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An Open Letter to Connecticut
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy
and Our State Legislators:
On the State's Plan to Cut Funding for
Prisoner Reentry
By Rev. Jeff Grant, JD, M Div
Dear Governor
Malloy and
Our Connecticut State Legislators,
I am on the Board of Directors of Family ReEntry, an essential nonprofit agency
serving released inmates and their families in Fairfield and New Haven
Counties.
These reentry services include
critical mental health and substance abuse treatment for over 1,500 Paroles
each year – thus increasing public safety, reducing recidivism, and decreasing the
collateral consequences and costs. In
addition, Family ReEntry provides effective interventions for over 1,200 family
violence offenders throughout the State - resulting in significant reductions
in the victimization of women and children. These programs help halt the tragic
intergenerational cycle of violence and abuse.
Family ReEntry Youth Programs
focus on prevention and very early intervention for children of incarcerated
parents and youth involved in the Juvenile Justice System – thus saving lives
and dollars. Other community justice providers across the State are essential
to the social order, humane and effective care, and public safety.
Without these services, crime will increase, incarceration
will increase, associated costs will increase, unemployment will increase, and
communities will suffer. This is not an attractive climate for business!
I am reaching
out to implore you to do everything in your power to prevent budget cuts in the
community justice sector.
Cuts already implemented
have devastated the community justice providers across the State. Family ReEntry, for example, has lost 67% of its Department of Corrections
community programs, including two large mental health and substance abuse
treatment programs, which were already over utilized by 450 Parolees and were
projected to effectively assess and treat 1,600 by June 30 when the contracts
are terminated. What happens to public safety after that? And these are only two of the many mental and
substance abuse treatments programs eliminated this week.
If you recall, it did not go so well when
hundreds of psychiatric facilities were closed in the U.S. According to the NYT, the
policies that led to the release of most of the nation's mentally ill patients
from the hospital to the community without appropriate care in the community are
now widely regarded as a major failure. Sweeping critiques of the policies,
notably a report of the American Psychiatric Association, have spread the blame
everywhere, faulting politicians…..and others. Another dismal policy failure should not be
your legacy.
Some relevant points for you to consider:
Find Another Way: Please attempt to meet the projected budget deficits
without devastating the nonprofit human services and criminal justice (CJ)
sectors. Even a small reduction in these sectors will have a devastating
and lasting ripple effect. In the long-term, these cuts will increase
costs and leave a legacy of human and social destruction.
Plan Long-Term: Create a long term State Budget plan that funds human
services and community justice at appropriate levels that maintain quality of
care and a stable workforce. Nonprofits are businesses throughout the State -
vital to the State’s economy and its ability to attract new businesses.
Don’t Compromise Public Safety: Cuts to the criminal justice sector will
result in decreased public safety (and commensurate costs) and setback much
needed criminal justice system reforms (with commensurate human, societal, and
financial costs).
Don’t Retreat: Decimating the community justice sector and the mental
health and substance abuse sectors will make future structural changes and
savings much less likely. “You cannot build an effective and efficient
criminal justice system on a weak crumbling foundation destroyed in fiscal
years 16, 17, and 18.”
Consider Alternative Solutions: Although long-term structural changes
are needed in the State’s Budget, the only way to achieve the long-term fiscal
and policy goals without major setbacks is a combination of carefully targeted
and realistic expense reductions and some increases in revenue. Consider
other investment strategies in the nonprofit sector, such as Social Impact
Bonds and similar instruments.
Focus on Effectiveness: Like other providers in the CJ sector, Family
ReEntry is a high-impact, cost-effective provider of community justice services
for reentering citizens, those suffering from mental health & substance
abuse, perpetrators of family/domestic violence, and at-risk youth and
families. These services are proven to decrease costs, increase public
safety, reduce victimization, and create a climate for business growth in the
State.
I have confidence in you and all the leadership to recognize that Connecticut
holds a unique position in this country - we have a safe place to live and work
that leads the nation in social reform. It is inconsistent and simply
wrong to cut funding at a time when the Federal government and our sister
states finally recognize the scope and severity of criminal justice, mental
health and substance abuse problems, and are redoubling their efforts and
funding to find solutions.
We need to keep moving forward and use justice reinvestment strategies to
provide an ever safer, more secure and more enlightened place for our children
to grow and prosper. We must keep our eye on the long-term prize, not cave to
short-term budget demands. Otherwise, what do we have left?
Please feel free to call upon me if I can provide any service in this regard.
Thank you for your consideration of these critical issues.
Blessings,
Rev. Jeff Grant
provided key points incorporated in this letter.
_________
Comments from Social Media:
Alison O Jordan: "There are cost benefits to consider as well - linkages to primary care after incarceration using an evidence- informed intervention have found reductions in ED use and improvements in socioeconomic status that reduce other systems costs and improve lives (see paper below). Health outcomes for HIV-infected persons released from the New York City jail system with a transitional care-coordination plan. . Citation Am J Public Health. 2015 Feb;105(2):351-7. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2014.302234."
Absolutely! Second Chance Initiatives WILL NOT Work without Reentry Initiatives!
Well said
__________
DONATIONS
We
are grateful for all donations to our Ministries that enable us to grow, reach
out and serve this community for which there is far too little understanding,
compassion and empathy. Donations can be made by credit card/PayPal here, at the "Donate" button on on our
site, prisonist.org, or by sending
your check payable to: "Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc." P.O. Box
1232, Weston, Connecticut 06883.
Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is a CT Religious Corp. with 501c3 status - all donations
are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law. Thank you for your support
and generosity.
__________
If you, a friend or a family member are
experiencing a white-collar or nonviolent incarceration issue, please contact
us and we will promptly send you an information package by mail, email or via
Dropbox.
The darkest days of a
person's life can be a
time of renewal and hope
__________
Progressive Prison Project/
Innocent Spouse & Children Project
Rev. Jeff Grant, JD, M Div, Minister/Director
jgrant@prisonist.org
(o) 203-769-1096
(m) 203-339-5887
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