County Committee Attempts To End Crime

Guilford County has a brand new "blue-ribbon" committee with a goal of nothing less than changing people's lives.

While that's a pleasant change from the many county committees that deal largely with minutia, it became very clear at the committee's first meeting on Friday, Sept. 14 that the group has their work cut out for them.

The committee, which doesn't have an official name yet, consists of commissioners, court and law enforcement officials, and representatives of community organizations that help fight homelessness and poverty, and the committee could add more members in the future.

At the inaugural meeting, 14 committee members met in the Blue Room of the Old Guilford County Court House for an hour and a half. The meeting had the unusual start time of 4 p.m. on a Friday – largely in order to accommodate the schedules of the judges and court officials.

Commissioners Paul Gibson and Carolyn Coleman are co-chairs of the committee, however Coleman didn't attend the first meeting, so Gibson ran the show alone.

"The purpose of this initial meeting is to organize and discuss the goals and objectives of the committee," Gibson told the group.

Soon after the meeting began, however, the committee's key goal, a lofty one, became crystal clear: find a way to keep people out of jail by preventing them from committing crimes in the first place, and keeping them from continuing in a life of crime once they do commit their first crime.

Committee members at the first meeting included Guilford County Pretrial Services Director Wheaton Casey, Guilford County District Attorney Doug Henderson, Sheriff BJ Barnes, Guilford County Social Services Director Robert Williams, former Guilford Center Director Billie Martin Pierce, Interactive Resources Center Executive Director Liz Seymour and District Court Judges Polly Sizemore, Susan Bray and Sherry Alloway.

It was clear early on in the discussion that many in the room felt a big piece of the puzzle was getting at the root causes and connecting inmates and those in the court system with mental health care, substance abuse treatment, anger management programs and similar resources.

Casey, whose office works with those awaiting trial to make sure they show up for court – and that they don't commit crimes while awaiting trial – said that, in many cases, the needed services were available but the offenders weren't aware of what was offered.

"These people don't know how to access services," Casey said.

She said her office works to get the people into the right programs, but she added it is always a challenge to get them to stay with those programs.

Barnes said that, in many cases, the people he sees in the jail will only get help if judges make it mandatory to do so.

"The problem is," Barnes said, "if it's not court ordered, they're not going to go."

"We've got too much carrot and too little stick," Barnes added. "Some people just do not want to change. We need to identify the ones that want help."

Barnes also said that, once that happens, it was important to have a highly structured support system in which all the consequences were very clear to inmates and others in charge of the justice system.

Several committee members commented on the disintegration in recent years of the web of services that once provided good support for substance abusers and the mentally ill. For instance, the Guilford Center, which has cared for substance abusers and those with mental issues in Guilford County over the years, has now been almost completely dismantled by changes in state law.

When Pierce was asked the extent of that disintegration, she said, "It's so much so that I retired over it."

Casey said an additional problem, when it comes to people with severe mental health issues, is that some court-ordered programs aren't equipped to deal with them.

Williams said he often sees people caught in an endless loop.

"If you have a history of any type of incarceration," Williams said, "getting a job becomes a real challenge for you, and getting a place to live is a real challenge. I have three or four staff dedicated to nothing but these types of cases."

It's no coincidence that the committee is starting up right as the new jail opens. The new jail, which has room for 1,032 inmates, is designed to provide mental health and drug treatment programs to keep the county's jail system from being a revolving door.

In the last several years, while the jail was being designed and built, Gibson and Coleman have both spoken out frequently about the county's need to do something other than lock people up and warehouse inmates.

Barnes said the first thing the committee needs to do is discover the situations and needs of people in the county's jails. He said that, years ago, there had been an extensive study of inmates in Guilford County, but there's no current assessment of the specific needs of the inmates.

"Our data is old," Barnes said.

He said he will sometimes go through the jail and ask the inmates questions.

"I'll say how much education do you have, and he will say a sixth grade education," Barnes said. "I'll ask, do you have a job, and they will say no."

"They don't have a job and they don't have the education to get one," the sheriff said. "There are no skills to offer. They're destined to come back unless some of that changes."

Barnes also said that, though he didn't have any firm statistics to back it up, his gut feeling was that the educational status and employment prospects of inmates in the county's jails were worse now than in years past.

Judge Sizemore said judges try to identify the issues in first appearances court, and get people in the care of agencies that can help them.

Henderson said that's all well and good, but he added that the key to real change is getting people to complete those programs.

"Do that, but do that while you've got some leverage on them," Henderson said.

Henderson said that, when people are facing court action or are threatened with jail time, the courts can offer them a strong motive to get help.

He also said Casey and her Pretrial Services workers were an invaluable asset to the court. He said they worked hard to see that inmates were directed toward agencies and services that could help them get their lives on track.

"Wheaton does an astonishing job of identifying these people," Henderson said.

Four years ago the Guilford County Board of Commissioners voted to expand that office from six pretrial workers to a dozen, and Henderson said that move by the commissioners has made a great deal of difference in Guilford County.

"That is the best money you ever put out there," Henderson said.

The large new committee also discussed the idea that real change in some cases might require help from the entire community and require intervention at a very early age. Several committee members spoke about the disintegration of the support system and a need to reestablish day reporting centers and other programs and practices that keep those in the justice system on a short leash.

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"The ultimate thing is how do you force somebody to get help," Williams said. "Some people say they prefer to be in jail because they get food and clothing."

Barnes said that many of the people in his jails, such as some drug dealers, don't want help.

"They feel like they're beating the system," he said. "They're making good money. For some of these young kids it's a rite of passage. Jail gives you street cred."

The committee members also spoke about the limitations of transforming the lives of these people given that they are in the jail an average of 20 days at a time.

There was much consent on the committee that the first step should be identifying the main causes of the problem and the specific issues facing the inmates and others repeatedly caught up in the courts.

Williams said, "The sheriff had a great idea – let's find out who we're talking about."

The committee plans to begin compiling information on the people in the county's jail system, support services and court programs, and meet on coming Friday afternoons to establish a framework for addressing the issues and reducing recidivism.

It was clear that just getting many of the important people in the same room talking was already reaping benefits. After Seymour spoke about the array of services offered at the Interactive Resources Center that opened about two years ago, Casey said she had learned something.

"I didn't know what ya'll did," Casey said. "But it sounds like ya'll could have been a resource for us for the past two years."

Gibson said, when asked after the meeting, that he wasn't sure why Coleman, his co-chair, wasn't at the meeting.