Worth the‘ Chance’
The NJ State PBA Corrections Committee at the Cumberland County Jail.
State PBA Corrections Committee visit to Cumberland County facility emphasizes the lack of value in keeping things private
■ BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
Oh to have a seat at the meeting captured in the picture here, a law enforcement version of the Knights of the Round Table. Except that the table is rectangular, and these knights are corrections officers, the venerable members of the NJ State PBA Corrections Committee.
On the left side, at the head of the table so to speak, sits Victor Bermudez, State Delegate for Cumberland County Corrections Local 231 and the host of this day’ s event. The Corrections Committee has just toured the Cumberland County Jail on Aug. 30, and as they sat down to break some bread and debrief, consider some of the discussion taking place.
Topic one probably centered on the Bo Robinson Assessment and Treatment Center and facilities like it: Delaney Hall and Kintock Halfway House, both in Newark, among others. The private halfway house for drug offenders in Trenton has imploded during the past year when three escaped inmates died from heroin overdoses and where inmates reportedly can get anything they want smuggled in, from cell phones to synthetic drugs.
There was, no doubt, reaction to the report from the Department of Justice( DOJ) on Aug. 18 in which Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates noted the DOJ plans to stop using private prisons because they,“ simply do not provide the same level of correctional services, programs and resources; they do not save substantially on costs; and as noted in a recent report by the Department ' s Office of Inspector General, they do not maintain the same level of safety and security.”
And they reviewed the tour, which focused on the on Cumberland
County“ Last Chance” re-entry program that combines corrections officers working with civilian counselors inside the county correctional facility to provide a professional, secure, successful effort to rehabilitate drug offenders and help them pursue lives that won’ t wind up sending them back to jail.
“ We foresaw privatized halfway houses failing,” commented Bermudez, who has done considerable research into prison privatization and has become one of the PBA’ s most knowledgeable members about the issue.
“ These halfway houses pay salaries at a fraction of the cost,” he con-tinued.“ And then they have to build a separate facility. We could fore-see the benefit of using an existing facility and employing Civil Service officers.”
Last Chance presented a chance to see what can occur at county corrections facilities to keep officers employed, keep the jails open and show yet another way corrections officers can contribute to the safety and the well-being of the community. As part of the tour, the Corrections Committee was able to witness the impact the officers make on the program, which only begins with securing the premises for both the professional counselors who come into the program and the inmates.
The officers, of course, take care of scanning the clients – as the offenders in the program are called – when they come in and out, and handle the counts. But they are also vested as part of the team that does a“ compass assessment” of all inmates who are candidates for the program, and weigh in on such aspects as their personality and
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www. njcopsmagazine. com ■ SEPTEMBER 2016 41