By Joe Gamm
News & Record
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Operators of Guilford County jails are trying to reduce chances of inmates returning to the facilities.
Inmates are now offered access to multiple programs, such as anger management and parenting classes, aimed at preventing them from repeating mistakes that might have led to them ending up in the facilities.
Gene Williams, the director of High Point Jail Ministry, which serves both Guilford County facilities, said he’s been focused on easing re-entry for inmates for 2½ years.
“That’s where my heart is,” Williams said. “Most of my responsibility has been building and developing these programs.”
The programs include religious, educational and life skills.
Inmates can take classes to improve themselves, satisfy orders from a judge or to earn perks in the jail. As part of a trial program in the High Point jail, they can earn points using tablets to take self-directed educational, finance, job training and other classes, then spend those points using the tablets to listen to music, watch television or make phone calls.
Inmates can also learn computer skills, math, English or work toward a GED.
Men can learn parenting and fatherhood skills.
Women can study women’s health issues, such as osteoarthritis and reproductive and urinary tract problems.
Fitness and nutrition information is available, as are classes to help inmates learn how to manage anger.
A number of nonprofit organizations offer programs in the jails, according to Maj. Chuck Williamson, commander of the department’s Court Services Bureau.
“We kind of manage them, because we have to schedule them and assure they have the appropriate pieces,” he said. “They are usually outside providers who provide services on the outside, who come in and do the same thing.”
The programs offered have been requested by inmates, Williamson said. They also are carefully vetted to be certain they won’t cause a problem inside the jail or teach inmates how to break the law.
“If someone comes in with a lesson plan they present to us that is going to make the inmate a better person, then we’ll bring them on,” he said. “That’s really what it’s about, is helping inmates get better in all phases of life.”
Williams relies on research to help choose programs beneficial to inmates, he said.
He said major risk factors for criminal activity include antisocial values, antisocial peers, personality traits, family dysfunction, low self-esteem and substance abuse.
Offenders often have a sense of entitlement and self-justification, he said. They blame others for their situations and often consider themselves the victims.
Bible study programs help offenders gain new attitudes and values based on Jesus Christ’s life and teachings, Williams said. They study God’s word and try to apply it to all parts of their lives.
Imams go to the jail regularly to lead prayers for Muslim inmates.
The tablets offer courses on other religions, including Judaism.
Some traditional programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous, are also available at the jails.
A program called Reading Connections is intended to help improve adult literacy.
Toastmasters is intended to help improve public speaking.
The jail recently started a mental health counseling program with the support of Sandhills, a publicly funded organization intended to help people of central North Carolina receive care for mental health, substance abuse, and intellectual and developmental disabilities, Williamson said.
A large portion of the jail population uses various levels of mental health services, many of them who aren’t displaying any negative behaviors, he said.
“They just need support,” he said. “They take medications and they need counseling.”
The county is trying to ensure behavioral health services are available in the jail, according to Sandhills Center Deputy Director Anthony Ward.
Williamson said that at any given time up to 40 percent of people in the jail may ask for some sort of mental help.
“A lot reach out for minor depression and ask for counseling,” Williamson said.
In June 2015, Guilford’s commissioners joined hundreds of other counties throughout the country and passed a resolution to join the Stepping Up Initiative, which is aimed at helping to reduce the number of people with mental illness cycling through the jails.
The initiative focuses on the behavioral health of people in jails, Ward said.
The center is funding two projects within the initiative. One increases behavioral health services in the Guilford County Detention Center. The other is used for assessments and referrals to community services after inmates’ release from jail.
The center provides a psychiatric nurse practitioner for 20 hours per week and a mental health counselor for 36 hours per week.
They work evenings and some weekends to provide behavioral health services. They are available for counseling and services at the jail seven days a week. And they are on call 24-hours-a-day in case an inmate has a crisis.
Center staff have provided hours of consultation for jail and court staff involved in mental health and drug treatment courts to develop plans for care once offenders are released.
Another program is aimed at Guilford County Schools students who miss class time while in the jail.
For some students, the system will send in a teacher to continue their education while they are incarcerated.
“The idea is that when they get out, they walk right back into the classroom, if that’s possible,” Williamson said.
The Prodigal Son program connects selected inmates with a drug treatment program after release. Eight people entered it last year.
In the program, the county pays for beds for a set period of time at Caring Services. The nonprofit organization provides housing and other support services for recovering alcoholics, addicts and their families.
Candidates for Caring Services have substance abuse issues that are the primary concern that needs to be addressed to prevent recidivism.
“Their charges may not be serious enough to send them to the Department of Corrections,” Williamson said. “But they still need services.”
The jail is also testing new programs.
In August, the High Point jail started testing the use of computer tablets for running programs. They are provided by Pay Tel Communications, the vendor that provides phone services for inmates, according to Pay Tel President Vincent Townsend.
The program is operated by Edovo (Education Over Obstacles), whose mission is to reduce recidivism by providing technology-based education and rehabilitation to inmates.
On the tablets, inmates can choose from a number of different classes offered on a private server — employment, finance, math, English, family skills, anger management or even success in court appearances.
The last teaches inmates how to appear and behave in the courtroom.
In the first week of August, 95 inmates spent 8,751 hours working on educational programs on the tablets, according to jail data. During the second week, 99 inmates burned 6,263 hours working educational programs.
“Anger Management” and “Math — Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division” were the top-viewed apps, each having 27 inmates start the course.
For every hour of education the inmates undertake, they receive points to spend on watching movies, listening to music or doing other activities on the tablets.
“It’s helping guys think about stuff from a different perspective,” Townsend said. “We think the tablet has a huge potential as a tool.”
Technicians are testing the jail in Greensboro to determine where best to place networking links, so the program can operate there.
A goal is to have the tablets working in both jails before February.
“It’s really become a popular piece for the inmates,” Williamson said. “Now, we’re doing site surveys to see what kind of networking we’ll have to do to get it up and running here.”
The challenge, Townsend said, is that jail walls are concrete and don’t allow the network’s signals to pass through.
The tablets, valued at about $200 each, and networks are provided free to the jail. Fees from phone calls and messages placed through the tablets will pay their cost, Townsend said.
“It’s not going to cost the county anything,” he said. “We hope it will generate enough income to pay for the cost of the tablets.”
Pay Tel will record all calls made from the tablets. Jail staff will be able to monitor all text messages the tablets send and approve them before they go out.
Townsend said the sheriff’s office might have to add staff to monitor all the messages and calls made from the tablets.
“Right now, they’re hurting for staffing in both facilities,” he said. “We don’t want this to be a burden. In fact, it’s been a relief. It’ll be a calming effect.”