that is an important focus for us, the things you talked about with reentry is how we do it. the science says that it will work, and i hope more and more systems, and we are at this renaissance moment of change or we are looking at what will work, what will give an individual the opportunity to change their lives. i have a population here that i do not control, but our mission is to do more good than harm and prepare them to go back out the door command we do a good job of that is, and iis, and i wish other leaders well. we are open to those conversations. i see a lot of change happening, a lot -- a real renaissance moment in collections where these programs can i just had the opportunity, the author

foundation chicago is. working with jurisdiction to my counties, millions of dollars going in to help them really look at what the practices are people sitting in a room, it's incredible. it is happening. is the think it's where we need to be. >> live this morning inside the montgomery county correctional facility inside one of the housing units there. mr. green is the director for the county department of corrections and rehabilitation. go ahead. you are on the air. >> my name is thomas and ii had experience from both ends of the spectrum.

i'm in a licensed therapist and a lot of the programs give a lot of credit. really interested in change. but there is enough responsibility -- ami'm sorry, enough plane, responsibility, and complicity to go around. the reason's forward when the inmates, their behavior, from an, from an ethnicity standpoint blacks blame whites, whites and blacks. but there is enough responsibility for both. when it comes to the judicial system there is a factor we fail to look at. there is a financial incentive. i can tell you for my own personal experience of being on both ends of the spectrum is, until i was involved in

the correctional system, being incarcerated for civil misdemeanor and then being told that unless you take our plea bargain we are going to put you in a whole. as. >> i want to talk about that. >> we do not charge. we do not charge a fee. down about 23 percent over the last eight years, so there is no incentive

command i will say that in our county where it is an extremely strong organizational stakeholders is we look at a holistic solution. as we don't charge a fee for a meal. there is no financial incentive. it is the opposite. impacting recidivism rates is.

>> we are not in the super max world. i don't hear much of a super max's anymore. the definition that we hold everyone in local jail that has been a crime of theft to individuals that have killed two or three allegedly killed two or three people. it's that's why we're maximum-security, but it is quite the spread of individuals.

as we deal with serious people as well,well, some that are not ready for the programs of change. >> for massachusetts system. the state systems a lot of grandiose's, all these wonderful things are doing. as the only have a guy who's there for a hundred something days. after they graduated from the jail and sent to real person or you bring the men you have the most violent, the general population and the meek's, and it is not as

simple as every one is going to reenter. most are substance abuse, alcoholics of the biggest. it's unless you can correct that they are not any good to employers. they have to get their ged's, get in a, aa, go to work even though it is not required. but you are not going to get to the lowest level which would be from max to medium to minimum or currently setting. >> what do you make of his comments. this is a jail. it's what can you do if your average day is 50 to 100 days. >> well, you look at the time that you have. it is a separate of time.

as you can give them something they did not come in with. the information of the resources available in my community. 's one of the programs are available to the population. this can tell you what were looking at in maryland, the program opportunity, length of stay, and the german's

who has german's who has worked in the system is absolutely correct. motivation can be much different's. but we are systematically studying that america's prisons and have undertaken that is he will see, and others can see the work that has been done. >> independent good morning. as used to be a corrections officer myself and want to say thank you to director green and what montgomery county is doing we sometimes

forget that. the people who spent the most time this usually it is appreciated. as people look at the officer. is talk about it. not have proper retirement system.

important in the rehabilitation. >> okay. is. >> all staff do a tough job every day, officers, therapists, classification stuff. we were able to build a facility that really gives an environment to do quality work 's. inis. in our county we try to make sure that we compensate staff well but to those that much is given much is expected, and they do an incredible job. you have great longevity. i would not be prepared to give you an average. we have a considerable number our county has helped

us cultivate just a really great staff's. >> the cost of personnel at the jail makes up 90 percent of the budget. talk to them about what we do is. this is what they had to say >> i was actually commands you would say, a victim of the crime.

if i can help them not go through this the 25 to life sentence. as the statistics show the children tend to get locked up themselves at an alarming rate. i want to break that cycle. as help with the inmates trying to prepare them for life after jail. do you think it is important? >> i think everyone has a story and why you do this work.

their stories, every day. the things they do, the passion they bring, but we all have our stories and perhaps we don't often talk about them. my story was, i have been a corrections for 31 years. looking through the door at a friend's tallest someone i grew up with and having them asked the question to me, i knew your mom, you knew my mom. that was impactful for me in 1986. why don't we have more programs to help us change our lives one watching and

being involved and how we manage corrections over the years and seeing the opportunity to make this change in knowing what works again, everyone brings a story story here, and it is important, what motivates you. >> a number of overlapping trends that could be connected. we have a dysfunctional congress right now, people who do not seem to represent the population is denial of people who have been convicted of crimes and an excessive number of people who denied their vote.

no longer counted among those who might be seeking work and have a trade policy that has been sitting more of the work that could be taken myby minorities in the city's who do not have enough education to get college jobs' all of these overlap. >> you might be interested. bipartisan push to build relaxed sentencing laws, something both democrats and republicans agree on this them one important bill would be to expand the so-called safety valve.

the mandatory minimum term. any thoughts? >> i think the color cover the watershed of issues that may be contributed. as i see this strong bipartisan support for your getting interest, people are just want to see a changea change in how the system works and why we think it works. support for outcomes and not necessarily affiliations which is an important piece of the change. >> go ahead. >> hello.

i want to tell you how much i appreciate your show and you. >> thank you for that. i ended up its serving last time the needed. anyhow, i got my ged when i was in they're and came out of their and had three or four different jobs is time.

also i went back into service in 1996. is that changed my life around. thank everybody for the opportunity i had. >> let's move on to john in kent, washington. go ahead with your comment or question. >> i belong to flavor local 440. and even though progressive is now not a nice word anymore. as before 82 hundred and

work much for a couple years. his and then about 1990 our union was taken over by the federal government 2nd deadline to the teamsters and they reorganize things. our union,, local 440, was used to go ahead and reorganize the construction labor throughout the united states'. >> the main point is, the

union was never prejudiced against anyone that did any time this. you can come in and work's. did not mind working we were good with it. >> canit. >> can you talk about the union? is there a union role? >> we are a unionized workforce, of course, within my system. this we have carpenters unions and other unions, the plumbers union has worked with some of our workforce development efforts in helping us provide training, education, and programming. they have played a role in some of our workforce education.

>> talking with robert crain who is the director of the montgomery county correction and rehabilitation department out in boise, maryland's. live from inside the facility talking with folks. we will talk with others beside mr. green about what it is like inside, what changes they are making, the programs that they have, comparing them for life after jail.jail. we will continue with this discussion. republican, 202-7488. independence. frontline this morning's let's get more calls in. let's talk about where you are. that is rather sleep, do their work, shower.

