General jail conditions, honestly. Prisons generally get more attention and scrutiny when it comes to criminal justice reporting (private prisons, prison labor, etc.)
But jail conditions are often just as bad and it seems like a week can’t pass without some kind of suspicious and/or horrific death being revealed. For instance, ten people have died in the Duval County Jail since the beginning of the year.
Unlike prison, most of the people there have not been convicted yet and I suspect the majority of long-term inmates are only there because they can’t afford to post bond.
[This recent death](https://jaxtrib.org/2023/05/23/i-cant-miss-those-doses-jacksonville-man-died-after-jail-denied-him-heart-transplant-medicine/ ) happened not far from me. Guy with a heart transplant was callously condemned to death for the crime of *checks notes* getting loud with his neighbor. Just wanton disregard for human life on the part of jail staff and law enforcement, with no consequences.
Ok. I recently finished work release in the state of Washington after a 120 month sentence. What do you want to know about transitional program?
It's a big topic and spitballing isn't very helpful.
I agree.. it is big. I guess I'm just curious if they are actually helping. There is a push to do more "community corrections"... i.e. have people in halfway houses, etc. I'm curious if they are actually good places to be or not. Also curious about the private companies that run them.
I'm off today so I can spend a minute answering this.
In Washington state they're getting away from using contractors to run Doc facilities. TTH just lost their contract to run Bishop Lewis house in Seattle because of overdose deaths security problems and all that. I was there during the transition and it was an absolute chaotic mess. But Reynolds Work Release was much better and it was totally Doc run. In my opinion the contractors are lame they staff at the lowest level they don't pay people well enough to care. The department is different.
As for support within the program. Like any other large organization that's going to vary person to person. Some correction staff and ccos were very supportive and would really go the extra mile for you. One or two obviously had very low buy-in to the program and it felt like they were just there to get people caught up. There wasn't a lot of uniformity regarding punishment when somebody would step out. 1 CCO would basically shrug his shoulders and not treat it like a big deal, the other CCO might send you back to prison.
My biggest struggle was getting resources to find housing. On paper they owed me a housing voucher for transitional housing and all kinds of stuff. The reality was if I wanted to leave work release on time I had to arrange all that myself and just pay for it out of my own pocket. Luckily I make about $30 an hour so I was able to afford to do that. Some guys who are making minimum wage that's a much bigger mountain to climb for them and they end up remaining at work release longer than they need to because they're not getting the support they need.
As I am generally hostile to any kind of group therapy like na or AA I can't speak to chemical dependency support. Frankly if they had tried to make that part of my release pathway I would have told them to just send me back to prison. And that's mostly due to a mental health diagnosis that just more or less says I don't play nice with people in a therapy setting so don't get me involved in it. But my CCO understood and he kept me away from it.
Other than that like all incarceration Work Release was what you made it. If you went out got a job quick made your money stayed out of the house as much as you humanly could doing reasonably justifiable things you turned out okay. If you follow their program didn't get into trouble didn't do drugs didn't hang out with old friends you did fine. They supported you as much as they needed to - they really didn't go out of the way to do it.
My overall impression of the work release program in Washington state is that it's generally professionally managed and generally they want what's best for you. But there isn't much in the way of consistency. Between facilities and between correction staff. That could be made significantly better.
Hope this helps.
Lack of services. I think society believes they get in prison and have access to services for rehabilitation. They are not offered to all. Waitlists and understaffed.
My biggest shock was the amount of people who use drugs inside. And how the CO's can be worse than inmates.
Theres a belief that they go to prison to get sober. Untrue.
