Within hours of being released from the Clark County Jail, Allen Latiolais had keys to his new apartment in the Rose Village neighborhood.
To Latiolais, the keys could be the difference between failing again and succeeding.
“I had plenty of places to go, but none of them healthy,” he said. In the past, he said, “I’d get out (of jail) and I was back within a few months, and that went on for seven years.”
Latiolais set up the apartment through Second Step Housing before he even got out of custody — a perk of taking part in the jail’s newly launched Re-entry Program.
“It was a good feeling having a roof over my head, not worried about where my next meal was going to come from,” he said. “I’d never had that before being released.”
Held in the previously vacant H-pod at the jail, the program gives inmates unique access to the organizations that aim at helping them overcome the root problems behind their criminal behavior.
“That’s what we’re really trying to boil down,” said Re-entry Sgt. Randy Tangen. “What can we help this individual with to help make them better prepared to succeed with their recovery?”
Since the program started Feb. 18, representatives from organizations that work to address such hurdles as chemical dependency, homelessness and mental illness have been coming behind bars to teach classes, hold meetings and simply explain the services they offer.
Mary Morris, an employment specialist for Homeless Employment Navigators, said she’s thrilled by the program.
“We’ve needed this program locally,” she said. “We’ve needed it at the jail level, so that perhaps they won’t get a felony and wind up in prison.”
Morris periodically visits the jail and shares information on which companies are “felony-friendly” and helps inmates gather the information they need for resumes and applications. Inmates who don’t know where they’ve worked or for how long, for example, can even fill out a form to get the information from the state of Washington, she said.
“If they can start doing that while they’re still in the H-pod, it will be so much more efficient when they start their job search,” Morris said.
Though each individual has their own reasons for winding up in jail, Tangen said that there are some common threads.
“A vast majority have addiction issues. A vast majority have housing problems,” he said. “You have to take care of your basic human needs before you can move on, move up to greater things.”
Many inmates said they didn’t know about all the organizations that exist to help them through their obstacles. So far, about 20 organizations are participating in the program, with even more in the pipeline, Tangen said.
No violence in custody
Jail inmates qualify for the program if they are being released to Clark County and have no history of violence while in custody. The inmates are interviewed to make sure they want help, and then deputies start the work of identifying the inmate’s core issues.
“It really demands that we get to know each person and help them figure out what are those root cause factors and help find a way to address them,” Tangen said.
After nearly two months of having the program up and running, Tangen said that he and the corrections deputies working in the H-pod have learned a lot.
“It was a real eye-opener to see how many organizations are doing this kind of work,” he said. “As we interact with participants in the program, we find out many of them were unaware of these opportunities, too.”
Though the jail doesn’t track local recidivism and it may be too early to tell, Tangen said he thinks the program has been working. He said only about 20 percent of the program’s 44 graduates have returned to jail.
Those who have benefited from the program, such as Latiolais, said they are excited by the chance to create a positive foundation while serving time.
“It was a blessing,” Latiolais said. “It’s awesome that they finally got it right down there. They’re actually trying to help people out now rather than just putting them back out on the streets.”
