Jail education program worked in Flint. Can it work in Charlotte?
A new program at the Mecklenburg County Detention Center aims for released individuals to have more education than they entered with, or even their own business.
Classes offered within the program focus on addressing the challenges that brought those in the jail into conflict with law enforcement. These include classes on substance use, domestic violence, life skills, problem solving and wellness, with emphasis on emotional intelligence, anger management and parenting.
The Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office started the Residents Individually Growing Naturally & Intentionally Through Education or (R) IGNITE program after the same program successfully debuted in Flint, Michigan two years ago.
In addition to the program’s focus on basic life skills, three specific classes “Working Smart,” “The Next Great 50,” and “Trappin 101” will focus on money management, career success and how to start a business. Within the Next Great 50, participants can create their own website, license their company, and leave the jail with a thumb drive of the site and their own business or LLC.
Sheriff Garry McFadden said the goal of the program is to prepare those in the jail to be better neighbors when they leave. A majority of the people in jail will leave and return to their communities one day.
“We give them something to do and we make them better citizens,” McFadden said.
The program will operate at no extra cost to the county, because it is facilitated by MCSO staff, Janet Parker, a spokesperson for the jail said.
While preparing those inside the jail for life outside of it, the program aims to reduce the recidivism rate in Mecklenburg County.
Recidivism is the tendency of a convicted criminal to re-offend.
“This will all reduce recidivism so no matter what we have, who we have, we still have to have something to do to better our citizens,” McFadden said during a recent sheriff’s candidate forum.
Due to COVID, the detention center temporarily stopped many anti-recidivism programs. Data from before the pandemic show 15% of people in the jail who participated in such programs would face re-arrest.
From Flint to Charlotte
Genesee Sheriff Christopher Swanson, one of the founders of the program, said since its inception the jail has seen both inmate on inmate and inmate on staff assaults drop significantly. He said in 2010 they were averaging 350 assaults per year and in 2021 — the program’s second year — they had five.
Captain Todd Lanning, executive officer to the sheriff in Genesee, said their jail population goes to school five days a week and takes classes in CDL truck driving, financial awareness, health, wellness, and 60 other courses available on Chromebooks. Some graduate with trades and their GEDs.
While it is too early to tell what the program will mean for the county’s recidivism rates long-term, Swanson said, he is hopeful that it will reduce recidivism dramatically.
He said post-incarceration education can reduce recidivism rates by 40% according to the RAND study done in 2016.
In the year and a half since the program started, Swanson said they have had 40 individuals leave the program and the jail and begin full time employment.
Future plans
McFadden said in five years, he hopes to see those who went through the program out in the community successfully operating their own businesses.
“That when I’m out into the community, I see these people that came through IGNITE running a business, being a chef at a restaurant, helping with substance abuse, running a lawn care service, running a women’s salon, or walk into a counter and he’s working as a customer service rep,” McFadden said.
McFadden said most of the classes have already started, but the program is still in its early stages.
Classes will begin in a phased approach at different times in the various housing units, and will be held for 90 minutes on either Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays or Tuesdays and Thursdays each morning or afternoon depending on the unit and program.
In addition to this newly incorporated program, the Mecklenburg County jail offers over a dozen others ranging from educational programs, to re-entry and life skill based classes, according to its website.
Over the past few months, the jail has come under heavy criticism for its staffing shortages.
The jail was found to be out of compliance with safety standards according to a state report in December and at this time half of its staff positions were vacant. Again in March, the jail was found to be out of compliance when it did not provide adequate staff supervision resulting in the death of a woman in custody.
McFadden said in a candidates forum for the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s race that this program is necessary no matter the department’s staffing levels.
