DNR Article Calls For Improved Mental Health Services At Our Local Jail

The following excellent front-page piece by Elaina Sauber in today's Daily News-Record makes a strong case for improved and expanded mental health services at our local jail, and highlights some changes a number of us have strongly advocated for years. 

For those of you who don't have access to the paper, this condensed version contains the first and last parts of the article, posted here with the kind permission of Peter Yates, DNR's managing editor:

Mental Health In Focus At Local Jail  - Elaina Sauber

George Nipe, half time jail counselor (photo by DNR's Daniel Lin)

HARRISONBURG — On the day after Christmas, Shannon Smith was desperate. The Dayton resident was on probation for the unlawful wounding of a police officer in 2012, and struggled with bipolar disorder, anxiety and depression. She attempted to end her life with a gunshot to the abdomen.

“I don’t know that I necessarily wanted to die,” she said. “I really felt like I didn’t know where to get help.”

An inmate at Rockingham County Jail, Smith’s attempted suicide sent her to the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville over New Year’s, and then back to jail for possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and a probation violation.

But Smith, 38, is getting the counseling she needs that goes beyond medication. Since landing in jail in January, she has met with licensed professional counselor George Nipe a half-dozen times.

Nipe now provides 20 hours of weekly therapeutic support for inmates with mental illness at the local jail as part of an 18-month pilot program.

Started in January by the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Community Services Board, the pilot program widens the jail’s resources for distressed inmates through one-on-one counseling led by Nipe, who teaches coping skills to handle their emotions in jail and other high-stress environments.

The Community Services Board spent $30,000 in one-time funds on the pilot program, and in December, Harrisonburg City Council and the Rockingham County Board of Supervisors each approved $15,000 to match the amount, according to Ellen Harrison, CSB director of acute services.

 That spending was approved amid heated debates between residents and city officials on the construction of a $63 million annex to help alleviate overcrowding in the jail, with opponents vying for incarceration alternatives.

Nipe joined nurse practitioner Michelle Wood, who works in the jail three hours a week providing medication assessments and services, and community liaison Joanne Benner, who counsels inmates with serious mental issues for 10 hours a week, and helps them prepare for release. All are employed through CSB.

While many observers familiar with the pilot program see it as a step forward in the jail’s mental health care, some ask whether 33 hours of care a week is sufficient when, according to the State Inspector General’s Office 2014 jails review, such facilities have become “an essential part of the commonwealth’s mental health system.”

(the middle section of the article, not included here, highlights the prevalence of bipolar disorder and substance abuse issues in jail populations)

‘Not Enough Time’

While the jail administration’s efforts to treat inmates with mental illness have improved with the pilot program, one practice at the jail still disturbs observers such as Harvey Yoder, a licensed professional counselor.

When inmates express suicidal thoughts or become a potential harm to others, jail staff often confines them to a restraint chair or its segregated padded cell. Yoder thinks such devices are counterproductive to an already troubled inmate’s mental state. 

“It’s exactly the opposite of what a mentally ill person needs: supportive, nurturing connections with human beings who care about them, who can explore their fears [and] give them assurance,” said Yoder, who has been vocal advocate for seeking alternatives to jail as a means of easing crowding.

In the first half of 2014, unstable inmates were confined to a restraint chair, which restricts the legs, arms and torso, 22 times. The padded cell, which is empty except a grate in the floor for inmates to relieve themselves, was used 14 times during the same period, according to records Yoder obtained from jail administrator Capt. Steve Shortell.

Records tracking the use of those devices during the second half of 2014 and since January were not readily available. Benner, however, believes the amount of inmates’ restraint time has decreased since Nipe started working at the jail. “It used to be everyone who made suicidal comments [was put] on suicide watch in the padded cell or restraint chair,” she said, “but now, they can have a professional assessment before getting to that point.” 

Hutcheson notes that the restraint chair and padded cell are used for an inmate’s own safety, adding that the jail also has a regular segregated cell with a bed and toilet for at-risk inmates. Jail staff is required to conduct 15-minute checks on such inmates, he said.

“In most cases, it’s someone coming in off the street because of alcohol, drugs or a combination, in an agitated state and having violent behavior,” Hutcheson said.

Yoder said he thinks the pilot is a “step in the right direction,” but it may not be sufficient for the jail’s nearly 325 inmates.

“One half-time person for that population ... with a larger percentage of mental-health issues than the average population — it’s just not enough time for any one person to meet the needs,” he said.

‘Hopeless And Helpless’

As for inmate Smith, who was permitted a five-minute conversation with a Daily News-Record reporter to detail her experience, she presents Nipe with the spectrum of mental-health issues with which he must deal: addiction, depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder, the latter requiring medication and counseling.

“I really felt like I didn’t know where to get help,” she says of her suicide attempt. “I felt really hopeless and helpless — and found my father’s gun.”

Now things are looking up and Smith wants to turn her life around. Nipe, she says, “is very encouraging, and is interested in seeing if I could be transferred to Western State Hospital [in Staunton], where I could get some help for my mental problems.”

But the help Smith gets is far from perfect, she said. When she had trouble adapting to the new medications Wood prescribed her, Smith said she had to wait a month before she could meet with Wood again.

“At no point could I relax. I just cried and cried,” Smith said.

Wood confirmed that inmates sometimes wait several weeks to see her, but said that the three hours a week she works is simply not enough to meet their needs any sooner.

Said Wood, “I think if I could see every inmate when they wanted to be seen, I’d work at the jail 40 hours a week.”

Here's a link to numerous other blog posts on this topic.

