Lesa Christensen, currently the Administrative Supervisor for civilian jail staff, remembers the old jail facility. "It was very reactive." Lt. Marco Luna and Captain Ed Wilkinson took the initiative and researched modern jail facilities. They toured direct supervision facilities and Ms. Christensen became one of the trainers for the local jail facility.
Back in March this year, I did a post:
http://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2014/05/jail-is-not-all-about-incarceration-we.html
In that post, I interviewed Lt. Marco Luna, who is the Operations Lt, in charge of the custody division. That post explains the contrast between the old facility and the new facility and goes into detail about direct supervision.
"Lot of our officers had a hard time adjusting," said Ms. Christensen. "Lot of officers left because they didn't believe in the new philosophy. This new mindset involved officers not reacting but being in the same units as the inmate and interacting with them--direct supervision.
"I am a huge proponent for direct supervision," Ms. Christensen told me this afternoon when I interviewed her at the Inmate Programs Office, where she currently has her desk. "You get to talk to people, why they get into trouble, you hear their story and you get to learn about the individual circumstances that brought them to this point."
Ms. Christensen was the first female officer to work in a 64 male inmate dorm. As Lt. Luna mentioned in March, it takes a special person to work in this type of environment. Ms. Christensen reiterated that point. "You have to be confident but you cannot be arrogant. It is a teacher-student type of relationship. We have had bad things happen such as officers getting attacked; you have to be prepared."
Here is a link to a video explaining direct supervision and the transition of the local jail to a new modern facility
The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office Correctional Career
"When AB 109 and Prop 47 came through, CCP, the organization that decides where funds for county jails are allocated told us "we weren't prepared, we need to improve."
Humboldt County Correctional Facility adminstration representatives met with College of the Redwoods, Mental Health, DHHS and they started brainstorming.
Ms. Christensen researched and found in addition to the current inmate programs offered, Humboldt County inmates could benefit from classes offered by the National Institute of Corrections. These classes on cognitive, re-thinking therapy, thinking for change are "designed to help people who make bad decisions make good decisions."
Ms. Christensen looked at other counties and what they were doing.She was very impressed with a Marin County inmate re-entry program that helps inmates integrate into society after re-incarceration and change their lives for the positive and be successful.
Ms. Christensen is writing a proposal for a pilot project that has to then be approved by Captain Wilkinson. The proposal will initially "interview all people who will be released within 30 days and assess them for the risk of re-offending." Eventually, Ms. Christensen would like to expand this to include people being released in 60 days, 80 days and those who are in jail long-term.
"A lot of times, they don't have their basic needs met, so they re-offend and steal," said Ms. Christensen. "I want to ask them before they are released: What is your plan? Where will you live? Are you homeless? Are you a Vet? What do you need?"
Then she will help them get in contact with agencies and get them the basic tools they need so they have something set up before they leave the jail. Teen Challenge is now working on transitional housing for women; Ms. Christensen is working with College of the Redwoods to see if people can get financial aid if they want to continue beyond the general education they get in jail.
"We have always waited for people to ask for help, I'm going to be pro-active."
In order for this to be successful, Ms. Christensen said that the community needs to get involved. If there are job opportunities people can let her know; she also said that DHHS and Mental Health will be crucial for this to work.
"The only way this can be successful is if people want to change."
Ms. Christensen is only in her current position until March 1. She will then be transferred back supervising officers but she is passionate about helping those who want to change their life. Even while she waits for this project to be approved, she intends to reach out to inmates.
Thank you Mr. Chiv for the insights.
ReplyDeleteI hope you do more of these.
MOLA, thank you for your comment. I certainly plan to do more of these and original posts. I miss the stability and finances when I used to write for newspapers but I love the freedom of choosing what I write about. I also intend to pitch this to our local media to cover so people can get help in turning their lives around.
ReplyDeleteMany years ago, I led some weekly meditation groups in the jail. I found that the jail's program officer (sorry, can't recall her name) was one of the more compassionate people living in Humboldt. Depending on the day and the prison guards assigned, my task was made easier or more difficult. It was easy to tell who was who on the guard staff, and there were both good people and not so good people on the staff, just as there were good people and not so good people among the jail's inmates.
ReplyDeleteMitch, as you can see, the philosophy has changed and improved in the last 10 years.
DeletePeople who want to change have options. Now the community and businesses need to step up and help those who need to change their lives around.