A newly-formed Citizen's Jail Committee is working to find ways to reduce recidivism in Union County, Sheriff Ricky Roberts said this week.
The CJC held its first meeting last month, when Roberts gave members – which includes a representative from each of the county's 11 JP districts – a tour of the Union County Detention Facility.
He told the Quorum Court in March about the first meeting, and District 5 JP Carolyn Jones asked what discussions had been held about crime prevention and intervention, which she said she had understood to be the purpose of the committee.
"We broached that subject as well," Roberts answered. "We've got a reentry program, classes, going on to try to help our recidivism rate. We also said that there were some other things we could look at."
The committee met for a second time this week, and Roberts said the focus of the meeting was reducing recidivism.
"I think it was a positive meeting. We can build off of it, no doubt about that," he said.
As of Friday, there were 78 criminal defendants scheduled to appear in court tomorrow, and Roberts said 31 of those were habitual offenders.
"This may be their second felony, may be their fourth felony, may be more than that," he said. "That's what we're trying to cut down on."
Re-entry has been a major focus at the UCSO and throughout the community for several years. The SHARE Foundation identified successful re-entry for former prison or jail inmates as an important component of reducing violence in the community in 2017 and it has remained a priority since.
"We have several organizations doing the same thing, and we need to come to the table – there's no sense in going in four or five different directions – and see if we can narrow the scope," Roberts said. "We're looking to partner with some other organizations to see what we can offer them or if they can help us, just to better our community and keep the recidivism rate down in our jail," he said.
Through a grant from the SHARE Foundation, the UCSO hosts an in-house reentry program that works to address substance abuse, anger management and other barriers to rejoining the community from jail in a healthy way.
April is Reentry Awareness Month, and on April 27, the SHARE Foundation will host a come-and-go resource event where local residents can learn about re-entry resources available locally. Recently released former inmates and their family members, or those who are close to someone who will soon be released from prison or jail, are encouraged to attend.
Many barriers exist for those who are rejoining the community from prison or jail, including housing, transportation, finding a job or accessing education or training, legal issues and mental health matters. The event on April 27 will have resources or agencies on-hand to discuss all of those and more.
The re-entry event will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at St. John Missionary Baptist Church. For more information, contact Debbie Watts at 870-881-9015 or [email protected].
The Citizen's Jail Committee will next meet on Wednesday, May 10 at 10 a.m. in the third-floor conference room at the Union County Courthouse.