Guest Post: Chaplain’s MDiv capstone project explores ‘healing and redemption’ in jail ministry

Local Jail Chaplain Jason Wagner, center, with Willie Scott and Nathan Comer
(photo by EMU Weekly Digest photographer Macson McGuigan) 

by Christopher Clymer Kurtz

When Eastern Mennonite Seminary Master of Divinity candidate Jason Wagner presented his capstone integration project this spring, he was introduced by Nathan Carr, a man he’d gotten to know on the job.

“God works through him in one of the worst places a person can be,” Carr said. “I and many others are thankful to have had and still have the jail chaplain in our lives.”

A licensed minister, Wagner serves through Virginia Mennonite Missions in the Rockingham-Harrisonburg Regional Jail. He leads Christian services, offers pastoral care, coordinates visiting ministries, and advocates for active church involvement in jail ministry. In his months-long project, Wagner set out to explore “what it means to seek healing and redemption within the walls of a punitive system.”

Carr met Wagner while serving a jail sentence last year, after experiencing an “overwhelming” feeling of relief on a night he spent crying and praying. “God reached out and spoke to me and touched me and healed me,” Carr said – and the next morning, his pastor suggested he connect with Wagner.

The two would create a “friendship and brotherhood in Christ,” Carr said. “It was always exciting to hear what verse or helpful advice he had to offer.”

Wagner recounted his experiences and thoughts from his research and jail chaplaincy in a presentation titled “Against the Grain,” which began with a description of a Sunday evening service in the jail:

Twenty to 30 men crowd into a small classroom to have a time of worship. The men are dressed in orange jumpsuits and come cuffed together in twos from their pods. The visiting ministers and I stand by the door, shaking hands and introducing ourselves to the inmates.

One of my practices when leading worship in the jail is to proclaim over the gathered inmates that they are the church. Furthermore, I name that the presence of God is within the jail and that we, together, are a people, brothers in Christ, called to love and serve one another. I also name that in our worship, we experience what we are made for – to commune with God.

‘Just show up’

Jason Wagner serves through Virginia Mennonite Missions in the Rockingham-Harrisonburg Regional Jail. He leads Christian services, offers pastoral care, coordinates visiting ministries, and advocates for active church involvement in jail ministry.

For years, Wagner has interacted with people just out of the jail and facing difficulties, in part through his involvement at Harrisonburg’s Our Community Place.

Ministering inside a jail, in an “overwhelming” and traumatizing system that violates human dignity, is a calling that’s no more noble than any other, he said in an interview. Rather, “God places you where you’re at. You just show up and be a faithful presence, an expression of being with, in a robust way.”

That’s the Gospel, in his words: “We have a propensity to instrumentalize the Gospel, to make it a means to an end,” he said. “But it is the end. It’s the means and the end – a tangible community in and outside the system. A ministry of presence – that’s what I’m called to.”

In his chaplaincy, Wagner observed the traumagenic nature of incarceration that can result in the ongoing transmission of despair. “The intense conditions of being crammed into a place with other very stressed and hurting people creates the potential for an experience of even deeper pain and disorientation,” he said.

But worship, he said – quoting Angola Prison Seminary director John Robins – can be place for inmates to “reinterpret their personal history,” and allows space for incarcerated people to make positive choices as humans rather than as merely navigators of punitive dehumanization.

It’s “an act of subversion of the world,” he said, “because it projects a new world in which people can imagine life and wholeness in redemptive and new ways.”

Wagner speaks of such spiritual awakening with familiarity. At age 22 he had a “mystical experience” that resulted in conversion through an “encounter in relationship that made my life shift on its axis.” In subsequent years he became a founding member and elder of Early Church in Harrisonburg, and as a seminary student, he delved into the Bible through “academic, critical study of sacred text” even while asking, “How is this text living and active?”

The call

Carr’s eagerness to connect with Wagner is an example of “the deep cry and hunger for the redemptive love of Christ” that Wagner observed as part of “my own jailhouse conversion” during his first time leading music in the jail, he wrote in a 2017 Virginia Mennonite Conference article.

“The Lord Jesus calls us – the church – to be salt and light in a world that is bland and dark,” he wrote. “The jail is a significantly dark and bland corner in our community, housing deeply wounded exiles who are doomed to repeat their crimes if left isolated.”

Wagner’s capstone presentation ended with a message for the church, which he said is “compelled by the good news of Jesus to be on mission and boldly open up to those suffering in our community.”

Particularly “given that the majority of those who are housed in our local jail will soon re-enter our community,” he said, “it is the call of the church to draw near and open its doors and do the work of healing and discipleship that sets people free to do the right things for the right reasons.”

Link to EMU News Digest:
https://emu.edu/now/news/2018/07/chaplains-mdiv-capstone-research-explores-healing-and-redemption-in-jail-ministry/

P.S. After his recent release from the local jail, Nathan Comer lived with Wilmer and Mary Louise Lehman for several weeks prior to Christmas, 2017, as a part of a support team provided by the local Mt. Clinton Mennonite Church.

Tuesday’s meeting on Jail Concerns

At our local jail, the use of a restraint chair involves an inmate being strapped and kept in an upright position, sometimes for hours, without access to mental health treatment or other normal human interaction. 

The padded isolation room, unlike a regular solitary confinement cell, has no cot or mattress and no sink or commode, only a hole in the floor to be used for a toilet.  Before being placed in the cell, the person is stripped and given only a paper gown to wear. No reading or writing material is provided, and human contact is limited to jail personnel monitoring the cell and bringing in food (with no utensils, for safety reasons) and some strips of toilet paper when requested. 

