Veterans in Our Jails

I came across a sad and troubling statistic the other day. But it's one that is already spurring action at the local level, and that could become an opportunity for progress in dealing with jail overcrowding, reducing recidivism, and lowering costs.

Across the country, we all know that too many veterans come home facing challenges the rest of us don't have to grapple with. Some have life-altering injuries and scars--both physical and psychological. Many face acute mental health issues and substance abuse. Some end up homeless, and some even sit in our jails, or cycle through them again and again. At the conference I attended for county officials across our country, this was an issue that got a lot of attention.

Hamilton County faces these same issues. Most strikingly, our Court's pretrial services department recently informed me of the following numbers:

- on a one-day snapshot (July 23, 2008), 99 veterans were in our jails (out of 1945 total), including 5 who were active duty, and 9 who were medically discharged;

- from January 1, 2008 through June 30, 2008, 1125 veterans went through our jails (out of 23,009 total cases), including 26 active duty, and 53 who had been medically discharged. 973 had been honorably discharged;

- sadly, of those 1125, 217 were identified with a mental health issue, 642 with substance abuse, and 205 with both.

The sheer number of veterans going through our system was startingly high. The number who face substance abuse and mental illness hurdles also was alarming.

The challenge here is that we can and must do something, particularly to help those non-violent offenders who are cycling through largely due to a substance abuse or mental illness issue. The opportunity is that due their veteran status, there are far more opportunities to help these individuals, thanks to the benefits they have earned through their service and access to places like the VA. (If we do this the right way, like the medicaid issue, we can avert County taxpayer costs by ensuring that as many costs as possible are picked up by veteran services and benefits).

I have asked our pretrial services department, through our new reentry initiative, to get organized to solve this issue. First, we will work to verify every veteran coming through the front door of our justice system. Working with other agencies, including the VA and the Veterans Service Commission, we will then identify those for which diversion is a viable option (for violent crimes, it will not be) as opposed to jail, and if there are veteran-focused services out there that could help steer the veteran to the treatment they need and a better path over the long haul. (Hopefully, the bill for such services will be covered by veterans' benefits, as opposed to the County-cost that is incurred through a jail term). There are other options we also will be looking at, including for those who ultimately serve a sentence but still re-enter the community thereafter.

Like everything else, we'll do this work carefully, with public safety as our top priority. But if we do it right, we can save local taxpayer dollars, reduce crime and recidivism, and help improve the lives of many who served this country.

Good News on Adoption

Leadership makes the difference.

In the past year, we've seen an incredible flurry of activity and reform at our Hamilton County Department of Jobs and Family Services, and the results are starting to come in.

Today's Enquirer noted the great increase in adoptions we saw in 2007 (a new record), and our continued success in 2008. http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080727/NEWS01/807270372/1055/NEWS. This marks a real turnaround from prior years, when outside observers severely criticized the department's poor record on adoption. Rather than sticking these critical reports on a shelf, the County took their criticisms and recommendations seriously, and implemented numerous reforms as a consequence. So far, it looks like they're working.

There are many people throughout JFS and the community working hard to bring about these good results. Much credit goes to Moira Weir, who took over the department about a year ago, and has done a fantastic job from the start. This job is one of the toughest in local government, and is particularly difficult right now because of the state audit that we are working through.

Even with these challenges, Director Weir has produced great results in this and other areas.

Finally, let me take a moment to explain just how important these results are. Finding foster kids a stable adoptive home and family is critical, both to those kids and the whole community. Those kids who "age out" of foster care--meaning they turn 18 without ever being adopted--face so many challenges, and they do so without the benefit of having grown up in a stable, supportive, loving family. Even the strongest young people will struggle to get over this unfair hurdle, and too many, sadly, fall through the cracks.

Nationally, the statistics on the fate of these "aging out" kids are stark:
- 56 percent become unemployed
- 27 percent of males end up in jail!
- 25 percent end up homeless!

We need to do everything we can to avoid these outcomes. And the most important thing we can do is to keep foster kids from "aging out" in the first place--by finding them an adoptive home as early as possible.

And that's why the great improvement in the last two years is such good news.

Congratulations, JFS!

City County Cleanup Partnership: The details

Numerous media outlets covered our kick-off today of the City County Cleanup Partnership, which is expanding the successful inmate clean-up details in OTR across the County. A couple excerpts:

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080724/NEWS01/807240319

http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=70f11ae1-1090-4964-ae2b-95f53912eb17

This initiative, which kicks off next Monday, marks great progress for several reasons:

- most importantly, cleaner neighborhoods mean safer neighborhoods

- something that worked so well in one neighborhood, Over the Rhine, will now benefit sixteen--eight in the City, eight in the County; from Lincoln Heights and Colerain Township, to Forest Park and Price Hill, and a lot of places in between, each neighborhood will have a cleanup every two weeks

- the City will use its cleanups to focus on the major corridors of the City--those larger roads that run through the heart of our neighborhoods (Reading Rd., Glenway, Hamilton, Harrison, etc.). By lifting each corridor, which too often today are the most blighted parts of our communities, we will lift the livability and perception of entire communities.

