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Flagler Sheriff's Office unveils inmate reform program

News-Journal - 2/27/2018

Feb. 27--The Flagler County Sheriff's Office on Monday showcased a new initiative intent on lowering Flagler's crime rate by giving criminals the wherewithal to earn a living legally.

The agency began a program called STRIDE last May that teaches inmates skills to become productive members of society.

When Sheriff Rick Staly took office last year, he aimed to stop the "revolving door" of inmates cycling through the jail. So he asked Becky Quintieri, the detention center's Inmate Services director, to design a program to help equip inmates with tools and education that could turn their lives around.

From GED training to parenting and vocational courses, domestic violence counseling and treatment for drug and alcohol addiction, STRIDE strives to provide inmates with a number of services -- many of which weren't available at the jail before.

Several stakeholders in the program sat around a table inside the Flagler County Detention Center's administration building Monday afternoon to discuss the strides they've made over the past nine months. They included representatives from several social services organizations in Flagler and Volusia counties, such as Career Source, Open Door Ministry, the Sheltering Tree and Flagler Technical Institute.

"You are the family for many of our inmates," Staly told them. "Because they don't have a family, they don't have a foundation and they don't have a support system. So you are showing them someone cares and are helping them turn their lives around."

STRIDE -- which stands for Skills, Transitional Support, Respect, Integrity, Direction and Employment -- is a multifaceted program that primarily targets nonviolent inmates who stand to be released back into the community without a prison stint. The Sheriff's Office goals include reduced recidivism rates for the inmates by stemming addiction, targeting homelessness, and helping offenders become gainfully employed once they are released.

Some services are as simple as helping inmates apply for their birth certificates and Social Security cards, which they will need for a job hunt after jail. Other inmates need help finding housing. Staly said some of the prisoners who come to lockup dropped out of school as early as second grade and 60 percent of the inmates test at ninth grade or lower reading proficiency levels.

Jonel Groundwater, a program director for the Volusia Literacy Council, began participating in the STRIDE program about a month ago and uses inmates to provide peer tutoring to other inmates.

"This has been an awesome opportunity to be able to meet students individually because the school system at-large just didn't work for whatever reason," she said. "And now we're able to build confidence. That's the goal."

Derrick "Chris" Thomas, an outreach counselor for the Volusia-Flagler County Coalition for the Homeless, said his mission is to help prisoners before they are released and help them plan for life outside of jail. Noting he's "worn orange jump suits" and battled drug and alcohol addiction in the past, he said he shares his story with prisoners and tells them how he was able to turn his life around.

"You get that one inmate who wants to know. And I will tell people, 'Look, I'm not a college graduate. I'm a recovering alcoholic -- and I did a lot of drugs -- who one day woke up and decided something needs to change.

"With recovery, if you give a person a little bit of hope, it gives you something to build on," he added.

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