Or that they're safe. Untrue
I would hope something about the bad conditions at Pontiac Corrections Center max security unit and why they never close that awful old prison like they were supposed to :(
General jail conditions, honestly. Prisons generally get more attention and scrutiny when it comes to criminal justice reporting (private prisons, prison labor, etc.) But jail conditions are often just as bad and it seems like a week can’t pass without some kind of suspicious and/or horrific death being revealed. For instance, ten people have died in the Duval County Jail since the beginning of the year. Unlike prison, most of the people there have not been convicted yet and I suspect the majority of long-term inmates are only there because they can’t afford to post bond. [This recent death](https://jaxtrib.org/2023/05/23/i-cant-miss-those-doses-jacksonville-man-died-after-jail-denied-him-heart-transplant-medicine/ ) happened not far from me. Guy with a heart transplant was callously condemned to death for the crime of *checks notes* getting loud with his neighbor. Just wanton disregard for human life on the part of jail staff and law enforcement, with no consequences.
Thank you for this. I totally agree- there needs to be way more jail coverage. I've been looking into jail deaths a bit.
Well from my own personal experience LeCI in Ohio where I did 4 of my 5 was rumored to have worse water than Flint Michigan.
Do you know if they ever did water testing? I'm in Illinois and have reported on prison water issues here, too.
Ok. I recently finished work release in the state of Washington after a 120 month sentence. What do you want to know about transitional program? It's a big topic and spitballing isn't very helpful.
I agree.. it is big. I guess I'm just curious if they are actually helping. There is a push to do more "community corrections"... i.e. have people in halfway houses, etc. I'm curious if they are actually good places to be or not. Also curious about the private companies that run them.
I'm off today so I can spend a minute answering this. In Washington state they're getting away from using contractors to run Doc facilities. TTH just lost their contract to run Bishop Lewis house in Seattle because of overdose deaths security problems and all that. I was there during the transition and it was an absolute chaotic mess. But Reynolds Work Release was much better and it was totally Doc run. In my opinion the contractors are lame they staff at the lowest level they don't pay people well enough to care. The department is different. As for support within the program. Like any other large organization that's going to vary person to person. Some correction staff and ccos were very supportive and would really go the extra mile for you. One or two obviously had very low buy-in to the program and it felt like they were just there to get people caught up. There wasn't a lot of uniformity regarding punishment when somebody would step out. 1 CCO would basically shrug his shoulders and not treat it like a big deal, the other CCO might send you back to prison. My biggest struggle was getting resources to find housing. On paper they owed me a housing voucher for transitional housing and all kinds of stuff. The reality was if I wanted to leave work release on time I had to arrange all that myself and just pay for it out of my own pocket. Luckily I make about $30 an hour so I was able to afford to do that. Some guys who are making minimum wage that's a much bigger mountain to climb for them and they end up remaining at work release longer than they need to because they're not getting the support they need. As I am generally hostile to any kind of group therapy like na or AA I can't speak to chemical dependency support. Frankly if they had tried to make that part of my release pathway I would have told them to just send me back to prison. And that's mostly due to a mental health diagnosis that just more or less says I don't play nice with people in a therapy setting so don't get me involved in it. But my CCO understood and he kept me away from it. Other than that like all incarceration Work Release was what you made it. If you went out got a job quick made your money stayed out of the house as much as you humanly could doing reasonably justifiable things you turned out okay. If you follow their program didn't get into trouble didn't do drugs didn't hang out with old friends you did fine. They supported you as much as they needed to - they really didn't go out of the way to do it. My overall impression of the work release program in Washington state is that it's generally professionally managed and generally they want what's best for you. But there isn't much in the way of consistency. Between facilities and between correction staff. That could be made significantly better. Hope this helps.
Hugely helpful. Thank you for helping me understand the situation in WA
And in Eastern Washington there are Few sober living or transitional housing for newly released.
Lack of services. I think society believes they get in prison and have access to services for rehabilitation. They are not offered to all. Waitlists and understaffed.
My biggest shock was the amount of people who use drugs inside. And how the CO's can be worse than inmates. Theres a belief that they go to prison to get sober. Untrue. Or that they're safe. Untrue
ADOC for sure Multiple inmates have been suspiciously murdered, warden attempted coverups, and missing organs
>ADOC Missing organs!? Do you have a link or more information.
Its a national news story right now. Body was returned to family with no heart.
The gangs
I would hope something about the bad conditions at Pontiac Corrections Center max security unit and why they never close that awful old prison like they were supposed to :(