- amid our budget crisis, the cost of the program (essentially, paying the Deputies who oversee the inmate crews) does not come from the County's general fund, but from grants from 3CDC, the HC Solid Waste District, and the City's Public Works Department.

- Keep Cincinnati Beautiful will augment the cleanup crews with litter and recycling awareness and prevention efforts, so we sustain the clean-up efforts by preventing litter in the first place.

This is a win in so many ways.

If you have locations in these communities you'd like to see cleaned up, please let me know through comments.

Exciting Announcement: UPDATE

Look for a pretty exciting announcement tomorrow--one that builds off successful work in Over the Rhine, brings the City and County together on yet another partnership, and is being done without any impact on the County's general fund . . .

Stay tuned . . .

UPDATE: The Enquirer has a preview . . . http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080723/NEWS01/307230088.

We're taking the clean-up model that worked so well in Over the Rhine and expanding it across the County. I heard again and again in 2007 . . . why does only one neighborhood get this help? That was a good question, and this is our answer. More details tomorrow.

Who Pays?

There's nothing like a budget crunch to push good ideas forward. Sometimes, unfortunately, these ideas should have been acted upon long ago.

Yesterday, I received from the public defender's office a 2006 opinion from the Prosecutor's Office that makes very clear that the county should not be spending county/state dollars paying for the defense of indigent suspects for violations of municipal ordinances (as opposed to state statutes). Those costs should be borne by the municipality, either directly (if they have their own public defenders), or through a contract between that municipality and the County public defender's office. Here's the opinion: http://davidpepper.com/archives/Deters%20Letter.pdf

It appears that this clear advice has not been followed up until now. (I have no idea why not).

I have asked the County Administration to immediately remedy the situation, and work out a contract with the City of Cincinnati, and any other municipality where this has been occurring.

This could save us hundreds of thousands per year in such costs.

It's also important for another reason. Just as when we restarted billing jurisdictions for jail stays due to the violation of municipal ordinances, this approach puts the full cost-benefit calculation of new laws directly on the municipality that passes them, as opposed to asking taxpayers from other jurisdictions to pay those costs.

Good News on Court Security

Thanks to Clerk of Courts Greg Hartman and the other County officials who, despite the difficult budget, are digging deep into available funds to pay for important services like court security. I commend them for their leadership and continued cooperation:

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080721/NEWS01/307210019

Today's Enquirer also provided a good analysis of our budget situation: http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080721/EDIT01/807210316/1019/EDIT

Reducing Jail Costs, Reducing Recidivism, Part II

A week ago, I raised the issue of Medicaid, and the federal/state policy of cutting off otherwise eligible incarcerated individuals from Medicaid coverage even before their trial. (http://cincypeptalk.blogspot.com/2008/07/big-issue.html). This policy shifts the cost of inmate medical care directly to County taxpayers, and also has a very negative impact on our efforts to lower recidivism.

Many readers were startled that such a practice was even taking place, particularly when people are being denied benefits before they have been found guilty of any crime.

The good news: We've made a lot of progress on this issue.

Last week, myself, Todd Portune and Sheriff Simon Leis sent a letter to our Congressional delegation (Senators Brown and Voinovich, and Representatives Chabot and Schmidt), asking them to support H.R. 5698--Restoring the Partnership for County Health Care Costs Act. This Act would continue Medicaid coverage for all pre-trial inmates. Here's a link to our letter: http://davidpepper.com/archives/Brown%20Medicaid%20Letter.pdf

This legislation presents a great opportunity for our federal elected officials to help us tackle one of our most serious challenges as a County, not to mention save millions of dollars in local property taxes. It should help that both local Democrat and Republican leaders are calling for this change, and its benefits are many: local property tax relief, basic fairness, and a safer community. I'll keep you posted on their response.

At the same time, the working group I mentioned in my previous post has already met, and is making progress. Through our County contract with the Free Store to increase Medicaid enrollment generally, we are putting a process into place that will aim to reinstate every eligible inmate into Medicaid at the time they complete their sentence and re-enter the community.

Without this coverage to pay for medical help, some--particularly those with mental illnessess that demand costly medicine--will quickly re-engage in behaviors that will bring them right back into our jail. Hopefully, the new process will help end that cycle. And again, all this will save local taxpayers potentially millions of dollars over time.

Next step . . . talking to state leaders about changing the state approach to this, which some readers correctly noted was a significant part of the problem.

I'll continue to provide updates as we move forward.