To help inmates become a productive part of the community after they’re released from jail - and to help keep them from returning to jail - Kosciusko County Sheriff Jim Smith is looking to launch the Community Recovery Program (CRP) that will utilize the resources of many community partners.
The CRP will be a division of the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office.
“For a while we were talking about the IRACS (Integrated Reentry and Correctional Support) program. ... We went through that process. IRACS has a lot of great things to offer, but as we got into it, my team and myself made a decision to go this direction with this CRP for a couple reasons,” Smith said Thursday morning. “Not that IRACS is bad, but (CRP is) going to allow us, by doing this, to utilize all the great resources that Kosciusko County has to offer in terms of recovery, such as LITE (Living in Transition Effectively), Fellowship Missions, Allendale, so many other ones. Where I felt like with IRACS, maybe, it wasn’t so much of that, it was more pointed toward one recovery program. So this allows everyone to have a stake in it.”
While working on CRP over the last several months with all of the stakeholders, Smith said he was very encouraged by the ideas and involvement they brought to the table.
IRACS is a state program to help inmates reenter society. It helps inmates with mental health services, addiction counseling and acquiring documentation like IDs they may need after being released from jail.
“A lot like the IRACS, (CRP) is going to be peer recovery coaches that are going to be the main portion of this,” Smith said. “Statistically, what they’re finding (that works) ... working with these addicts - getting people in front of them that have kind of lived that life and that are recovering addicts themselves. Actually mentoring and working with these inmates on - ‘Hey, don’t tell me that you can’t do this because I’ve done it myself,’ ‘I was you, I slept right there in that cell,’ so on and so forth. This is what’s working. It’s resonating with them way more than if you or myself read out of a textbook to them.”
“The other piece of that, moving away from IRACS and our own, is that the sheriff’s office is going to have control of this. This is going to be our program. I felt it was only appropriate because it is our jail and it’s my staff that is going to be working alongside this program. It’s going to be very, very important to make sure that everyone is on the same page to make this work for the community, and giving these people a fighting chance to be productive citizens once they near that release time from their incarceration,” Smith stated.
At Thursday night’s County Council meeting, Smith was on the agenda to talk about applying for a grant from the K21 Health Foundation. The Council and the County Commissioners have to approve any grant application a county department makes.
“It’s going to allow us to - if it’s passed and accepted - hire a resource navigator position for the jail for this CRP. The grant is working with a partnership with K21 in hopes that they see value and our desire to get this program going,” he said.
The resource navigator, who will be an employee of the KCSO, is an essential position to making the CRP work, Smith explained. The navigator will work with the inmates, finding out what their needs are and getting them connected to the right resources.
“The resource navigator will meet with the inmates who are approaching release and help them get those important documents that they may have displaced or lost, such as Social Security cards, IDs, birth certificates, helping them get in contact with Medicaid office and any other benefits they may need once they’re out, whatever that may be; and then also helping them get connected more to the recovery homes in the area or if they want to go to another area in the state, helping them just getting in touch with those recovery homes, helping them with other housing, transportation, employment, resumes - just anything, any needs that these inmates have. We want to be able to help them successfully get those needs met as much as we possibly can,” JCAP (Jail Chemical Addiction Program) Coordinator Casey Trombley explained.
Chief Deputy Chris McKeand said the K21 grant application for the navigator position was laid out over a period of time. If approved, in year one the grant would cover 100% of the position; 75% in year two; 50% in year three and then to the point where the county eventually takes over the position.
“Ideally, it’s a partnership between K21 and Kosciusko County over time to prove the concept, to place the position, to get the work started and then move forward from there,” McKeand said. “That entry level right now, it’ll be equivalent to one of our jail officers.”
The grant application to K21 is due by Feb. 1, which the county council approved Thursday.
Trombley has spearheaded the implementation of CRP, and Smith said JCAP will continue. “We kind of envision this program (CRP) working alongside with JCAP. This navigator, assuming that it gets accepted, will work hand in hand with Casey and they’ll be working closely to make sure that we are meeting those needs of all those inmates as they are nearing release.”
He said he appreciated the support for the CRP that Jail Commander Kevin Gelbaugh and his staff have shown.
