funding plan mirrors our philosophy."
Some of the state's largest counties, however, have put just a fraction of
their realignment budget into services.
One of those is San Bernardino County, which is second only to Los Angeles
County in the number of inmates it sends to state prison every year. County
leaders there chose to earmark about $300,000 of their $27.5 million budget
to faith- and community-based organizations this year, a move that angered
many advocates.
County probation Chief Michelle Scray said she believes community
organizations can make the difference between incarceration and a
productive, crime-free life for someone with a criminal history.
However, Scray noted that she must ensure the county probation department
can handle an additional 2,500 former prison inmates over the next four
years. That's in addition to the 19,000 probationers the agency already
supervises.
So when San Bernardino County came up with a plan for spending its money,
Scray and other county leaders decided to spend the lion's share on hiring
probation officers, sheriff's deputies and other law enforcement officials.
Scray said she is training probation officers to do things like teach
anger-management classes at one of the three reporting centers the county
plans to open. But she said the state needs to give additional money for
nongovernment services, which she believes are important.
Ill-equipped for influx
"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and
expecting different results," she said. "California has a 67 percent
recidivism rate because we only do things from the law enforcement side and
there is no rehabilitation.
Those who run nonprofits and churches say that's exactly why counties
should be investing in their services instead of waiting for money that
will likely never materialize from the deficit-plagued state.
The Rev. Samuel Casey runs COPE, a network of African American
congregations in the Inland Empire. He said San Bernardino County is
ill-equipped to handle the thousands of men and women it will be charged
with supervising under realignment. County leaders, he said, need to
analyze where these offenders will be going, what they need and what
resources are available to them - and then, they should invest in those
services.
"Part of it is just cultural competency, being able to engage this
population. These are some of our brothers, sisters, mothers, grandfathers
and uncles coming home," he said. "Probation is not going to have the
engagement with these individuals the way everyone thinks. They will barely
see them. They barely see the ones that are on probation now."
Community leaders in Sacramento, Los Angeles and elsewhere are also angry
and frustrated by the tiny amount those jurisdictions have decided to
invest this year in community services.
Daniel Macallair, executive director of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal
Justice in San Francisco, said the discrepancies between counties mirror
what was already happening in each jurisdiction prior to realignment. The
center conducts criminal justice research and provides direct services,
including a substance abuse program for adults who are released from
prison.
'Counties not prepared'
"Most counties are not prepared to meet the challenges of realignment, and
for many of them it's their own fault. They have engaged in bad practices
and policies for 30 years," he said. "The counties that will have the
hardest time are some of the Southern California and Central Valley
counties that have relied heavily on the state prison system."
Macallair said probation departments need to change the way they approach
their job and rely more on the community.
"What people don't realize is that even though we're the state of
California and we have one set of criminal laws, you have 58 counties
responsible for interpreting and applying those laws and essentially 58
different criminal justice systems," he said. "You're going to have well
functioning counties able to meet this challenge and a lot that are going
to lag behind. There's nothing uniform about this."
E-mail Marisa Lagos at mlagos@sfchronicle.
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This article appeared on page *A - 1* of the San Francisco Chronicle
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