By Louis Hansen
The Virginian-Pilot
NORFOLK — Demetrous Bowe shared his life story last week with two substance-abuse counselors and six fellow Norfolk City Jail inmates.
Bowe, 41, works as a cook and baker on the outside. He also has a criminal history dating back to 1984, he said, to support his drug habit. “I always took the easy way out,” he said.
Bowe is back in jail for violating his probation, he said.
But he’s getting a little old for the hustle of street life, he said. A judge recommended the jail’s in-house treatment program, and Bowe has embraced it. “We need it,” he said. “Guys like me, we need it.”
How Norfolk’s jail delivers its substance-abuse programming is changing.
State budget cuts have forced the Norfolk Community Services Board to end the substance-abuse programs it ran for City Jail inmates for nearly two decades. On July 1, the Norfolk Sheriff’s Office will replace the programs with contracted counselors and a new format designed to reach twice as many inmates - at less than half the cost.
How? The department will begin charging inmates who participate.
“We wanted a different approach,” said Maj. Mike O’Toole, the department’s chief officer of community corrections.
Norfolk’s new program is funded through a two-year, $150,000 federal grant, O’Toole said. The
Sheriff’s Department convinced the federal government that the demand for treatment is great.
The new program will charge inmates on a sliding scale, he said. The department expects the counseling to become part of a holistic approach to rehabilitation for non violent offenders. For example, inmates on work-release programs drawing a steady paycheck will be asked to contribute to covering the costs. O’Toole said the hope is that inmates will become more motivated in a program if they’re paying for it.
The counseling program is one part of a reorganization of jail services, he said. The Sheriff’s Department hopes to better prepare inmates for life on the outside as they near their release dates.
Norfolk jail administrators estimate 8 of 10 prisoners land in jail for substance-abuse-related problems - sale or possession of drugs, or committing property crimes to support addictions. Advocates say the programs give inmates coping strategies and a path to sobriety after their release, although they acknowledge some inmates reject the help.
The drug addiction counseling in Norfolk jail began in the early 1990s. Inmates live in two cell blocks, male and female, and are assigned daily tasks .
Counselors hold sessions several times a week. Inmates can stay up to six months in the therapeutic community, separate from the general population. Last year, the program served about 160 inmates with its $200,000 budget, said Brenda Wise, Norfolk Community Services Board’s director of administration.
Wise said the cuts were difficult but necessary. The agency has lost $1 million over the past two years from its $25 million annual budget.
Norfolk is the only jail in Hampton Roads to lose support for substance-abuse counseling from its Community Services Board. Administrators at other facilities say their programs have survived, although some at reduced levels. They agreed that the demand is great.
The Hampton Roads Regional Jail recently opened a position for a counselor that had been frozen for more than a year, said programs manager Ann Marie Bailey. The jail currently has one counselor for 469 inmates, she said.
At the Hampton Roads and Western Tidewater regional facilities, local agencies are providing substance-abuse services, according to jail officials.
Portsmouth has no formal programs but gets support from its Community Services Board on individual cases, said Lt. Col. William Rucker, chief deputy at the Portsmouth Sheriff’s Office.
Chesapeake uses an outside contractor to hold group sessions three hours a week.
The Virginia Beach Sheriff’s Office did not return phone calls seeking information.
The new approach
On July 1, the Norfolk Sheriff’s Office will replace existing programs with contracted counselors and a new format designed to reach twice as many inmates at less than half the cost. Participating inmates will be charged on a sliding scale.
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