's. >> one of the direct supervision housing units that we utilize. the cells are 70 square feet. depending upon the program you are in this, willingness to engage programming, the average day is about 5:30 am 5:30 a.m. his breakfast, and if you're heavily engage in programming, you're out of your so most of the day until 9:00 o'clock at night 's. the next day the program start all over again. if you are in a unit for behavior is an issue that can be more in sell time, but our goal is to get as many people as possible regardless of classification

and how they treat our staff and each other into these therapeutic housing units where we can begin to help them concentrate on the issues. >> do you find that getting them out of their cells helps with behavior? if they are in a cella cell for hours upon hours in a small room that that contributes to bad behavior outside? is. >> it does, and i we will not tend to say that i am an expert in that area. there is a body of study that is being applied, but you get an individual's, some people are extremely violent. we have some dangerous folks that we deal with.

but you use it for the time that you needed. you still have to engage individuals.individuals. in our system there is no such thing as solitary confinement. we are still there. trying to de-escalate that behavior. there is no benefit to us or the correctional system and managing people for long periods of time. that is a small number. the benefit comes when you can get them in therapeutic groups. >> host: here is the "wall street journal".

aa report by the association of state correctional of ministers comes amid increasing criticism of the practices who say it is cruel and damaging. you are next. >> caller: thank you. i got a couple of questions. we have been locking people up. i got through in jail for a plan and got randolph from a place. if a local company, local cop can take away your house and sell it, that is profit for them. i would like you to see how

many people we has shot and killed in search and seizure for marijuana plants. i am writing a book right now, why we're shooting people? >> that is not my daily work, my industry. i do not follow police data. we have seen decriminalization of marijuana. thatthat must bear out. we need to follow the statistics. we reduced some of the incarceration's composition of small quantities, because

experience is not mine. my son was incarcerated. they seek all over the practices -- texas prison system. this they have a complete change. they learn how to be a man,

they lined ten driving values. it's 95% of the percent of the prisoners that don't go back within a certain amount of time, and numerous have gotten out and started their own business, and we supported financially there are businessthere are business people that come into the prison system looking for graduates because it is like changing. changing. as my husband is a professor at fsa. it is an amazing program that i wish everyone would bring up. see what they are doing in the cleveland unit, and they just started another unit. it is life-changing's. thank you. >> mr. green. >> it sounds like a wonderful program. i am not familiar with it,

but i am a bit of a jockey of articles and successes, and i will look that one up. >> i want to bounce off one more aspect of your industry, if you will, mental illness. .. is mental illness . you had a front-page story recently in "the washington post," "waiting in jail for help and dying." how are you dealing with this issue? guest: the mental health crisis -- i don't use that word at all lately. more is about 14% individuals in jails with a mental illness than there are in state hospitals and places where they perhaps need to be.

it is a crisis in maryland. it is a crisis in many places. we are dealing with a population in a very collaborative manner. we do not create new systems inside our jail. we have a health and human services department that helps us. you will be hearing from one of our staff that works directly with that population. i think we are doing better than most, but not as well as we would like. i talked about a 23% reduction in our population. that percentage that is left, that number that is left, is an extremely acute population. we are seeing persistent mental illness on a daily basis coming into our central processing unit. looking back over some data, when it was preparing for today, 60ut vin number is homeless and mentally ill so how we are working to provide hosting as well as treatment in our

community. it's a real struggle. 129 people today out of 678 are taking psychotropic medication but yet i'm proud of all we are doing and how we are managing this process. our coordinating committee counsel as well as our courts are met by a judge in the circuit court. we are looking at her mental health processes in the county and what we can do to be more available and serve this population. when you talk about it as a director and is his award there are things that rise to the top of the list they keep you up at night and it's the mental health population in our system that we are managing that really does that for me. it's not unusual to have someone in a serious crisis and they want to check them from harm and protect them from harming themselves. it's not unusual for us on any given day to have multiple individuals are what is called a

one-on-one status, one-on-one for us as one officer door open with indirect eyes of the reach of an individual to keep them from harming themselves and help them maintain their behavior is to get them through the crisis. we have actually had to do to one-on-one's at times so we are working through what i think is a really tough situation and nationally we need to look at serious justice reinvestment in the system. perhaps an investment in what we can do to help this population and we could talk for a really long period of time about what happened in deinstitutionalization in the 60s. the deinstitutionalization brought a lot of people to the doors of america's jails and they are still here because the community programs in the community functions did not stand up.

i think we need to caution ourselves a bit when we start talking about mental health in the criminal justice system. there are a number of mentally ill. it's a very low number but what we have is a number of cases that are circulating back in our cisco. a number of days spent in jail number of incarcerations. we are trying to describe that from a criminal justice dan point and we are looking at it throughout the continuum of care how we can better insert ourselves into each one of those events to help de-escalated and make it deeper into the community and keep the indidual my community and keep them stable. it's a real tough process but we are getting our arms around it and have for a very long time. what we are looking at what is the next generation of things

like reflection. we talk often about diversions when someone is coming in to the system and we divert them away from prosecution and get rid of that charge and perhaps stabilized back into the community. deflection is not having the charge to begin with and across this country we have cid officers that operate in our police community. our police officers in montgomery county are a very large portion that have that training. they do great work in the area of flexion that the number of calls they answer per service with the individual in crisis and mental health. mental health illness is continuing to escalate for them so all of those things looking at the system holistically, not just from the jail side or the courtside for the community side that is sized in a strong suit

in montgomery county. we are bringing all these forces to bear and we are going to be making i hope some changes in how we manage that population. >> lets go of that effort takes money. we look at the montgomery county correctional service it has not pretty budget of 71,000,001st 2016. as we told our viewers earlier 90% of that going to personnel. how much grow quickly mr. green as we wrap up with you how much of that is federal dollars in local dollars? >> guest: the majority of that is local dollars. we get federal dollars in terms of grants but all of our staff that are employed those are dollars and it is an investment in people. we need people to manage corrections. you need therapists in unique social workers. you need individuals that are really helping to address the needs of individuals and i think there's no equating how much

money you throw at a problem as to how well you can fix fix it. how you distribute those dollars to those people those things and following the science and following the research and following the need and then kliewer devoid trying to bring it all together. >> host: we are going to talk about how some of those dollars are redistributed within the montgomery county correctional facility but mr. green we want to thank you for your time this morning and talking to our viewers. appreciate you letting us come there to montgomery county. we'll continue with the conversation but thank you sir. >> guest: thank you very much for having me and thank you for taking a look inside of our system. we appreciate it. it's an important aspect. >> host: we are going to continue to do so after this short break and label talk about what preparations inmates go through prior to reentering the community and then we will continue on later with a look at the services available to inmates to treat drug and alcohol addiction and mental health abuse. first during one of her recent

visits to montgomery county correctional facility steve set down and talk to staff about preparing inmates for getting a job after their release. >> a jobseeking assistance program for the inmates that are housed here. we are one the first in the country that we are not the only ones. what we find is the needs of offenders who are looking for work differs than your mainstream population. that is why we are here. earlier we can start preparing preparing for one the more likely we are to get employment so we began eight months before. what we do is we actually go to the unit and recruit them. this is a voluntary program. you can sign-up to come to our programs program so what we do is we actually go to the unit and we tell the inmates and soon-to-be customers what's

available here and what things they can do for eight months or less on their sentence. they cannot leave pretrial and they cannot have a detainer and in other jurisdictions of those are the individuals are eligible for our program. the program itself consists of curriculum. those six weeks of job readiness, six weeks of jobs development so we try but our goal is to get them job ready in life ready. >> is they don't have previous work experience, they have to talk about the charges. when you and i do an interview we don't have to explain that i have this criminal record but we spend a lot of time preparing them to talk about that in feeling comfortable talking about it. additionally education is not as high as your traditional job seekers a lot of it is confidence. we prepare them on how to sell themselves and ensure employers that i can do the job.

