Cindy

What follows is a story submitted to me by Chris Oliver, a valued member of our Homeless Outreach Team that focuses all their efforts on developing redemptive friendships with homeless persons living on our Downtown streets.  This account simply reveals that recovery, when achieved, is the result of a process that demands courage, hard choices, work and patience on the part of everyone involved. 

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Cindy
We first made contact with Cindy on August 16, 2011 at Main Street Garden. We already knew Cindy from her time as a resident at CityWalk.

Cindy, and her boyfriend Sam, were frequent visitors to the downtown area where they spent a majority of their time panhandling and drinking before returning to their campsite.

After talking with Cindy, we discovered she had a history of going through treatment programs at Solace, Nexus, and Homeward Bound. On October 14, Cindy came to our office to discuss a plan for getting her into treatment again. We ended up escorting Cindy to Nexus for in-patient treatment on October 25. Cindy completed the 3-week program at Nexus, and upon her release on November 16 went to stay with her sister in Mesquite.

Although she continued classes with Nexus and tried to find a job, in the end her support system wasn’t the strongest it could be and Cindy relapsed in mid-December. In her own words, she was “out there with Sam again,” and all we could do was be there for her when she was ready to try again.

It took almost 4 months before she was ready, but on April 9, 2012 we escorted Cindy to the Homeward Bound treatment facility so she could try once more to break free from her addiction.

Upon completing 3 days of detox, we initiated a transfer for her from Homeward Bound to the residential treatment program at Turtle Creek. We continued to work closely with Cindy and her counselor at Turtle Creek, putting together a plan that would best support Cindy in her recovery efforts.

Upon her completion of the program at Turtle Creek, Cindy was once again released to the care of a family member. However, this time Cindy went to stay with her sister and her 2 nephews in The Colony, where she was immediately put to work at her sister’s chiropractic practice. Cindy also started to attend an AA group in the neighborhood at least once, sometimes twice a day. She also has a sponsor who is helping her work through the 12 steps of recovery.

Cindy just spent the Memorial Day weekend with her family, even getting a chance to spend time with her son in west Texas. She made her way downtown one day during the last week of May and ran into Sam, who continues to struggle with his addiction. She said seeing Sam in that condition reinforced for her that she doesn’t want to put herself back there. She called it “closure.”  Cindy is set to go to Destin, FL in mid-June with her sister and nephews on a family vacation, all the while continuing and enjoying her sobriety.

Spending cuts--what will be the payoff?

As the Texas legislature targets a wide range of potential programs and departments for the budget knife, some program cuts could cost more than the cuts save, while making our communities less healthy, productive and safe for everyone.  Take funding for programs that engage ex-inmates. 

Budget cuts slice programs for ex-inmates

In some states, the number of people committing new felonies while on probation or parole has inched up, in part because of cuts to programs that helped former inmates stay out of prison

USA TODAY
By Kevin Johnson
February 10, 2011

NATIONAL — Cuts in probation and parole programs to reconcile state budget deficits could undermine recent successes in shrinking bloated prison populations, criminal justice officials say.

In some states, the number of people committing new felonies while on probation or parole has inched up, in part because of cuts to programs that helped former inmates stay out of prison. Other states are weighing substantial budget cuts to all parts of their criminal justice systems, including probation and parole programs.

Adam Gelb, director of the Pew Center's Public Safety Performance Project, says some of the most successful criminal justice programs launched in recent years are at risk. "The (financial) hole is so deep," says Gelb, whose non-partisan group has helped develop state programs for managing offenders outside prison. "Programs for convicted felons are an easy target."

Carl Wicklund, executive director of the American Probation and Parole Association, says the fiscal crisis is "pushing more people out of prison" with fewer people to supervise them and fewer dollars to support drug treatment, housing and job assistance. "We're setting these people up for failure," Wicklund says.

A report Tuesday by the Council of State Governments Justice Center, a bipartisan group that promotes public safety policy, urged lawmakers to spare programs that have been effective in reducing prison costs.

In Kansas, where officials just two years ago were spotlighting the success of the state's probation and parole strategy in reducing high prison costs, an additional 322 probationers returned to prison for committing new offenses in fiscal year 2010.

Overall, the portion of Kansas probationers who successfully completed their terms dropped to 54% in 2010 from 61% in fiscal year 2008, according to a January state report.

Roger Werholtz, Kansas' former corrections secretary, says the losses are "a casualty of the economic crisis" and stricter sentencing policies that added mandatory prison time for more offenses.

In the past two years, state records show, $10.1 million has been cut from four separate funds that support post-release rehabilitation efforts, including offender re-entry programs that match inmates with jobs, housing,
and substance abuse treatment. An additional $7.2 million in cuts have been proposed for fiscal year 2012, starting July 1.

"I had been getting invited to talk (to corrections officials in other states) about what we did right. Now I spend just as much time talking about what we could have done better," Werholtz says.

In Florida, the number of offenders who committed new felonies while on probation jumped from 7,164 in fiscal year 2007 to 9,000 in fiscal year 2009. The number declined slightly in fiscal year 2010 to 8,440. But Florida Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger says there is concern that expected cuts to plug a $3.5 billion state budget shortfall could threaten those slight gains.

Among the most closely-watched budget battles, Gelb says, will be in Texas, as the state tries to close a deficit of up to $27 billion. Republican state Rep. Jerry Madden of Plano says cuts would threaten some
of the $240 million in treatment programs for some offenders who, without those programs, would have been ordered to prison.

Madden says the programs also were central to a slight drop in the number of parolees who returned to prison for committing new felonies in fiscal year 2010, from 24,692 in 2009 to 24,239. "We can't afford to go back (to growing prison populations)," he says. "We're not conceding anything yet."