Someone from the Community Services Board may be called in for assessment, but actual counseling help is normally not available.

Fifteen concerned citizens met at the Family Life Resource Center today as a follow-up to the March 6 forum held at the Massanutten Regional Library to discuss concerns about the above use of restraint chair and padded isolation chair for suicidally depressed inmates in our local jail.

Some helpful things we learned today:

Two representatives of the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Regional Jail reported that our local facility remains seriously overcrowded, currently housing 343 inmates when it was originally designed for 208. Inmates are double bunked, some have mattresses on the floor and an additional 40 are at the Middle River facility. All of this adds stress to inmates and jail personnel alike.

Most of the people who are placed in the restraint chair or in the padded isolation padded cell are incorrigible due to their being highly intoxicated or on drugs (such as bath salts), not because they are at risk for suicide. The group saw the use of restraints as understandable in some such cases but interest was expressed in getting more data on the nature and number of non-substance abuse cases that represent a risk for suicide, and what alternatives there are for their treatment. Records are kept on this and should be available.

There is no actual state regulation forbidding an outside professional (a suicidal inmate’s therapist, for example, where he or she already has one) being brought in to meet with a highly distressed individual, but safety and security concerns are cited as reasons for the jail not permitting this. There seemed to be a consensus in today’s group on having the on-call CSB clinician or whoever on the jail medical staff is doing a risk assessment to exercise the option of at least making a phone call to such a therapist.

The Community Services Board has a contract with the local jail to provide a minimum of necessary mental health services. The director of the CSB kindly expressed his willingness to get more information together on their work which he will discuss first with me and then perhaps also be willing to meet with a representative group of concerned citizens about ways of improving the mental health services they provide.

I was impressed by the level of interest expressed by everyone present, though questions were raised about whether too many concerns for not having trained outside volunteers hurt may get in the way of having more inmates helped. The group recognized the need to balance these concerns.

Another item of interest:

Sam Nickels, who could not be present today, recently returned from a three week trip looking at mental health systems in Central America, and said that hospital personnel he spoke with in Panama said they have a restraint chair, but that it is seldom used, and that the isolation room "went out years ago." In an email to me he suggested, “If Panama can do this, I think we can do it here. At a minimum we should have a protocol that states that if an inmate must be restrained for more than three hours (or whatever time period) in the chair, they must be transferred to the crisis/forensic unit of the state hospital, perhaps after consultation with the on call CSB assessment person.”


Attendees were invited to sign up to pursue one or more of the following:

 1. Investigate practices at other jails and prisons regarding the use of restraint chairs and isolated padded cells (State prisons no longer use the isolated padded cell, and the forensic unit at Western State Hospital uses bed restraints and/or one-on-one monitoring).

2. Consider ways of collaborating with our local Community Services Board in working to improve the treatment of mentally ill and suicidally depressed inmates in our jail.

3. Meet with Sheriff Hutcheson for an inside look at our local facility and to gather more information about actual practices and conditions at HRRJ.

4. Gather information and suggestions from ex-inmates and from concerned family members of mentally ill inmates about how to improve services.

I am also suggesting that each of us express our opinions and concerns directly to our newly-elected sheriff, Bryan Hutcheson, at bhutcheson@rockinghamcountyva.gov. He has been most open to hearing from his constituents.

A message of concern might go something like:

I sincerely hope that under your leadership the Harrisonburg Rockingham Regional Jail would end its use of the solitary padded cell for mentally ill and suicidally depressed inmates, and that in its place there could be one-on-one monitoring of such persons, utilizing, if necessary, volunteers trained by the Community Services Board or a similar agency.

We Can Afford Humane Mental Health Treatment For Local Inmates

Should suicidally depressed persons be put in restraint chairs?

I've just submitted the following to the DNR as an edited version of an earlier blog. Please read the last paragraph.

Here's question for local legislators: Why should the Rockingham-Harrisonburg Regional Jail have the lowest budget for mental health services of any facility in the area?

According to information obtained from the RHRJ, suicidally depressed inmates were confined to restraint chairs a total of 22 times during the first six months of this year. The minimum amount of time spent in such restraint, with belts and cuffs immobilizing the inmate's legs, arms, and torso, was two hours, with 28 hours being the longest.

During the same period, the jail’s segregated padded cell was used 14 times for inmates at risk for suicide. RHRJ's "rubber room", the only one of its kind used by any area jail I know of, has no bed or other furnishings, and no mattress, blanket, reading material or eating utensils. A grate in the floor serves as a commode, and the inmate has only a suicide-proof smock for warmth. He or she has no human contact except for regular suicide checks, and is offered no counseling whatever.

During this period 12 inmates were assigned to a regular segregated cell while on suicide watch. Here an inmate is allowed a blanket and a few personal items, similar to the procedure followed by most jails for suicidal inmates.

Incarceration itself, especially in crowded cells with some inmates sleeping on the floor, is extremely stressful, and it’s hard to imagine the trauma the above forms of confinement create for clinically depressed, paranoid and/or suicidal inmates. Hence the efforts of some of us to work with Sheriff Bryan Hutcheson at our local jail, along  with Mr. Lacy Whitmore of the Community Services Board, to seek ways of improving mental health services for local inmates.

This effort includes appealing to members of the City Council and Board of Supervisors for more funds for mental health services as well as offering volunteer local mental health professionals and supervised interns to help as needed. These carefully vetted individuals could work with the CSB and jail personnel to provide therapeutic support for inmates in a time of crisis.

I know it must be challenging for the sheriff and his overworked staff to provide for the needs of some 400 inmates. They have to deal with situations the best way they can with their limited budgets and resources.

