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Women in Santa Cruz County jail: Cycle of incarceration

Santa Cruz Sentinel - 4/11/2017

April 11--SANTA CRUZ -- A new report by a researcher who has studied mothers in and out of jail for 20 years says changes are needed to the break the multi-generational cycle of incarceration in Santa Cruz County, and Sheriff Jim Hart will share his plans at 9 a.m. Tuesday when the county supervisors meet.

"Gender Matters," by Susan Greene, is based on interviews with 31 women serving time in Santa Cruz County jail last year.

The 54-page report documents connections between growing up in poverty, in an unstable home with frequent moves, parental fights, sexual abuse, parental neglect, parental incarceration, and running away, dropping out of school and using drugs and alcohol as a way to cope.

"I was suicidal and in 8th grade," one woman told Greene, explaining why she used methamphetamine.

Another told Greene, "I was angry at the world. I was mad at my mom for not being there for me."

Yet another told Greene she was depressed by her father's drinking.

More than of half of those interviewed were first booked for being under the influence or in possession of a controlled substance or paraphernalia.

"Incarceration does not help change patterns of behavior," Greene writes, noting a recidivism rate of 71 percent among these women who had been incarcerated an average of 12 times.

"The revolving door is spinning at a dangerous speed," she added, noting that locking up someone addicted to drugs costs $105 per person per day, with corrections budgeted at $13 million in the county general fund.

Half the women were detained before trial rather than serving a sentence.

Some 74 percent of these women are mothers, and their 45 children are living with relatives, foster parents or on their own. Half these children are under 18.

Greene, who created the Getting Out and Staying Out program for women inmates in 1998 as part of her master's degree at UC Santa Cruz, recommends:

--Creating a women's advisory group with law enforcement, public health and community organizations to map out changes.

--Assessing women for history of abuse and issues involving their children.

--Reducing the number of women detained before trial.

--Redesigning Blaine Street programming to add classes to help women transition to the community.

--Connect women staying less than 20 days while in custody to community services with scheduled appointments.

--Evaluate the use of Edovo's Samsung tablets to deliver educational programming.

--Consider contact visits with children as incentives and provide a child-friendly visitation area.

--Expand medication-assisted treatment as tapering off drugs and alcohol is known to increase risk of relapse.

--Work with local leaders to avoid releasing individuals into homelessness.

Hart plans to develop a "division of reentry" in corrections using a "gender lens" to address needs of women.

He plans to move 75 percent of the female jail population to the Rountree facility in Watsonville by the end of May, adding new programs, including visits for minor children, leaving fewer than 10 women at the main jail.

The population of the Blaine Street minimum security facility is down to zero, with fewer women in that classification due to Proposition 47, shrinking from 21 in 2014 to nine in 2016.

Peace United Church in Santa Cruz offers a program for women in jail.

"The sheriff has done a fairly good job of providing programming in-house; however, there is precious little pre-release planning and follow through," said Beverly Brook, Peace United's team leader of justice ministries. "What we lack is transitional housing which would allow women to develop stable, verified prerelease plans, improve life skills, obtain employment, and, perhaps, be on a work furlough program which would allow them to save money for their release ... To know you will be released from the main jail or Rountree into the same circumstances feeds into their despair."

Most programs are 12 weeks long, but women stay an average of 39 days, she said, pointing out there is no public transportation to Rountree to facilitate a family visit.

WOMEN IN JAIL

This statistical portrait of women in Santa Cruz County jail is drawn from 31 interviews in March 2016 to May 2016 by researcher Susan Greene, who has a doctorate from UC Santa Cruz.

Age range: 20 to 62

Average age: 34

Lived in Santa Cruz 20+ years: Over 50%

Ethnicity: 65% Caucasian, 16% mixed, 10% Latino

Suspended/expelled from school: 66%

Lacks high school diploma: 33%

Moved 5 times: Over 50%

Sexual abuse as a child: 71%

Parental/caregiver violence: 80%

Separated from parent: 87%

Incarcerated parent: 56%

Began using alcohol or drugs: Age 14

Addicted to drugs or alcohol: 84%

Diagnosed with mental illness: 68%

Hurt by their partner: 77%

Got government assistance as adult: 81%

Got drug/alcohol treatment: Two-thirds

Booked in jail before: 30 of 31 women

First booking for under influence of drugs: 50+%

Most bookings: 37

Served time before: 75%

Average number of jail stays: 12

Has children: 23 of 31 women

Number of children: 45 (19 under age 10)

Visit by children while in custody: 20%

Source: Gender Matters by Susan Greene

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(c)2017 the Santa Cruz Sentinel (Scotts Valley, Calif.)

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