Sheriff’s Charlotte center for formerly incarcerated to help with adjusting outside jail
A new uptown resource center for formerly incarcerated people is expected to help with their transition back into society by offering resources like mental health or job search support.
The Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office debuted its new Post Release Resource Center, located at 801 East 4th Street, with a grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony featuring Sheriff Garry McFadden in November.
“You want to stop recidivism,” McFadden said at the event. “So how do you do it? You have to have people come into space where they feel comfortable.”
The resource center is located in the former Weekender Reporting Center of the Detention Center, and contains multiple couches, tables and desks with computers and printers, giving people space for getting work done, or meeting with others.
Murals highlighting words like “sobriety” and “motivation” are painted on several of the walls, and there are brochures advertising supportive services available to the former inmates.
Sheriff’s office staff and volunteers will be available to people who go to the resource center to help them apply for jobs, find resources for substance abuse recovery, and get support to avoid “self-harming decisions,” an sheriff’s office press release said. The press release said the office releases about 13,000 people annually.
Dorian Johnson, the sheriff’s office adult programs director, said the opening of the resource center was an emotional experience, especially when thinking about what it could mean for the future of Mecklenburg County.
“You have a lot of hurdles that you have to overcome, and you see a lot of suffering and a lot of pain that people are going through, and many of them suffer inside,” said Johnson, who has worked at the sheriff’s office for 27 years and oversees the office’s 40 to 50 rehabilitation services. “To have the opportunity to continue to help people, and just thinking about what this center potentially can do … That does something to me inside.”
He said he was looking forward to watching people flourish outside of incarceration to become better parents, overcome addiction, and take care of their mental health.
But it’s important that people take advantage of the resource center, he said, and have the support of loved ones to come and take advantage of what it has to offer.
“There are employment partners, there are mental health partners, substance partners, housing partners, that are out here that are willing to help,” Johnson said. “And we can link those persons to those services.”
McFadden said he hoped people who had good experiences at the resource center might eventually come back to volunteer and help new people as they come through.
He said he keeps in contact with some formerly incarcerated people, and recently heard from a man who sent him pictures from his new job in another city.
It touched his heart, he said, to hear from him and see the pictures, and he’s looking forward to seeing people come back to share their progress in the future too.
“His business was created here, his LLC. So he left here with a business license, a business plan,” McFadden said “He’s working at a reptile zoo, but he’s also training dogs, and so this is what he wanted to do. This is what he learned how to do here.”
The sheriff’s press release said the office was one of 100 organizations that received a $40,000 Lowe’s Home Improvement grant, which was used to renovate the resource center.
McFadden said he was impressed with the transformation the space underwent in a short amount of time.
“We want a line out the door,” McFadden said. “It’s opening doors that nobody else has.”