But why should our relatively well-to-do community, blessed with a near surplus of mental health professionals, be limited to an annual budget of under $18,000 to provide psychological treatment and care for local inmates? This expenditure, through a contract RHRJ has with our local CSB, is by far the most meager per inmate of any facility in the region, and covers only about an hour of mental health screening and three hours of medication management per week, the latter provided by a trained nurse practitioner.

By comparison, the new Rappahannock-Warren-Shenandoah Regional Jail, with a capacity of 375 when filled, employs a full time mental health worker, and the Winchester Regional Jail, with 600 inmates, has two full time counselors.

The Arlington County Jail, currently housing just over 500, employs five full time professional counselors and a full time psychologist, partly funded with grant money. By last report, Arlington County, with this comprehensive approach, is actually seeing its jail population decline.

Our area boasts of having the lowest tax rate of any in Virginia except for tourist rich Williamsburg, but we are far, far from being the poorest locality in the Commonwealth.

Not only can we afford to offer more decent mental health services here, but given the wealth of human and other resources in our community, we could develop an enviable criminal justice system that could become a model for Virginia and the nation. We could invest more in education, prevention, treatment, diversion and restorative justice programs that help keep people out of the correctional system and less in building ever more expensive jail facilities.

Could We Make This Dream Come True?

At noon today local pastor Cindy Carr, EMU counseling professor Cheree Hammond, pastor and jail chaplain Ben Risser, Rockingham Cooperative General Manager Norman Wenger and I met with Community Services Board Director Lacy Whitmore to discuss ways of improving mental health services at the local jail.

Currently the CSB has a contract to provide only 2 1/2 hours of psychiatric services each week for a very crowded inmate population of approximately 340. Due to a lack of staff and other resources suicidally depressed persons may still spend hours confined to either a restraint chair or the padded isolation cell, the latter with the inmate having only a paper gown to wear and with their only amenity being a hole in the floor for a commode.

By way of contrast, Cindy Carr talked about the recent experience of having their adult daughter successfully complete a well staffed five-week drug rehabilitation program, one which has completely revolutionized her life. The cost was considerable of course, but still less than the $26,000 tax payer cost of a year of incarceration that provides for virtually no rehabilitation.

We realize a jail can never be like a rehab center, but the dream that emerged today was whether we could generate the support needed (perhaps in collaboration with the CSB) to hire a full or part time therapist for the jail, one who could also coordinate a program of volunteer professionals to help meet some of the mental health and reentry needs of inmates. Safety and liability issues were raised, but state regulations do allow for outside personnel to visit inmates at the discretion of the sheriff or other jail administrator, as follows:

Code section 53:1-127 "... the sheriff, jail administrator or other person in charge of the facility shall prescribe the time and conditions under which attorneys and other persons may enter the local correctional facility for which he is responsible."

Here are some of the questions I had prepared for Mr. Whitmore prior to our meeting:

Is the current contract with the jail (to provide 2 1/2 hours a week of psychiatric care) adequate for the needs of over 300 inmates?

Answer: No official CSB position on whether this is adequate or inadequate.

What benefits, if any, would there be in some kind of partnership with other concerned professionals in expanding or improving mental health services at the local jail? What form of partnership might be most helpful?

Answer: May be desirable, but difficult to implement.

Does the CSB have any position or recommendation regarding the current use of the restraint chair and/or the isolated padded cell for suicidally depressed inmates? Or the segregated cell, where inmates may be held for weeks at a time with no reading material (except the Bible)?

Lacked sufficient time to discuss this.

Would the CSB welcome having other health care professional, including volunteers and counselor interns, be available for close monitoring of suicidal inmates and/or other counseling services if permission could be granted by the Sheriff?

Answer: Not sure. It’s hard to picture that happening in the current situation.

Does the CSB share the jail administration's fears about liability and safety if there were greater access granted for additional professional mental health services to inmates?

Lacked sufficient time to discuss this.

If you could have your own wishes granted, what would be your dream program for mental health services for inmates at our regional jail?

Spent some time brainstorming time this.

Overall, this was a good session, for which we sincerely thank Mr. Whitmore, and I hope we can keep this conversation going. Maybe the dream of having the jail become more of a place for growth and rehabilitation can still come true. Stay posted.

You may also want to read this recent post.

Reflections On The Two-Year Anniversary Of The Middle River Jail Buy-In

Middle River Jail

A slightly abbreviated version of this piece by Reta Finger, member of the local Valley Justice Coalition, appeared as an op ed in today's Daily News-Record. 

What follows is her original version as submitted: 

“As far as this facility goes,” writes an inmate at Middle River Regional Jail (MRRJ), “even the minimum security inmates are locked down 18 hours a day in a two-bunk cell about 11 feet by 6 feet. If the jail is short-staffed, we are locked down longer. One day I was sent to Medical Segregation due to food poisoning from the outdated milk they served us. These cells are unsanitary and way worse than general population cells, and you are locked down 23-24 hours a day.”

In 2014, many residents of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County protested the need for another jail costing $63M, believing that a new facility—paid for with our taxes—would only encourage more convictions and longer sentences. Since 1995, when our current jail was built, incarcerations had climbed 500%, while population increased only 25%. Many individuals, like local criminal justice expert Dr. Nancy Insco, were hoping for a reduction in the need for jail-beds by using alternatives proven to successfully rehabilitate offenders.

The solution, signed July 1, 2015, was a 250-bed buy-in at the MRRJ. Harrisonburg and Rockingham County each shared half the cost of $21,543,588, to be paid over ten years at 2.17% interest—besides $25 per occupied bed per day for services.