when the customers come down in cs they will work with us for a number of months but it's good for them to actually have individual competence in the community and work with them. they come in with different personalities and individuals who they can see are willing to help them. it's important for the community to come in and see what we are dealing with because sometimes it can be a scary environment. some will automatically be afraid to deal with sex offenders but they can come and see that this is a person is here. they made of mistake but now they're working towards an opportunity to be a better tax paying citizen. so that's the benefit of individuals coming from the outside. >> host: we are back inside montgomery county correctional facility in maryland about 30 miles from the nation's capital talking with staff of the corrections facility about what they do at the jail there.

it's a capacity of a little over 1000 with over 600 inmates there right now. and one of the housing units we are joined by kendra who is a re-entry services manager there are the jail. talk about re-entry services. when you say that word what does it mean and what do you do? what you operate? >> re-entry services is a broadway tuesday assistance for any of the individual needs that members of our population have. re-entry by definition is the process for someone returning back from confinement to the community is often thought of when people are returning back from period of incarceration particularly prisons and spending time in jail but it could mean any time someone's recruited within the custody custody of police there they pretrial diversion program. looking at re-entry and what it means. especially assisting people with

that whatever they need. >> what are some of those meets? >> , and re-entry means we find, certainly housing is a challenging need to address when someone is incarcerated. by definition we also look at education and employment mental health and substance abuse are also common factors that come into play. research has shown over the years that it's not actually a tangible to make the biggest difference for reducing recidivism. as looking at thinking patterns and antisocial personality and focusing on interventions to address with always the person receives the world and their choices and that will sustain them on a long-term trajectory. >> host: give us an example of how a program might work very let's talk about the mental health program. or substance abuse program.

>> guest: within the facility her director green talk about a number for therapeutic systems and these are designed to focus on certain members of the proposition that priority needs. we talk about behavioral health that combines mental and health and substance abuse program units are focusing in on different skills and developing inside. the program itself would be group based in a combination of individual counseling that combines classes and then also relief -- release preparation for their re-entry services unit does not function as a stand-alone program unit. we are actually throughout the facility and we try to reach as many individuals as possible because the majority will be turning back. >> host: we are inside the montgomery county correctional facility. you're hearing the doors opening and shutting.

where live inside one of the housing units there where you would typically see the inmates out of their cells doing these programs. whether it's education or preparing for a job when they leave our getting help with substance abuse. there are over 600 inmates currently at montgomery county correctional facility. they can house over 1000. taking your questions in your thoughts, your questions and comments this morning about what these inmates need and what it means for the community. do you work with this community outside of the jail? >> absolutely. with re-entry services you can do it as a stand-alone effort within the law facility. it's about making those connections for the individuals prior to their release. we have a number of partners that we work with.

montgomery county health and human services is the primary partner. we have connections with them. montgomery college is another main partner we have for a one-stop american job center is a core partnership as well. >> we were showing our viewers and we were talking a moment ago about some of the re-entry services that inmates might need one of them as food stamps. why is that important? >> guest: food stamps are reflective of basic needs. we all need to eat. when someone is released they have competing interests for their time and priorities and it's our goal to try to prepare them to addresses many of those things prior to their release. they have one less thing that they need to get in place, one less appointment to keep so we have bridged with health and human services. we have a benefits specialist who works here full-time who meets with individuals they are

working with and she will assess their eligibility for social assistance programs to include food stamps as well as medicaid coverage. food stamps are important to help with the basic needs to eat when they're out. families, it's a challenge for a lot of individuals who have had the impact of incarceration both for families on the outside who are missing income because their loved one is on the inside of the facility and is also a challenge for when someone comes out but don't necessarily have the income immediately coming in with the challenge of finding employment. every little they can help in if they are eligible we want to make sure they are connected. >> host: "wall street journal" did an article in september about ex-offenders getting a break. congress disqualified people convicted of state and federal drug offenses but not other crimes from receiving such benefits in the 1996 overhaul for welfare programs. the law allows dates to accept

as they see fit and it goes on to say it is unclear how much government cost would increase by adding ex-offenders into the program. candor yoke him talk about the benefits of this type of program but all their interest is served served -- ranches -- re-entry services that you provide. how do you keep track of them? >> success is tracked simply on who comes back and he does not come back and recidivism is a very difficult formula to think about. we can't think about immediate success following someone's release. if they can make it past the first quarter munson pass that sink or swim test and i don't mean to oversimplify that that's the hurdle to look at the long-term they can succeed on that mark without coming back into the system that's really the mainstay a race -- reducing recidivism. nationally is two-thirds of

individuals coming back with supervision violations are new offenses after that three year mark so we track success based on how much we prepare someone prior to release and we try to stay connected with them following their release through social media e-mail correspondence as much as they are willing and interested to communicate with us. and partnering with community supervision probation. then i want to take a support strategies in the responsibility for individuals and the community and they have a better sense of how they're managing and succeeding in the communities are not. >> host: what you hear from a former inmates when they are outside and they get back out? what are they telling you about the greatest challenges for them? what's the most difficult part of the? >> i far its employment. the challenges that they face in applying for a job, having the

stigma of incarceration is connected with them. those are frequent things that we hear about. the success stories really come back into folks who are prepared for that challenge who are aware fitting came up with different strategies to enhance their opportunities when they are out in the community. other challenges that they face certainly housing comes into play and family dynamics is a vector we sometimes overlook when we look at re-entry factors but the family support is absolutely essential for someone who needs stability and success. often that can be triggering some of their own difficulties that might be conjured into their behavior in the first place or could just be a matter of the support team in place for them and they come home or the lack thereof. >> host: dating of today's program c-span went to montgomery county correctional facilities and sat down with the

former inmate. we talked about his re-entry into the community just last month. >> just the people that i know it was more of a reaction. that's how i felt because everybody was like you know don't do this and don't do that trying to make me feel like you're going to fail if you don't do this and don't do that but at the end of the day direction wasn't so bad. the people that were helping me out that i was surrounded with like my employer helping me out getting back to the community. he made sure he would send me in low conflict jobs in dealing with the people i live with a little by little we started going out. things have changed faster than they did before so little by little they took their time and took steps to make up me back into the community. even going to the store and

simple things to going together. >> host: the simplest things. you have been locked up for years of technology changes so quickly, cell phones and going to the store and paying for things etc.. how do you prepare for that? >> it is a particular challenge the longer that someone has been incarcerated and away from the community. for years we worked at a prerelease center and we would have individuals coming back from federal terms of environment and they need to know how to use the bus and how to use the cash register when they went to donate their purchase. the notion of smartphones is second nature to all of us and the underlying challenges that individuals may not realize they will need to navigate through and conversations with their family and other friends that they can stay connected to the changes that go on outside but

