Jones to consider jail drug program

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Last year, a diverse group of congregations got the Richmond sheriff to form a task force to create a plan for a new drug-treatment program for city jail inmates.

At last night's annual action meeting of Richmonders Involved to Strengthen Our Communities, Mayor Dwight C. Jones promised to consider funding a program recommended by the task force. The program would cost about $140,000 a year for 120 inmates.

"For years, we have known that the Richmond City Jail was an immoral, unconscionable place for any human being to be in," Jones said, eliciting a cheer from the crowd of nearly 1,000 attending the RISC meeting at Good Shepherd Baptist Church in Church Hill.

Sheryl Garland, VCU Health System's vice president for community outreach, also promised to improve primary health-care access for the uninsured.

RISC, which is made up of about 15 churches and synagogues, last year selected drugs and crime and health care as critical issues to pursue.

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This year, the group added education to the list. The congregations are seeking solutions to what they called high student suspensions and dropout rates. Last year, Richmond's schools had 21,452 in-school and out-of-school suspensions, said Rabbi Ben Romer of Congregation Or Ami.

"About 80 percent of out-of-school suspensions were for nonserious and nonviolent things," he said.

School Superintendent Yvonne Brandon could not be at last night's event because she was at a School Board meeting, but RISC officials said they met with her last week.

Jones said inmates with mental-illness and substance-abuse issues will not be housed in the new jail when it's built because they do not belong there.

The current jail holds about 1,500 inmates daily; about 1,200 of those have substance-abuse issues, according to the sheriff's office. About seven out of 10 released inmates return to jail, it said.

The rehabilitation programs the sheriff's office offers do not have a proven track record, said the Rev. Tyrone Nelson, co-president of RISC and pastor of Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church.

Sheriff T.C. Woody, who was not present, said in an interview earlier that he regretted that some have chosen to discredit his office's work.

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"The suggestion by the Reverend Tyrone Nelson and some members of Richmonders Involved to Strengthen Communities that we have failed to implement an evidence-based alcohol and treatment program is incorrect," he said.

"What we have failed to do is allow Reverend Nelson to require that the sheriff's office raise more than $180,000 to hire individuals selected by Reverend Nelson to work in the jail."

But RISC insists on having a program with a proven track record that would serve 120 inmates a year at a savings of $1.6 million in the first year, said the Rev. Chris Thomas, associate pastor of Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church.

"This evidence-based program will save lives and money," he said.

At the meeting, Diane Atkins, a representative from the Church of the Redeemer Roman Catholic Church, said more than 131,000 adults, including 57,000 living at low-income levels in the Richmond area, are uninsured.

Last year, VCU Health System received $104 million in reimbursement for services provided to indigent patients, but only 2 percent of that money went to primary care, she said.

VCU Health System's Garland agreed to work with RISC to make improvements, particularly to the Virginia Coordinated Care for the uninsured program paid by VCU Health System.

"I applaud RISC and its membership for adopting an interest in improving access to primary care for the uninsured," she said. "Solving this issue is greater than one organization and will take an entire community working together to develop sustainable solutions."