At this two-year anniversary, it’s time to take stock of this decision. Was it wise to commit our tax money to this? Has it lowered incarceration rates and provided alternatives that help inmates become contributing members of society? This issue concerns all of us, since over 90% of prisoners will eventually be released.

The local Valley Justice Coalition looks for ways to encourage our civic leaders to lower incarceration rates by every humane, evidence-based, and safe ways possible. Following are a few observations and evaluations about the MRRJ buy-in:·   

      

Middle River Regional Jail was originally overbuilt, resulting in heavy debt. Years later, Augusta County officials persuaded Harrisonburg and Rockingham County to buy 250 beds at MRRJ.

We now pay for these beds whether or not they are filled. In addition, inmates or their families are charged a burdensome $3 per day. 

Although carefully-arranged tours have shown well-cared-for prisoners, actual conditions are often less than humane. Besides lock-downs and spoiled food, visitors to MRRJ from our area have long commutes, and a lack of quality medical treatment resulted in several deaths in 2016.

On the positive side, MMRJ does provide a work-release program, which our local facility does not. Also, unlike our local jail, it does not require inmates to be in handcuffs when going to the visitor area.

But have we gotten the best possible return for our 2015 buy-in? After decades of experience, Dr. Insco states, "Jail populations will continue to grow unless the demand for beds diminishes. No jurisdiction will ever build their way of the problem."  

Concerned citizens are always welcome at the Monday noon meetings of Valley Justice Coalition at 110 Old South High Street in Harrisonburg.

For more posts on MRRJ: http://harvyoder.blogspot.com/search?q=middle+river+jail

Before We Expand The Middle River Jail

Our local jail numbers are growing by 10% this year, so
we're sending ever more inmates (all of our women) to
MRRJ, where their daily keep fee goes from $1 to $3.

The following appeared as an Open Forum in today's Daily News-Record:

According to a front page article in the March 26, 2019 DNR, the Middle River Regional Jail (MRRJ) Authority has already budgeted money for a Community Based Corrections Plan, a needs assessment study required by the Commonwealth in order to apply for a 25% state grant for expanding the facility if deemed necessary. According to the DNR, this alone would cost more than $57,000, in addition to a facility planning study for an additional $84,000. Engineering services by the Timmons Group would cost yet another $12,000. 

For a bit of history, Harrisonburg and Rockingham County joined the Middle River Regional Jail Authority in July, 2015, in response to overcrowding at our local jail. The $21.5 million, 10-year deal provided our community with access to 250 MRRJ beds. Up to that time, our locality was spending $1.2 million a year renting around 100 beds at Middle River as a temporary solution. Meanwhile, in spite of our crime rates remaining comparatively low, we keep adding some 10% more inmates annually to these numbers, resulting in still more crowding.

But before we invest in ever more costly jails we should consider the recent experience of the Riverside Regional Jail in Prince George County. Similar to MRRJ, it serves four nearby counties and three adjacent cities. According to a March 5, 2019 piece in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Riverside is facing a $2.4 million budget operating deficit in the coming fiscal year due to a shortage of inmates.

Why? A major reason is that the Chesterfield County Jail, with around 300 beds of its own, and which has supplied nearly half of RRJ’s inmates, has seen their jail numbers drop by some 34%, resulting in that County’s share of RRJ’s income decreasing from $11.9 million in the current fiscal year to a projected $8.4 million in 2020.

According to the Richmond Times piece, “Chesterfield's sheriff, Karl Leonard, attributed the county's drop in part to rehabilitation programs his department has created for offenders with substance abuse problems and more inmates being diverted by county judges into diversion programs rather than sending them to jail.”

The highly successful Heroin Addiction Recovery Program (HARP) promoted by Sheriff Leonard in his Chesterfield County Jail was designed by the McShin Foundation and has recently been adopted by the Rappahannock/Shenandoah/Warren Regional Jail in Front Royal as well.

John Shinholser, former Board Chair of Rubicon, Inc., Virginia's most comprehensive substance abuse treatment facility, and who with Carol McDaid heads the McShin Foundation, will present a report on the HARP program at the next meeting of our local Community Criminal Justice Board at 4 pm. June 3 on the lower floor of Harrisonburg City Hall. For those interested, the meeting is open to the public.

Reasons for increases in our incarceration numbers are varied and complex, and answers are not easy to come by, but before we invest in ever more steel and concrete cages to house non-violent offenders we need to study every effective alternative possible.

Better Mental Health Services For Local Inmates?

restraint chair

Daniel Robayo, rector of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, and I had a productive meeting with Rockingham County Sheriff Bryan Hutcheson and Lieutenant Steven Shortell on Monday to discuss the following:

1) How can our community support an increase in the number of hours and personnel available to provide much needed mental health services to jail inmates, including enlisting professional mental health volunteers if necessary?

2) How could an expanded staff help provide alternatives to the use of the restraint chair and the isolated padded cell when dealing with mentally ill and suicidally depressed persons?

3) How could the jail and/or the Community Services Board better respond to numerous concerns expressed by inmates who reporting problems accessing medications as prescribed?

Uses of Restraint Chair and Isolated Padded Cell (January 1 through June 30, 2012)





Unlike the above photo, our local jail does not strip inmates who are confined to their restraint chair, but when suicidally depressed or incorrigible inmates are placed in the isolated padded cell for similar safety or medical (suicidal) reasons they are stripped of their clothing and given only a paper gown to wear. While there they have no access to reading material, mattress, pillow, blanket, or eating utensils. A hole in the floor serves as a commode.



