Guest Editorial: New Jail or Positive changes for community

I have been following the community regarding the funding and building of a new jail for Cortland County. My experience as a Clinical Social Worker in an adjoining county, I question the use of resources to build a new jail. Actually, my thoughts go deeper than funding. I question the mentality of trying to solve social issues by the use of incarceration. 

Spending time in county jail does very little to correct the problem. What does the Cortland County Jail offer to people that are caught up in the social problems that lead to short term incarceration to people jailed?

Recently, on Oct. 25, 2017, there was a New York State Senate Panel at the Cortland County Office Building. I was asked to give testimony on the heroin epidemic in Cortland and surrounding communities. Senator Seward hosted this forum. I was able to present some proposals on how to save lives, and save money at the same time. 

Addiction places a burden on the community on many levels. At this forum, I heard testimony on how the criminal justice system is exasperated and taxed by the revolving door of persons with addiction. 

Addiction is a lifestyle that is unaffordable; therefore people turn towards criminal enterprise. Not often high profile crimes, petty drug dealing to support the cost of addiction. Stealing items that are easily accessible and pawning them to buy more drugs. This goes on and on. 

People get arrested and go to jail, where the jail incurs huge medical expenses because the inmates that are in withdrawal need medical attention. Being incarcerated is not a cure or treatment for addiction. Addiction has its roots in mental health disorders. It often starts in childhood adolescent development.

Attempts to treat opiate dependence without medication are unsuccessful 90 percent of the time; conversely, medication assisted treatment is successful 85 percent of the time. 

The medication to treat opiate dependence is Buprenorphine. It is relatively inexpensive, however, it is not readily available in Cortland County.

A simple change in paradigm would be to take the money planned to spend on a new jail facility and spend it on creating a facility, or repurposing an existing facility to offer Medication Assisted Treatment. That would require a few offices, a medical exam room, and perhaps a physician or nurse practitioner that could prescribe Buprenorphine. It only requires an eight hour class after one has a medical degree or Nurse Practitioner license; and perhaps a nurse and a social worker / counselor.

For example, Dr. Nichols and myself currently treat 100 patients for opiate dependence by providing counseling and medication. What is more interesting is that we receive no funding from New York State or Tioga County. 

This begs the question, if Cortland started a practice like this, how much would crime and recidivism drop? 

One provider can treat up to 250 patients. If this was done in Cortland County, with no expense to Cortland County, just think of the ripple effect of savings across the county. 

How many people are using services from other county agencies because of addiction? Imagine lessening the burden on Family Court, DSS, CPS and other agencies. Imagine having people that previously were not able to work or go to school, or parent being able to do so. These statements are not pie-in-the sky. They are easily verified by SAMHSA and other agencies that keep statistics.

What crimes are most prevalent? How many of the people incarcerated have been there before? 

Unfortunately, many county jails have become a form of psychiatric hospital because there is no facility that actually treats the mental health and social problems that confound rural county governments. How easy can a family find help for the issues of poverty, housing, employment, and even family care medicine? 

What about addiction to all substances? Is there a local facility that offers treatment for different levels of care? What is the nearest mental health inpatient facility? Is there a local addiction treatment center that houses patients in need, or do they wind up incarcerated. If that is true, a jail sentence is not treatment for mental health problems.

How does Cortland County address family problems, such as abuse and neglect? What help is there for the parents? What interventions are available for the children?

These issues are not easily solved; if there was an easy solution, I’m sure the good people of Cortland County would implement these solutions. What I am quite certain of, however, is that building a newer, larger jail might sound like it is doing something, but it is not a solution.

I think of the movie “Field of Dreams”, the famous line, “If we build it, they will come.” My fear is that if we build a bigger jail, it will be filled. They will come, but the band of social injustice will play on. People will not have options. 

Let us look for better, more progressive solutions. I have just touched on the tip of the iceberg. I believe the solution is simple. If a new jail is built, it will soon be obsolete because it does very little to change the lives of people that end up there, and it will be soon overcrowded. If funds are spent to get to the root of the problem, then a new jail will be unnecessary. 

The choice is simple.

Barry Schecter, LCSW-R, CASAC, practices at 130 Temple St. in Owego, and is coordinator of Human Service Studies at SUNY Cortland.