it really is an isolating experience to be incarcerated and then to drop back into the middle of the community what it doesn't look or feel the san juan. whether that's in family or friends circles are actual physical states that he go back to the buildings of the roads in the environment is different. spin at let's get to calls. we will go to reginald in houston, texas on independent line. you have experience in the corrections system. go ahead. >> good morning. you will see i am an officer had been fighting for prison re-entry and recidivism rate in texas. we lead the nation and in prison incarceration and recidivism. i think this program is a very popular program and i would go to the state-level to change the federal laws but if i am my

brother's keeper we need to change this on the state line i applaud -- because the inmates see that changing commodity on the dow jones stock market they are going to have, they will not like the positives of this re-entry because it's going to take away from the start market. i believe if we do what we are doing here with this prison re-entry that these guys are trying to do in a positive manner. thank you. >> host: k. color. kendra yoakum dealer willing for dinner with your local lawmakers in your community? >> guest: certainly on the state level as the caller was mentioning his image of the population versus our local jail and pretrial population we have so recent legislation within

montgomery county was something that was navigated and advocated for. the job opportunities task force is very prominent to support employees and job seekers about different paths but particularly they are advocating in annapolis and the state of maryland to pass another element around expungement and ways that jobseekers can happen even approach compared to other applicants who may not have the colonel history. sigh think it's important to keep the conversation going in to engage the legislative effort so they are aware of the challenges being faced in the longer term repercussions. and we talk about justice to investment that's what comes back into in terms of how to support the population going back out to the community so that they can actually end up being a burden financially on different social systems that may be in place. >> host: paul in maryland.

go ahead paul come you are on the air. >> caller: how are you doing? i would just like to say i've been in the correctional system and i know when i see articles by congress passing laws. and you have to save yourself people who decide the laws and the broken the laws they are not incented tied the so they have to understand they are directly affected that they are affected in a way is where these people going to get food from? they're going to go back to do what they did in joe weather sailing -- selling drugs or stealing or things like that. so we can't say we want to help people and we want these people tick and java come out of jail and do the right thing. they can't vote so they have no voice. >> host: color we take your

point. kendra yoakum your thoughts? >> guest: i think this whole notion of redemption and the difference between a convict in returning citizen is at the heart of this discussion. when someone views themselves as a convict that isolates and minimizes their presence and ability to participate productively in our community and society. identifying yourself or someone else is a returning citizen is intended to remove that label to approach them as a person first has a criminal history rather than someone who is it -- has a criminal history and that's all they could potentially be. so balloting that these are individuals who we want to come back and we want to embrace to help them improve and rebuild their lives is at the heart of everything and that's really the focus of our work. it's not just a matter of providing what we think sounds

nice and what might be meaningful to us. it's a matter of what's really going to help make successful change possible for that person. >> host: we will move on to alex in rockville maryland, independent caller. hi there are you are on the air. good morning. >> caller: good morning. i want to make a point in the news recently in the black lives matter. i think an effort should be made to address some of these issues further back. people have been in state prisons and released. i think if you give people the opportunity when they are much younger, just opportunities, college and things like that we could prevent a lot of things. people have things to do they tend to get less trouble. >> host: sub or your thoughts?

>> guest: one of the areas we focus on within our facility is our youthful offenders. we have specific programs designated for them so we qualify them as anyone who's 21 under and we specifically target program approaches and content to this generation with the intent is the caller mentioned to try to focus anna on things before they become a pervasive habit of sorts. absolutely when you're talking about different ways the community and legislation can support individuals before they even enter into the path of the criminal justice system that makes the most sense. incarceration is the endgame. we need to focus on stopping the pathway of individuals coming here but that's an individual effort. that's not just a matter of the family or finances or education. it needs to be a collaborative partnership synchronized to understand the problems and to come up with overlapping solutions that we cannot support. >> host: sub for his a tweet

tweet -- kendra jochum perhaps a new environment would be better. >> guest: i think he can make make -- work with ways and makes a difference for a person to go back to something its familiar however if that's where the problems began i couldn't agree that in some circumstances it makes sense to have a fresh start in other places. if an individual decision. >> host: baathist necks and independence. >> caller: would like to ask instead of it being a community and societal problem perhaps there's an alternate way to look at it. is there room in your guest program for having these people first come to terms with the choices they have made and also to come to terms with the consequences of their actions? i will take my answer of the year. thank you.

>> host: kendra jochum go ahead. >> guest: absolutely. the first thing is individuals are responsible for the choices and decisions they make sewing comments around being a social problem it absolutely is but it's the individual first. i'm a critical social worker and that's a perspective we have that the individual self determining. we want to empwer that person we want to educate them. want to build skills and develop insights for the nature of their behavior. i don't mean to take away from that at all. it's a very complex puzzle piece that comes together. programs absolutely need to develop an insight in my comments in the beginning when we talk about risk factors understanding antisocial personality thought patterns as

the underlying premise that we need to enact change on so they can remain informed and productive choices long-term. >> host: we learned during her talk with mr. gringott operating budget for 2015 for the montgomery county jail is a little over $71 million. how much money is dedicated for what you do, re-entry services? >> guest: we have a unique scenario here with montgomery county that we provide therapeutic services are re-entry services on a contract basis. everything is held as part of an annual budget so it's not a permanent member to play some of the programs we combine because we partner with different private providers in the community as well as county providers. when we think about the figures it's a staff of upwards of 30 to 40 individuals to pull together to provide re-entry services so

their salaries are combined. you are talking about the number of work hours that are combined and we don't have a lot of purchases. >> host: kendra jochum, sorry we lost the connection. we are talking with her. she is the director of the department of re-entry services manager for the montgomery department of corrections and rehabilitation. a conversation with the oaks at that facility in boise maryland. we are going inside the correction system this morning to give you an idea of what happens inside these jails, the inmates that are in there, what they are in and therefore and all the challenges and issues that staff has to deal with. one of them being mental health is willing for mr. green and preparing inmates for life after jail. and kendra jochum is vital to that managing re-entry services ranging from workforce programs

to mental health as well as substance abuse. kendra jochum we got cut off their there but if you want to finish her thought for us. >> guest: we were talking about the budget for entry services and that's in line with their program offerings. there is not a specific segment of the re-entry service because it's a system approach we have within our department. >> host: for your resources i'm curious about the heroin epidemic that many communities are seeing united states. here's one headline from the "washington times" this morning that heroin related deaths topped highway fatalities in 2014. what does that mean the addiction to prescription drugs, what does that mean for you and what you are trying to do in montgomery county? >> guest: substance abuse as a whole is challenging to address

both for individuals and otherwise. my colleague athena morrow will be coming on to talk about in more detail how for when we talk about the heroin epidemic it's unfortunate circumstances and the individual youth to adult. we have a new program that is a grant funded program to the governor's office of crime control or venture modeled after several programs in the state and essentially want to provide education as well as medication support for individuals as they are executing a release and returning back to the community to help with cravings and physical components to supplement and support some of the other programmatic work they have done to address needs and coping strategies. >> host: we will go to frank in virginia. go ahead frank, you are on the air. >> caller: hello and thank you for c-span. i did four years in the virginia state penitentiary.