We can understand the occasional need for such restraint or confinement for incorrigible inmates, but the primary purpose of Monday’s meeting was to discuss more humane ways to treat mentally ill and suicidal detainees.



We had recently asked for, and kindly received, documentation from Sheriff Hutcheson’s office about all uses of the jail’s restraint chair and padded isolation cell from January 1 to June 30, 2012.
 Their report showed there were 19 cases of mentally ill persons (usually suicidal) being confined to the restraint chair during that time, an average of three per month. In restraint, belts and cuffs have the prisoner's legs, arms, and torso immobilized.



In an additional 8 cases inmates were in restraint for things like “were intoxicated,” “wouldn’t listen,” “were bouncing off the walls,” or who were otherwise seen as possibly harming themselves. The average time spent in the chair for these 27 persons (for medical and these other reasons) was four hours, with the shortest time being two hours and the longest ten hours.      



In addition, there were 22 other reported cases of the chair being used for inmates demonstrating violent behavior and who were considered potentially harmful to others. Some of that number may also have been suicidal, but this was difficult to determine because many were under the influence of alcohol or other drugs. The average time spent in the chair in these cases was six hours, with two hours being the shortest time and 24 hours being the longest.
     


As to the isolated padded cell (the “rubber room”), there were 7 cases of it being used for medical reasons (inmates deemed suicidal) during this six-month period. In an additional 13 instances an ordinary segregated cell was used and a guard assigned to regularly check to make sure the prisoner did no harm to him or herself. Here the inmate does have access to a Bible, mattress, blanket and a commode.



Segregation cells are used routinely for disciplinary purposes in jails and prisons, and sometimes for the protection of an inmate who is in danger of being harmed by his or her cell mates. Such sentences to the “hole,” for either the prisoner’s protection or for in-jail violations, may be for weeks at a time.
     


In all fairness, extreme overcrowding at our local jail, along with challenges of limited budget and personnel have Sheriff Hutcheson and his staff stretched to their limit. Our jail, built for 208, is double bunked and typically houses from 325-375 inmates, some having to sleep on the floor. As a result, jail staff feels they have few choices at times but to resort to the use of the restraint chair, segregated cells, and even to the dreaded isolated padded cell. They do report, however, a definite trend toward fewer uses of such measures.



Current Medical and Mental Health Resources

Our local jail has a contract with Southern Health to provide one or more nurses on site around the clock to meet the medical needs of inmates. In addition, a retired MD from Staunton is available on a very part-time basis.

For mental health needs, the jail contracts with our local Community Services Board to provide a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner for 2 1/2 hours once a week and two professional mental health counselors for a part of two days per week and to be on call for emergencies.

Two very part time volunteer chaplains are also available for male inmates and one for female detainees.

Ongoing Challenges

Over the past year a number of concerned citizens in our community have been meeting to explore alternative sentencing options and other ways of reducing jail overcrowding, as well as brainstorming better ways of dealing with mentally ill and suicidally depressed inmates. 

One idea is to assign such persons to regular segregated cells with trained volunteer mental health providers or interns taking turns being next to the cell and relating to that person until he or she is able to be returned to general population. Such volunteers, coordinated by the CSB, could also be useful in the booking area, where persons may be kept for as long as 24 hours (occasionally longer) until they are sober and can be appropriately assigned to regular population.



In this holding area, inmates are normally not allowed a mattress, pillow or blanket for fear they may attempt to harm themselves, and are typically denied their medications during that time, especially if they are intoxicated.



I believe a community like ours can work together to provide more effective and humane treatment of our incarcerated citizens. Monday’s meeting gave us new hope that together we might be able to make that happen, with Sheriff Hutcheson suggesting in his last email that “the CSB is a primary factor in this matter of discussion”. 



Check out the following links for more background information: 



http://harvyoder.blogspot.com/search?q=can+we+make+this+dream+come+true


http://harvyoder.blogspot.com/2012/03/some-reflections-on-tuesdays-forum.html

http://www.nmha.org/go/position-statements/24

P. S. SAVE THIS DATE: A community forum is being planned for the Massanutten Regional Library from 12-1:30 pm Monday, November 19, to discuss the expanded use of GPS bracelet monitoring technology for pre-trial and post-trial non-violent offenders. The program features a panel of speakers that includes the founder of Nexus Programs (a non-profit agency that provides such monitoring), a representative from the bail bond industry that offers similar technology, and a Clerk of Court and national expert on these issues from North Carolina. Their input will be followed by a Q & A time with participants. The event is free and open to the public.

15 Statements In the Moseley Architects Report That Could Negate The Need For A Second Jail

Here are 15 remarkable statements from the 140-page Moseley Architects' own "Community-Based Corrections Plan" which, if taken seriously, would reduce or eliminate the need for a second jail for Harrisonburg and Rockingham County (I've inserted the numbers 1-15 and have highlighted some items in bold for emphasis).

p. 115 Adult Drug Court

(1) According to the Virginia Supreme Court “the scientific evidence is overwhelming that adult drug courts reduce crime, reduce substance abuse, improve family relationships, and increase earning potential. In the process drug courts return net dollar savings back to their communities that are at least two to three times the initial investments”. According to the National Center for State Courts, in a report entitled “Virginia Adult Drug Treatment Courts,” (October 2012), in fiscal year 2011, Drug Courts in Virginia saved taxpayers $19,234 per person as compared to traditional case processing, and that Drug Courts reduced recidivism rates for the persons completing a program."

