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How getting from point A to point B can seem simple but be functionally impossible: a short thread on good ideas and the bad realities that bring them down.
Alternatives to Incarceration (ATIs) are praised seemingly everywhere you turn. The concept of moving people from cages to care seems like a no-brainer. Unfortunately, bureaucracies can neuter even the most promising policies and programs, especially in the world of criminal law.
In theory, ATIs allow community members who are struggling w/substance abuse & mental health issues to fulfill their sentences by getting help. In our experience, however, the transition from jail to treatment is often incredibly fraught.
(This is setting aside, with a giant side-eye, the question of whether coerced treatment is real treatment, or even useful at all, and simply focusing on ways to get people out of cages...for the time being.)
The truth is, when a judge says someone can be...transferred/sent/etc...from jail to a "program," the order sounds simple.
Spoiler: IT IS NOT SIMPLE.
Spoiler: IT IS NOT SIMPLE.
Take the recent story of one of our clients, who had the chance to go to inpatient treatment instead staying in jail. Unfortunately, a multitude of barriers stood in his way:
It is hard enough to try to navigate these barriers as a layperson. As a person who is coming out of being locked in a cell, during a pandemic, trying to recover, with all the stress and barriers of criminal charges? Borderline impossible.
In short, it's ludicrous to expect that our client would have been able to navigate all these challenges successfully *alone* and taking on corrections and probation.
His ATI would have failed through no fault of his own.
His ATI would have failed through no fault of his own.
Fortunately, this client has a PFJ Advocate who:
Even after clearing these bureaucratic hurdles, our Advocate didn’t stop. Since this client was admitted to treatment, his Advocate enrolled him in health insurance and helped him obtain medical treatment that he couldn’t access in jail.
He also helped restore the client’s driver’s license so that he had identification to register for a GED class.
We’re glad to have successfully navigated this course with our client, and are saddened and outraged that so many can’t maneuver transitions like this.
We’re glad to have successfully navigated this course with our client, and are saddened and outraged that so many can’t maneuver transitions like this.
Good policies and the best programs are imperative to creating a less oppressively unjust legal system, but even the best policy solutions will fail if there isn’t gold-standard help implementing them.
Success takes more than good ideas. It takes direct help to community members, wraparound services, and support.
It takes experts.
It takes solid, solid allies.
That's why we're here, and we remain grateful to all of you--across the nation--who have supported our work.
It takes experts.
It takes solid, solid allies.
That's why we're here, and we remain grateful to all of you--across the nation--who have supported our work.
We’re proud to serve our clients and we’re proud to have you by our side. Together, we are making these crucial differences--often unseen, but vitally important--in thousands of lives. Here’s to a great year, and to the hard work that lies ahead.