31 years ago i was convicted and what i saw was people coming in including myself being incarcerated. i have so much unnecessary stuff in my life. i was distracted a time from being good and law-abiding and what i wanted to do with my life. i got in and all the distractions were taken away but i could not make any decisions for myself so i began programming. the best thing that helped me when i got out with do not have unnecessary things in my life to keep my life simple. i would suggest to the people that run the prison systems to get rid of entertainment videos for the convicts, to get rid of cake and ice cream and all the unnecessary stuff that they have

there. keep it simple so they can hook us on these programs so they can focus on themselves, the victims the best thing i did when i got out was to keep my life simple. i've been out for 31 years. i have got a beautiful wife. unsuccessful. i have four kids. i don't have cable. i don't have dish. we don't have electronic toys in the house. they go camping and the guys that i've seen that have not gone back to prison have done very similar things. i would encourage the prison system to keep it lean and get rid of all the necessary stuff that these inmates have to deal with in their lives. >> host: kendra jochum what you think? >> guest: i think each individual has their own path

into the criminal justice system and they have their own pathway out of the criminal justice system. i'm happy to hear that the caller found what worked for him and i think that rings true for a number of individuals. it's going to be a matter of what works for that person and what their priorities are. i have to agree with what hugh is commenting on in terms of finding out what is going to fill his time and his focus when he's out in the community. one of the other factors would look at is recreation. if we are guiding these folks what are they going to fill their time with? who are they going to be spending their time with them what they going to be doing in this concept around developing leisure activities hiking at sea was describing that is individual and is really important as well. supporting positive behavior change goes along with that too. commenting on taking away different feel-good things within the facility. positive behavior change is on

the premise of positive reinforcement recognizing that progress is being made achieving small things with small rewards and staying focused on the endgame of success. >> host: let's go to warren and brandon florida. hi warren, good morning to you. >> caller: good morning c-span. i have one comment and i know it won't be the end-all be-all of one comment that i think people should think about. i think -- is essential to re-entry into society because people have to have a stake in their own lives. if you feel like you have a stake in your own life when you get out and participate in society a think it would help. >> host: subfourteen have any thoughts on that? >> guest: i think it rings true. in order for someone to participate in our society need to be a full member of our society. that is my personal opinion that when someone is being released from the criminal justice system

they are faced with lots of different labels and things that they can't do so as a matter of empowering someone to reach their full potential i think that needs to be fully recognized. having the ability to vote in being able to apply for a job without additional stigma could potentially limit them from opportunities for housing as well. these are all things that come into play. the convicts versus a returning citizen. >> host: talk about the role the private sector plays, the employers in your community out there. >> guest: director green mentioned our small business community that is come to visit us a few weeks ago. employers whether they are part of an organization are not play a huge role. we will talk about ways that they can be a fair interview where it's not one of the initial questions around someone's history if they are that a criminal offense or not. i think having that outlook that

we are looking at the skills of someone coming to apply for a position having that mutual stance as an employer plays a key role. one of the underlying elements from our american job center court limb here is the return on investment. a the matter of grooming and training in preparing the customer at the center so they are able to offer solid skills and a work ethic and knowledge of what employers want so that match can be sustained for employment in the long term can we talk about the private sector making sure that opportunities are available through all different sorts of individuals beneath the same qualifications. >> host: gives more details about the curriculum for trying to get a job when you are on the outside. >> guest: the american job center's curriculum focuses the program is 16 weeks and skills

development to include the resume and letters of recommendation describing their skills to an employer so that they can participate in the import factors and what's not important about them so that when they do the interview they are practicing their skills for this interview sessions and we have volunteer teams to come in to assist them. as a combination of job writing skills which can come more easily than the larger aspect of personal development. we have two superb coaches who staff our american job center and one of their primary talking points is that life readiness is often more challenging than job readiness is a combination of the job and the workforce development skills in combination with personal development communication relationships conflict resolution personal appearance and things along that line. >> host: charlie a republican

ellen l. annoint. hi there. >> caller: i just have a question. are the families being incarcerated as they are getting ready to get out of a given education to help them and do they avoid contacting someone if they see somebody bailing? you put us through this but can he get healthy because he's going down the wrong path? >> host: kendra jochum? >> guest: family as i mentioned is a huge part of the re-entry process. within montgomery county we have a couple of different ways we want to incorporate family and that re-entry experience. again when someone is incarcerated the family is incarcerated with them on the outside. it impacts everyone in the family and includes children. when we talk about how to engage the family as part of our process here within the detention center and correctional facility as well as our prerelease program we want to solicit their input whether

it's through a formal sponsorship where they have ongoing role with the offender or initial calls to ask about what was going on and the suggestions you have with the individual and to have a conversation about with the re-entry process looks like and what their goals are going home what they can agree to work on. we have another partnership with the conflict resolution center of montgomery county and through remediation individuals can address concerns to prepare their plan with their family members on what it will be like when they return home. that does not substitute for family counseling or critical intervention but it starts the conversation and that's often the most difficult piece to begin with. in terms of communicating the open our e-mail and our phones so individuals can reach us to pass along information. certainly we are aware of confidentially standards and

have the ability engaged as we release information to do so from our clients. >> host: kendra jochum at the montgomery county department of corrections and rehabilitation we appreciate you talking to our viewers and giving us information about what you do. thank you very much. as kendra jochum said we are going to dig down deeper coming up into mental health and substance abuse services available at the jail but joining us now is labor secretary -- to talk about what the labor department's trying to do on this. mr. secretary u. visited montgomery county correctional facility and you saw what they were doing there. after that the labor department announced 10 million in grants awarded for gel-based employment centers to ready inmates for the job market before they are released. why do you feel the labor

department and the obama administration it's important to put money towards this? >> the best way to reduce recidivism is to give people the skills to compete the day they get out of jail and to make sure they are connected to the workforce. i had the privilege of serving in the montgomery county council from 2002 to 2006 and i saw this program first-hand. it worked back then it works now. it is overdetermined as return on investment and the reality is while six or 700,000 people leave federal and state facilities each year something like 9 million people are leaving county jails and city jails. the focus is to make sure in these communities people are ready to learn and art wallenstein who used to be the director of corrections amount from accounting recently retired

as a national leader in this area and so we saw what works and montgomery county and we wanted to take it nationally. roughly 20 communities issued these grants and they are going gangbusters. we had a tremendous amount of applications for this. people understand that a smart on crime initiative has to involve making sure that people are ready when they leave the county jail state prison in federal prison. >> mr. secretary how will you know if it's a success? how we track that? >> guest: it's actually pretty simple. you can track the number of people who are placed and track what they're making. you track whether they are employed six to 12 months later and you track credentials that people had made while they are in jail. our member talk to ward and green when i was out there roughly a year ago and the

number of people who are studying now for degrees in the county joe continues to be very solid. when people have more skills and credentials they are more marketable and another way to track us to see how many players are able to gauge. obviously people are getting trained at nobody is hiring them and that's not success either. i talk to employers all the time. they have in many cases skill shortages. they want while there's another people with talent and they believe in second chances. we have had great success. the largest private employers is not the universities. one of the most prolific employers performers employers employers -- former -- as hopkins.