p. 121 Day Reporting Centers

(2) Day Reporting can be adapted to a number of different populations. In Virginia, they are utilized to offer enhanced treatment and supervision to probationers or sentenced offenders not on probation; to monitor early released inmates from jail; to monitor arrested persons prior to trial; as a halfway-out step for inmates who have shown progress in community corrections or work-

release centers; and as a halfway-in step for offenders who are in violation of probation. Sometimes referred to as a “one-stop” shop, a Day Reporting Center offers many of programs and services that best practices suggests reduces the likelihood of reoffending; reduces recidivism, and eventually reduce jail bed space requirements, including: individual and group counseling, substance abuse education, anger management, domestic violence prevention, cognitive and life skills training, parenting and family reintegration, community service, education/GED preparation, and reentry services.

p. 124 Implementing New Programs: The Jail Bed Space Impact

(3) Rockingham - Harrisonburg should initiate a long range planning strategy to investigate, develop and implement a continuum of jail-based ... programs and services for persons with mental health and substance abuse issues, and programs and services which target the probation violator population which appears to be utilizing a substantial portion of jail beds. 

p. 127 Inmate Population Forecast
Significant Finding: If existing policies, procedures and administrative practices remain unchanged in the future, the Rockingham-Harrisonburg Regional Jail inmate population (excluding federal prisoners) is projected to reach 524 inmates in FY-21, and 675 inmates by the year FY-29. 

p. 136ff SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
(4) Most citizens attending the public “Listening Sessions,” were vocally opposed to expanding jail capacity and expressed frustrations at what they perceived was a lack of jail alternative programs and treatment options for persons processed through the local criminal justice system. 

(5) The evidence uncovered during this project suggests that several key offender groups should be targeted in order to control future jail population growth: (1) offenders in un-sentenced awaiting trial (approximately 40% of the inmate population); (2) probation violators (by a number of measures a disproportionally large offender group), and (3) offenders with substantial substance/mental health issues that are associated with repeated criminal behavior and contribute to the jail’s “revolving door.” 

(6) Increase system coordination, goal setting, oversight and improved planning information and regular dissemination to decision making. The community has a formal Community Criminal Justice Board (CCJB) with the statutory responsibility to: (1) advise on the development and operation of local pretrial services and community-based probation programs and services for use by the courts in diverting offenders from local correctional facilities; (2) assist community agencies in establishing and modifying programs and services for offenders; (3) evaluate and monitor community programs, services and facilities; and (4) develop and amend criminal justice plans. This group should oversee an ongoing planning effort that focuses the issues associated continuing crowding at all levels of the local system. 

(7) It is recommended that several smaller sub-committees, whose membership consists of persons with specific areas of expertise in various areas of the local system, be established to focus on and investigate portions of the system by reviewing, analyzing and identifying processes and programs within the system that can be enhanced to create a more effective and efficient criminal justice system. These sub-committees should include a broad spectrum of representatives from the criminal justice, public health, higher education communities, as well as concerned citizens. 

(8) Investigate ways to reduce intake. Programs and administrative practices aimed at reducing intake should be evaluated and implemented. Early and effective pretrial programming should be enhanced with the goal of reducing future intake pressure. 

(9) Investigate pretrial confinement policies, procedures and administrative practices. While this report contains an initial profile of persons detained in pretrial status, further investigation is recommended to determine risk levels of persons incarcerated, bond statuses and reasons for confinement. There are, for example, a large number of detainees who are confined without bond for reasons that are not apparent. In addition, available data suggests that over 90% of ordered secure bonds are for amounts of $5,000 or less – amounts that poor people may not be able or willing to pay. In the face of research that suggests that requirements of small secured bond amounts is not related to public safety or appearances in court, further investigation is recommended.

(10) Increase current pretrial and local probation staff levels. Decision makers should consider funding new positions rather waiting for the State funding process which can take several years. There should be phased plan for the expansion of Pretrial and Local Probation services and program options to coincide with the jail planning. A total of 6.5 pretrial and local probation officers combined to provide services to a community with over 125,000 residents with an annual operating budget of just over $635,000 is not adequate to provide services and programs for the offender population, and certainly does support any future expansion of programs and services in the community. Current staff levels for both pretrial and local probation services are inadequate to cope with current and projected workloads and should be increased (at a minimum) to a level in keeping with the projected growth in the offender population. 

(11) Expand home electronic monitoring and GPS monitoring as pre- and post- trial supervision options. While not widely used in Virginia, effective electronic monitoring of both pretrial and sentenced offenders who would otherwise be incarcerated in jail provides a viable and effective mechanism for controlling jail crowding. 

Investigate/implement an Adult Drug Court program. ...It is widely accepted that Drug Courts reduce recidivism for persons who complete the program. 

Investigate/Implement a Day Reporting program. ...Intermediate sanction programs such as intensive probation supervision, house arrest, electronic monitoring and day reporting are intended to serve as a step between the security and punishment of jails. ...This program has the potential to have a near term impact on jail bed needs by allowing targeted offenders to be removed from jail and admitted to this program. See (2) above


(12) Implement and strengthen new jail-based programs. ...including: Work Release, Education Release, Public Work Force, Electronic Home Monitoring, Weekend Sentencing (non-consecutive sentencing). In the consultants’ experience the jails across Virginia that operate the most robust jail-based programs have several important characteristics in common, they have: (1) sufficient space to provide programs and services (in both housing and support areas); (2) formed viable collaborations with community volunteer and community agency groups; (3) demonstrated commitments to providing programs and services to offenders through their jail operations, and (4) program options that have the support of key decision makers in their communities.

(14) Expand and strengthen reentry services for incarcerated offenders. The nature and extent of existing reentry programming was not entirely clear over the course of this project. However, the provision of reentry and transition services is an important service delivery component of many jail-based programs. 

