[Peace] 7pm Thurs: remind County Board that yes, we support alternatives to incarceration
Stuart Levy
stuartnlevy at gmail.com
Wed Nov 20 19:57:32 UTC 2013
Please come to the*7PM Thursday, Nov. 21st County Board meeting*, to
remind the Board that yes, Champaign County supports alternatives to
incarceration and should retain the money allotted to carrying them
out. Whether you wish to speak or not, it's valuable to show up to let
the Board know that people care about the issue. The meeting is in
the usual place: at the Brookens Center, 1776 E. Washington (near
Washington & Lierman), Lyle Shields room.
Some background:
C-U Citizens for Peace and Justice's No More Jails campaign, over the
last couple of years, completely changed the conversation - at the
County Board and elsewhere - from "which architect shall we hire to
build a new County jail" to asking and answering questions like "what
should the County do to reduce the need for putting people in jail, and
to make it less likely that those who do go to jail will later
return". A needs-assessment consultant, ILPP, was hired and made a
number of recommendations.
At the Oct. 24th County Board meeting, about $200,000 was set aside to
carry out some of those recommendations. This was a good thing!
Soon after, the News-Gazette reported that a five-week "test" of one
proposed change, related to pre-trial services, was a "dud". This is
strange in several respects: the Board was never told that a test was
underway; five weeks is far too short for such a test in any case; the
people recommended to be hired to assist with the pre-trial services
program weren't actually hired; and so on.
It's premature to say that this was a flawed approach, and that the
money slated for it should be redirected for other purposes. Some in
the criminal justice system have been trying to say just that, and to
speak individually to Board members to convince them, preceding any
public meeting on the issue.
Some on the Board have been calling for an open public discussion - a
study session. We should support them in this!
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