this is an act of enlightened self-interest and he would also tell you they have former offenders employed at entry-level positions. they have them employed as for bottom is -- for bottom is an x-ray techs up and down the job descriptions. this is what we have to do across the country. this is a smart on crime issue. >> host: what would employers tell you about the challenges with hiring a former inmate? >> a number from players have concerns well this person was convicted for theft. what theft. what do i do? the answer to that is we have tools in the toolbox to address some of those concerns that you have. for instance every workforce system have surety bonds. so for an employer says i might be willing to take a flyer on a person by what happens at the person steals from me? the answer is what would ensure

against that? that's one example. a number of people are leaving job requirements. >> host: the news release that many folks out that the attorney general announces 6000 prisoners will be released from jail to deal with overcrowding there, do you have concerns about that? >> guest: i think it's being done in a methodical way. we have an over incarceration issue in this country and we have dealt with the challenge in our communities across the country in a way that you deal with cancer by building more hospitals rather than dealing with the underlying issue. it has to be done in a thoughtful way but there are way

too many people who are incarcerated who do well in committees and that's why it's heartening to me about what we are seeing is it's a bipartisan understanding that we need to be smart on crime and if it's the only tool in your toolbox pretty soon everything starts looking like a nail. >> host: secretary of labor, or is joining us via google. we appreciate your time sir. thank you. >> guest: pleasure to be with you. >> host: we will continue with a conversation with staff from montgomery county correctional facility. there are live from there this morning in maryland. it's about 30 miles from washington d.c. and inside one of the housing units is athena morrow who is montgomery county's department of health adult frantic services manager. athena morrow thank you for your time.

what are adults frantic services? >> guest: adultfrantic services? >> guest: adult frantic services is a section of the department of health and human services under behavioral health crisis services. we basically work with individuals who come into contact with the criminal justice system that have substance abuse and mental health issues. >> host: what is the percentage of population there that montgomery facility that fall into that group of mental health and substance abuse? >> guest: the proposition we are dealing with is about 19% of all and inmates who get booked into our facility suffer from a disorder and what that means is they suffer from mental health issues and substance abuse issues. if we were to only look at inmates who suffer from substance abuse gets almost 80%.

>> host: do you find it the trend is increasing? what have you seen over the years? >> guest: we have seen an increase not only the percentage of folks coming in with those issues but a tremendous increase in the severity of the symptoms we see. even when they fluctuate as far as the number of arrests in this county we have seen that the number of folks with mental illness has been going up. percentagewise that number has stayed steady even as the number of arrests have gone down. we are dealing with very strange situations right now. >> host: what are the challenges for you right now? >> guest: our challenges are tremendous because we have individuals who come into our jails are minor sentences and that's predominantly things like trespassing or disorderly

conduct and i'm talking about severe mental health issues. many of those folks do have minor offenses. they come in and they don't stay long in our facilities. they may not be able to access the resources we have for them being as ill as they are but they also end up staying longer because our judicial system tends to postpone handling those cases trying to find a solution for when they're ready to come back out into the community. typically that population ends up staying longer in the jail than somebody without mental health issues with stay in this facility for the same type of charge. >> host: and the longer they stay put challenges present themselves because of that? how do you treat a mental illness beyond therapy? today have access to drugs etc.? >> guest: we work very

collaboratively with the office of the department of corrections and health and human services and the department of corrections with multiple services here in the facility. we have a full mental health unit that we can house those offenders who cannot function in the general population because of their symptoms. they have psychiatrists and mental health staff. a number of specialized approaches like groups and support that we provide to inmates. labard re-entry planning starts from the day they get arrested. we start looking at their needs for mental health and substance abuse issues from the day they get arrested and we begin planning. the difficulty sometimes of planning with this population is because we are detention facility folks come here sometimes pending their trial

and is very unpredictable as to when they will leave. some of them can post bond and some of them may end up getting sentence in serving time longer. we never know exactly how to prepare for re-entry for this population. so we have to begin the planning early on. while they were here we try to stabilize and engage them in treatment even if we find they may not have been engaged in treatment in the committee. we try to motivate them and offer options of treatment and medication management their behavior. >> host: we are inside the housing unit at the montgomery county correctional facilities talking with athena morrow who is with montgomery department of health talking about the challenges with mental health, inmates with mental health and substance abuse. we want to get your thoughts on this your questions or comments.

republicans (202)748-8001 and democrats -- independents 202748 0002. those of you with experience in the correctional system and experience with mental health and substance abuse issues violent 2027488003. we will go to branding cleveland tennessee democrat. hi renda. go ahead. >> i just wanted to comment. i have a son with chemical addiction issues for most of his life. he's been in and out of mental hospitals. he has been in and out of jail and this has been going on for several years. i think when president reagan closed all the mental offices and put everyone an outpatient outpatient -- they are all too willing to put people in jail but not willing to get them

mental health long term. i don't think we have any long-term facilities left. also i find out a lot of people with mental health problems need drugs. that's not necessarily true. my son has borderline personality disorder and that requires therapy, talk therapy. i just want them to comment. one sees people, are they still going to have long-term services? >> host: kendra jochum -- athena morrow? >> guest: thank you for that comment. we have found that everyone comes in with different needs. one of the things that therapists are trying to address are what are the specific needs of the individuals who come there? not only history of subsidy is issues that folks are struggling with but mental health issues and the approach is different depending on what the needs are.

we are fortunate in this community to have her way of resources that we can refer individuals to. for example for substance abuse we have access to 28 day program's as well as longer-term facilities that we can send folks if they need that level of service. we have an array of outpatient programs as well. depending on the need and the intensity of treatment that the person is where fortunate to prefer and provide linkages is the person gets ready to exit jail. the other thing that we do we are very unique in this. we have an in-house substance abuse program where inmates can live in a separate unit and receive substance abuse services for as long as they are in the facility. we are very different in that and very fortunate. >> host: begin st. augustine. vicki chiquis were on the air. good morning. >> caller: i have a two-pronged question. one is i visited union

correctional institute in florida for the past eight years on a volunteer basis. i don't have relatives there anything that might comment would be this particular institution in medical survey was done 10 years ago. they found that 90% of the population in this particular prison suffered from severe mental illness and that's a problem. they lock them in dorms for months or years at a time because they can't manage their behavior and is quite disturbing to me. the other issue i want to ask is in the south particularly our prisons are rough and harsh and there is very little compassion on the part of the legislature or the voters to change anything. what impact or how can we impact that so the general population of voters understand these people need compassion and

rehabilitation? thank you for your answer. >> host: athena morrow. >> guest: thank you so much for your comments. we find that our population a special management in our institution we tend to be along the same level as the rest of the country. .. es. mental health workers, psychiatry and psychiatric services that are intensive, and folks can stay in that unit as long as they are unable to handle placement and general populations. we are very fortunate in that sense. during that stay, of course, all the reentry services begin

linking them to community services that they need when they will exit. as far as what we could do about compassion, that is one of my favorite topics. i think there is a tremendous tendency to consider inmates as separate from us. my there's a tremendous tendency to consider it separate from us. in my experience, these are the folks that walk amongst us. anyone of us could have committed an act that for some reason or another could have landed us in an institution. it is not a separate population, these are folks like us. they're suffering from a terrible illness. despite what might have brought the mentor institution deserves a compassionate approach and a sense to rehabilitate. we tried offers that in this facility. they have a lot of training in

how to handle situations. we approach with a rehabilitative motive in mind. every time we approach them we offer them options as to how to make different decisions, how to engage. >> will hear from chris in pennsylvania. chris good. chris good morning. what is your experience with the corrections system in the united states? >> i worked corrections for 16 years. i'm retired. i've seen a lot of problems coming through is more geared to treatment. they release release these people, crime goes up. when you look at altoona, jamestown, pennsylvania, every day you hear about it. crime keeps going up. they're fixing it with treatments that are not working. they go to jail in pennsylvania, a lot of them failed on purpose so they get mental health

treatment. they have no rule set, policies are not written yet. what happens is there is a decode now, they dropped the charges, they get away with this. they know it. it's not going to stop until they ring it back. these people in pennsylvania they are drug addicts. they come to prison and they get that mental health issue. on the street they function okay until they got caught. >> ahead, what are your thoughts. >> i agree, a lot of times we see inmates who come in and they stabilize, they engage in their treatment programs here in the jail. they are very motivated to do well.