(15) Provide expanded Mental Health and Substance Abuse services within the jail. Increasingly, offenders with chronic mental health issues are residing in local and regional jails, and greatly contributing to the “revolving jail door” that is apparent in Rockingham-Harrisonburg.

NOTE: Please contact some or all of the following members of the CCJB who are set to  meet at 4 pm Monday, December 8 , at the County Office to consider the Moseley report. This is not a public hearing as such but your respectful presence at the meeting, to be held at 4 pm in the Fire and Rescue room at County Administration on East Gay Street, will send an important message:

Community Criminal Justice Board Directory (CCJB)

The Honorable T.J. Wilson, Judge Rockingham County Circuit Court Judge of the Circuit Court 80 Court Square Courthouse Harrisonburg, VA 22802 Phone: (540) 564-3111 Fax: (540) 564-3127
The Honorable Bruce D. Albertson, Judge Rockingham County Circuit Court Judge of the Circuit Court 80 Court Square Courthouse Harrisonburg, VA 22802 Phone: (540) 564-3111 Fax: (540) 564-3127
The Honorable Richard A. Claybrook, Judge Rockingham County General District Court Judge of the General District Court 53 Court Square Room 132 Harrisonburg, VA 22801 Phone: (540) 564-3130 Civil # 540-564-3135 or 540-564-3138

Fax: (540) 564-3096 Clerk Ms Teresa Lynn Brown email: tbrown@courts.state.va.us

The Honorable H. David O'Donnell, Judge Rockingham County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Judge of the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court 53 Court Square, 2nd Floor; Room 214 Harrisonburg, Virginia 22801 Phone: (540) 564-3370 Fax: (540) 563-3392

*Pablo Cuevas, Chairman of CCJB Rockingham County Board of Supervisors Rockingham County Governing Body 20 E. Gay St. Harrisonburg, VA 22802 Phone: (540) 896-7889

*Ted Byrd, Vice Chairman of CCJB Mayor, City of Harrisonburg City of Harrisonburg Governing Body 345 S. Main Street Harrisonburg, VA 22801 Byrd@harrisonburgva.gov

Donald D. Driver, Jr., Director Harrisonburg/Rockingham County Social Services Department of Social Services PO Box 809 Harrisonburg, VA 22803 P (540) 574-5100 F (540) 574-5127 E don.driver@dss.virginia.gov

Chaz W. Evans-Haywood Clerk of Circuit Court Rockingham County Circuit Court Rockingham County Courthouse Harrisonburg, VA 22801 clerkchaz@rockinghamcountyva.gov Phone: 540-564-3111 Fax: 540-564-3127

Bryan Hutcheson, Sheriff Rockingham County Sheriff's Department Sheriff of Rockingham County/Regional Jail Administrator 25 S. Liberty St. Harrisonburg, VA 22801 P (540) 564-3838 F (540) 564-3865 E bhutcheson@rockinghamcountyva.gov

Dr. Carol Fenn, Superintendent Rockingham County Public Schools Local Educator Rockingham County Public Schools 100 Mt. Clinton Pike Harrisonburg, VA 22802 P (540) 564-3230 F (540) 564-3241 E cfenn@rockingham.k12.va.us W rockingham.k12.va.us

Dr. Scott R. Kizner, Superintendent Harrisonburg City Schools Local Educator Harrisonburg City Schools One Court Square Harrisonburg, VA 22801 P (540) 434-9916 F (540) 434-5196

Marsha L. Garst Attorney for the Commonwealth Commonwealth's Attorney 53 Court Square Harrisonburg, VA 22801 P (540) 564-3350 F (540) 433-9161 E mgarst@rockinghamcountyva.gov

Chief Stephen Monticelli Chief of Police, Harrisonburg Police Department Harrisonburg Chief of Police 101 North Main Street Harrisonburg, Virginia 22802 Non-Emergency 540-434-4436

*Kurt Hodgen, City Manager Harrisonburg City City Manager's Office, Room 201 City of Harrisonburg Manager/Executive 345 South Main St

Harrisonburg, VA 22801
Kurt.Hodgen@harrisonburgva.gov 

Anne Lewis - Assistant City Manager -
Anne.Lewis@harrisonburgva.gov 

Louis K. Nagy, Esquire Public Defender/Criminal Defense 590 E. Market St. Harrisonburg, VA 22801
Phone: 540-315-8450 540-315-8450

Monica Martin, Chief Magistrate
26th Judicial District

Chief Magistrate of the 26th Judicial District

53 Court Square, Suite 180 Harrisonburg, VA 22801 540-564-3847 

*Joseph S. Paxton, Administrator Rockingham County

Rockingham County Administrator/Executive

20 E. Gay St.
Harrisonburg, VA 22802
P (540) 564-3011
F (540) 564-3017
E jpaxton@rockinghamcountyva.gov 

Lee Shifflett James Madison University Non-Emergency Telephone - Chief of Police 540.568.6912
shifflla@jmu.edu 

Ann Marie Freeman, CCJB Director, Rockingham- 540-564-3144
Staff Harrisonburg Court Services Unit 53 Court Sq Ste 175
Harrisonburg, Virginia 22801-3700
amfreeman@rockinghamcountyva.gov 

Lacy Whitmore

Director of Community Service Board

1241 North Main St 540-434-1941
Fax:

540-434-1791 

You can get involved by signing the petition at http://statlive.org/building-justice/petition.html as well as check this "Action Packet" link for more information. And please feel free to post links on social media and otherwise share this information with your friends.