“We need to get these people resources rather than just us telling them, ‘Hey,’ you’re getting released. Here’s the door, we don’t want to see you back here.’ We’re meeting them half way,” Smith said.
CRP is only going to work for those inmates who are ready for a change, Smith stated, and are ready to accept responsibility and be willing to take the advice and resources that are given to them.
Smith CRP is going to help the community and reduce the jail population. “I only see upsides to this program,” he said.
Trombley said they are going to look at inmates who are about 60 to 90 days from release. “So that gives us some time to meet with them; the navigator to meet with them, figure out what they may need. They’re also going to be meeting with our mental health provider, our counselor, and we’re going to try to get at least weekly or biweekly counseling sessions with those who are approaching release. The counselor is going to do groups with those people. We hope to do anger management groups, MRT, any other group that may be beneficial, and we’ll have a peer recovery coach as well meeting with those people who are in recovery and want to learn those recovery skills.”
The three main people involved in the CRP will be the recovery coach, resource navigator and counselor.
On the peer recovery coaches, Trombley said, “We are very thankful to be able to have these relationships with the different organizations in the community, such as LITE, Fellowship Missions, Allendale, Bowen Center. So they have peer recovery coaches already on staff, so our hope is to utilize a couple people from those organizations to come in and assist the individuals in the jail.
“Then another important piece is, those people eventually will be released back into the community. And so, they’re already making connections with those people in the community from these organizations, and so they’ll be able to go there for further services, further assistance,” she said.
McKeand said the key to CRP is bringing all the partners together and having all the recovery organizations participating in the program.
Smith said the mental health piece of the CRP will be a big part of it.
“We have therapists through contracts we already have with our medical provider. There’s grants that are available that the medical company has already been able to hire another mental health person. I understand that they’re going through the process right now to try to find that person that will be in the jail,” Smith said. “But we’re able to tap into that.”
While IRACS is more focused on addiction recovery, CRP will focus on addiction recovery and mental health.
Smith realizes that some inmates won’t want to participate in the program or won’t be serious about it. “That’s OK. We just hope and pray that one day they will change their mind and one day they will be ready. We’re going to concentrate on those who are ready to make that change and accept the help that will be offered before them,” he said.
Because CRP won’t have the grant money that IRACS has, Smith said they are not able to start CRP full-tilt for all inmates of the jail. That’s why the inmates with 60 to 90 days before release were selected to participate in the program initially. Smith hopes the program will grow, however, as community partnerships grow.
“Although we’re going to start out small, I believe it’s going to grow pretty quickly,” he said.
Asked if one resource navigator was enough, Smith said to get the program going he believed so because that will be their sole job.
“I’m not going to ask them to pass meals or walk with the nurse or anything. Their sole responsibility is going to be just this,” he said. In a year, if they find the program is going well, he said they may have to start looking at adding to the navigator position. With IRACS, it was just one navigator and four recovery coaches. “So my feelings are, once you get those recovery coaches established, that are now working with that resource navigator, that we’re going to be just fine on personnel.”
Smith said he sees the CRP being able to start relatively quickly, even if it’s initially with a recovery coach and Trombley, to get it going.
Inmates will receive information on the CRP through the tablets they have access to in the jail.
The jail has a capacity of 305 inmates. Saturday, there were 291 and 286 Thursday. While a goal of CRP is to reduce that population, Smith said, “We’re providing the resources to give these people the opportunity to be successful. I kind of go back to when I got into law enforcement. They always told me 90% of the crimes are committed by 10% of the people. So you’ve got to focus on that because, why? Because they keep coming back, right? Officers are dealing with the same people. The prosecutor’s office are, the judges. So we’ve got to start attacking that number. So, yes, to reduce the population of the jail, but to also help mold and create productive citizens in Kosciusko County.”
Gelbaugh said the jail population is slowly creeping north of where it needs to be.
“So we’re trying to figure out ways to assist them. Let’s be honest, these people are going to be our next-door neighbors. We’ve got to try to figure out some way to assist them,” he said.
McKeand said if they can touch a small percentage of the jail population and get them to not go out and commit the next crime - even 10% - it takes a lot of stress off the jail staff.
“Nobody believes that we’re ever going to (stifle it), but can we slow it and make it manageable as far as the growth goes? That is one of the aims,” he said.