other times they accept referrals we made. sometimes they don't. we cannot force treatment on someone who exits. this is something everybody has a choice. they are not ordered treatment unless they commit someone. it really is a very important to try to motivate as much as we can and to engage them in treatment inside the walls to establish those relationships before they exit. a lot of times, as motivated folks may be, when they do exit they will fall through the cracks or will stop their treatment. we are seeing this return to the facility a lot of times with more crime or escalation of crime sometime. it is very frustrating cycle. that we experience as well. >> let's talk a little bit it more about services. when we visited montgomery county, we sat down with carlos a former inmate and he talked about one of the programs available.

we'll show our viewers and the talk more about it on your side. >> was called the jazz program, what we did was we learned how to deal with ourselves. afterwards we help someone else deal with their situation when their first coming in. that's why i was the leader over the different inmates. we helped each other out. we would take care of each other and give each other hand. we would do everything we can to make them comfortable. even though we are in jail, what we're doing we would make sure they have the support we needed with each other. >> talk about why this peer-to-peer help is important and why it doesn't work. >> we believe it does, it was a modified jail addiction service call jazz. it is a a modified therapeutic community, based on that we try to engage the

resources we have amongst everyone who comes into that unit. that involves inmates. our inmates have a lot of resources, they have a lot of experience in how to handle addiction. this is an opportunity for them being in it and environment and participate in structured activity. they can can support each other better than anyone else. we have a full array of their peers who serve as mentors, they run groups, they provide guidance, and set out different tasks and activities. we try to use every resource we have. like carlos said, we find that being invaluable having them support each other and give each other feedback, encouragement and ideas on how to go about solving problems. we also have in our team approach, the officers. the officer who oversees the unit is a vital person.

they are the eyes and ears of the treatment team when the treatment providers are not present. we utilize every resource we have, we find that to be the most supportive environment. many inmates find that to be one of the only a first times they have experienced the kind of support, especially in jail. >> holly, in florida that june is watching us there. >> i have a son who is in jail. he was given a 300 day sentence for a misdemeanor battery case. he got into a shoving mass with the local police in florida. what i want to say is that, the prisons we are familiar with your florida are not at all look at the jails that look like that in maryland. what we are learning is if you want to get services from your jail then you need to be arrested in maryland.

here, the problem problem we have with so many people being in jail is because the district attorney, and so forth those who do prosecuting piled charges on top of charges so people who commit minor offenses go off to jail for a long period of time. so the sentence they get do not at all match the crimes they commit, the other thing is a lot of the problem we have with jackson this country were committed by politicians. are we, the people of this country responsible for the problem we have with the drug in this country, because we have allowed our politician to allow drugs into this country that have destroyed families in our community. that is why we are responsible for cleaning up the mess, not

just punishing people have problems with drugs. >> okay jan. what are your thoughts? >> i think everybody experiences this in jurisdictions where charges maybe be compounded. we find that once inmates get to the point where they can get in treatment and start a sober lifestyle they have to deal with a lot of follow-up with those charges. it takes them a while to clean up those charges, get out a probation, it is a long period of getting back. the caller is right, there are a lot of complications when someone starts getting involved with this drug that we are dealing with. >> are the services you offer thereat montgomery county correction facility typical? on what jails offers throughout the united states, or is this a new initiative?

>> our jail addiction services program started as a federal grant back in 1999. it is a very old, season program. at that time we were among the first that were piloting this kind of program. since then there has been an increase of facilities across the country who are adopting this way of dealing with substance abuse issue. i still don't think we are among the majority. i think there is a long way to go. >> how do do the grants work? >> how do grants work, as far as how you get the money? >> like where you get the money from and how you're supposed to use a? >> we provide a proposal to, depending what the opportunity is to different grants. this particular instance was a jail addiction services program, as i said it is an old program.

we put a proposal to treat, at that time offenders who came in with minor offenses. we were able to get a three year grant from the federal government implemented. since then, our local community, local county counsel has accepted funding this program. we were able to sustain it based on the results of that evaluation. we found it was effective in reducing recidivism and by increasing treatment we could support it locally. >> how effective? >> we have found at the time, now now you're asking me to go back a long time. at the time, if i recall correctly, correctly, we had found that there was an increase of about 10%, a reduction of 10% in recidivism for what used to be the norm at the time. again i can't quote you numbers because it was a long time ago.

it was a significant decrease in rearrest that folks were having. >> that gives us a good idea. >> my question is, do you give anything, any skilled training to the mental health people, my experience has been when people have some kind of skill that helps them in mental health, it helps their ability to be employable when they get out. it also helps their mental health. if they're just getting psychological training help and no skill, that contributes to their mental problem when they get out because they can't do anything. guest: we do to some degree work on skill building here. most of our approach here is

trying to stabilize folks. if we can engage them at least in what is appropriate for them, some of them are appropriate for taking medication, some, some are appropriate for participating in groups and learning things, we tried to engage them as a stepping into services in the community. we know that managing a mental illness is not something that can be addressed in a short. of of time. it is a lifetime issue. we try to do the engagement, motivating, and, and then provide opportunities to continue that in the community. host: and winfield kansas at david. democrat. spee3 i would like you to listen to kansas opportunity for people who, in they test each who have any mental or drug problems, if

they do they send them to a facility that goes deeper into the addiction problem and they put them through a work-release program which they go through the day and they were, they check into the same facility for mental health. after they go for a period of time they see the function in society, then i have halfway houses to put them in. they also for people who don't have drug addictions, they they don't have a job or anything like a skill, they sent them to a minimum security, you can have a serious crime against you, they will take those individuals and put them into what is called

the kansas department of rehabilitation corrections. it is when you go through evaluation from the court and the court sees that yes, you are smart, smart, you can go to this location training they offer. they offer classes for every kind of industry, electronics, electronics, heating and air, plumbing, automotive glove, grafting, you go to those classes each day. most of those classes you have to take a test each morning. they give you assignments to do at night when you go from school to your room. you have to do that assignment.

when you come in the next morning they make you take a test. when you don't pass the test you don't get out of the room and you have to stay in the room while other people who put the time into study go out into the shop area and are actually doing the trade they are being trained. host: okay i'm going to have to jump in. what do you what you make of this. guest: i think the caller is talking about folks who is talking about who don't have a mental service issue. the whole institution is focused on rehabilitation. we have an array of options for folks and inmates are encouraged to participate in this program. they get incentives to be in in the program. they have vocation programs here, access to getting their ged, access to college classes. they have a number of opportunities to engage in learning skills that will be useful when they get out.

i think what the caller was alluding to. host: gym in texas is calling in. >> good morning, part of it, do you think people will continue the behavior. what do they do with locking up people who are obese? is it equal. [inaudible] host: i'm sorry that i was very hard to understand that phone call. we'll have to move on. another caller is on the air. >> i would like to speak on the problem of what it first begins. it first begins usually with the youth learning to drink, smoke,

and then and then they graduate into the drug scene. they are in the drug scene because they're taught the drinking. alcohol is fine, alcohol is okay, you go to the churches you go to the catholic church, they say drinking is okay. a. a little bit of wine don't hurt you. these things are destructive. the only religion that is teaching that this thing is wrong is islam. islam teaches you from the beginning that if you get involved in this type of lifestyle you will find yourself, you'll find yourself getting further involved in these things are destructive and they will destroy, not only the particular individual, they destroy the family, they destroyed neighborhoods, they destroy the world. host: okay thank you. how do you deal with people's history with alcoholism? the relationship to it are there

other substances with it and their addiction to it? guest: i'm not sure i understand your question. how do we deal with folks coming in. host: with their past and as that caller was alluding to, the the culture that people grow up in. maybe how they view alcohol or other substances, and do you, can you in that amount of time drill down? guest: when we do our initially assessment we tried to be culturally sensitive. we try to understand the history of the addiction. everybody has their own way of coming into addiction. sometimes, like the colors that it could be a cultural influence or not. it could be an influence from the family origin, friends could have started early or late, it depends.

that is part of our initial assessment. as we identify the factors contributing to the development of the addiction we try to address them. if they are culturally relevant that we need to address, we are sensitive to that. i can't tell you that we specialize have different prevention but we try to be sensitive. if someone has a religious affiliation that we can help them reconnect with when they exit jail and will assist him in their recovery, we try to do that. host: what is the assessment process like when someone first comes into the jail? guest: as soon as someone comes into the jail they get to answer any elaborate questionnaire about their involvement with the dense abuse and mental health. any of those responsive that are positive, that result to a yes, someone has had a history of hospitalizations or is taking

medication, generally it is a referral to our staff who evaluates further, within 24 to 48 days. we try to do a couple of things that that day. we try to identify substance abuse and mental health needs to see if someone would qualify for diversion. we work very closely with our pretrial unit that assesses whether that person will be a threat to the community. we try to take those factors into consideration. if that person that person stays in jail and diversion is not an option we try to then match what we found out, whatever the needs the person has with the facilities. we could go to the mental health staff, substance abuse.

host: what is diversion? spee2 diversion diversion is an opportunity that an offender has at different junctures to have access to community services instead of waiting while incarcerated to access those at the time of release. for example, if someone comes in with let's say a minor offense and they are appearing before a judge to set their bonds within the first 24 hours, if we can match them with a treatment agency they are willing to participate in the judge may be able to lower their bond, release them to the community. host: henry is on the line. >> good morning. i have 18 years working in the

state system my question is from my observation if they came in court motivated, is there a way more inmates to be court ordered to complete those programs? >> we have found that that is a very effective way to motivate folks especially those who battle addiction. that is a population that responds very well to court orders. it is not foolproof of course but it does help in providing some leverage, that seems to be effective in motivating substance abuser. it is not necessarily an

effective way to deal with mental health issues. sometimes severe mental health issues don't respond very well to that kind of pressure from the courts. host: we are spending our morning at montgomery county jail, 30 miles from washington d.c. you can see on the map there on your screen there is a population about 643 inmates at this facility. 570 males, 73 females, they keep them separate. the average they keep them separate. the average ages 18-30 years old. 60% are minorities. the most popular charges dealing with substance abuse and drugs. go ahead tony. >> caller: good morning, how are

you? i am retired with the georgia department of corrections. i was a counselor there for many years. the problem i found is that all inmates, most of the inmates they all come from a single family home, they have no education, they have no work experience. they don't want no work experience. they all dropped out of school, we tried to get ged's and they they still want to gang bang and all that stuff. so that was just my comment from what i saw from them. they don't want to participate, they they want to run the street. host: okay athena do you have willing participants? guest: that is not my experience there are some individuals who

may not be interested but the majority of folks we have we are able to motivate them into entering programs. they find incentives in that. we find people want to do well if they have the right opportunities. it is not easy for them. they have a lot of barriers to overcome. host: what are some of those barriers? guest: some of those are social supports, lack of education, lack of leisure activities that involve staying away from people and places where drugs are involved. it involves a complete change of lifestyle sometimes. as we note those are not easy changes to make. you can provide the opportunities but it takes a while and it becomes a lifelong management issue. they need a lot of support from the community to change their life. host: you say they're motivated while they are in jail to change. once they get out, do you try to stay in contact with them, what are you seeing? guest: depending on which program they get involved, we have different programs.

sometimes we we refer to residential programs and somewhat time to outpatient. there are treatment facilities involved in monitoring their compliance. most substance abuse facilities have urinalysis as part of their protocol. they also have in bald in various forms of treatment. the treatment providers are the ones who follow up with the inmates that we refer to that. host: we go to st. petersburg. >> caller: i'm from st. petersburg, florida i was just wondering what percentage of maryland's prisons are privatized, and what they think about the difference between her job being done in a privatized system versus her job being done in a state run system? host: go ahead athena.

guest: i cannot answer the first part of the colors question. i am not sure. i do know that we have a long-standing partnership among our departments here, locally. our services are funded by my gum ray county government. we have a collaborative relationship, we have been able to build on those over the year. i cannot speak to the state system. host: what is your day like on a daily basis and what are you doing and how did you get involved with this work? guest: i have been involved with this work with montgomery county for about 26 years. it is a population that i am very passionate about helping because i believe that when

folks come into contact with the criminal justice system it is an opportunity, as as they are in crisis, to provide them hope. being able to offer help at a time when someone comes in feeling the impact of the various environmental and behaviors they have been engaging in, is the right time. when there's crisis and opportunity at the same time the potential for change is higher. so it is a very dynamic area to work with. i find it folks are very interested in change. it is important to be able to feel compassionate and offer options to this population. it is something that has eyes interest me. host: if you want more information about what you have learned today go to montgomery county md.gov/seo are. that's the website on your screen to learn more. we want to thank athena moreau, all the folks at montgomery

county correction facility very much for your time this morning. to allow us to come inside the correctional facility there and hear from all of them about what they do on a daily basis and hear about the inmates life and how their perfect pairing them for life's after jail. a big thanks to everyone there. that does it for today's washington juno. i want to thank all of you for calling in with your questions and how their perfect pairing them for life's after jail. a big thanks to everyone there. that does it for today's washington juno. i want to thank all of you for calling in with your questions and comments. will be back tomorrow morning seven am eastern time. enjoy 7:00 a.m. eastern time. enjoy the rest of your tuesday. >> welcome to book tv and prime tv on c-span two. 48 hours of nonfiction books and authors every weekend. congress is in recess so we thought we take this opportunity and be in prime time during the week as well. tonitvt we are focusing on books relating to the supreme court. the supreme court began its fall session on monday, october 5,