Breaking the cycle
Town hall explores justice system challenges
The cost of the criminal justice system in Arizona has a price tag of more than $1 billion annually.
Meanwhile, over 42,000 people are incarcerated in the state prison system, a rate of 596 per 100,000 population, well above the national rate of 385 per 100,000. In addition, nearly 14,000 people are in county jails and 85,000 on probation in Arizona.
Those are among the statistics reported in a research document for the recent Southwest Arizona Town Hall: Criminal Justice in Yuma County.
Most of those offenders, except for the most violent and dangerous, will be coming back into the community at some point, remarked Honorable David Haws, presiding judge of Yuma County Superior Court, who served as a panelist and a participant in the town hall. That raises the challenge of how to help them integrate into society as productive citizens rather than cycle back into the criminal justice system. According to one study, 18 percent of those released return to prison within six months.
In partnership with the Yuma County criminal justice system, the steer-
ing committee for SWATH (Southwest Arizona Town Hall) decided to tackle a variety of issues related to the adult and juvenile criminal justice systems in Arizona and Yuma County, including what should be the principal goals of the system, how to prevent incarceration and how to improve the system after incarceration.
Discussion in five breakout groups — each representing a cross-section of public and private sectors of the community — led to the final report and three priorities:
• “Improved and more readily available support services for at-risk children and adults to address the underlying issues that often lead to criminal behavior, such as mental health, substance abuse, poverty, life skills, parenting, career development and educational disparities.”
• “Community education and outreach that fosters community awareness of, funding support for and engagement in the programs and services identified in goal No. 1.”
• “Involvement in the state’s rule-making bodies to allocate adequate funds for the support programs needed and identified in goal No. 1, as well as to re-evaluate the criminal justice system, including mandatory sentencing provisions and the accessibility of the criminal justice system.”
This final report went to the Arizona Town Hall, held in Phoenix Nov. 8-10, to address criminal justice statewide. Yuma’s report will also include the consensus that came out of the Yuma Youth Town Hall held in mid-October to engage the county’s high school students in a similar discussion titled Law and Public Safety.
The final report that comes out of the Arizona Town Hall will be shared with stakeholders in the state and its communities as a basis for policy changes.
“Our voice will be heard from youth and adults,” said Shelley Mellon, SWATH chair since 2012 and a member of the Yuma Union High School District Governing Board who was instrumental in organizing both town halls.
She is particularly enthused about this year’s town hall, considering it the most successful one so far. “I believe all the participants left enlightened and encouraged by the amazing leaders of our community who impact our judicial system,” she said, noting that innovative programs have been developed in Yuma County to provide alternative solutions and preventative measures.
Morning and luncheon panelists described them: mental health court, drug court, a program to keep those in the juvenile system current with their schooling, a one-stop program at the probation center to provide resources for newly released offenders such as health care and housing, and an exciting program called Kids at Hope — versus Kids at Risk — driven by the belief that “all kids are capable of success, no exceptions.” Another important component, noted Judge Haws, is the willingness of businesses to provide employment.
Added Machele Headington, co-chair of the SWATH steering committee: “Truly an amazing experience! I have to admit I was a bit ashamed that I was that ignorant about the impressive dedication and collaboration that is occurring right here in our own community. So deeply proud to live in a community where ‘collaboration for the betterment of our community’ is truly a normal part of who we are. … I left Friday with such a joy in my heart knowing that the dialogue, relationships and new knowledge that occurred as a result of one day will have a lasting impact on our community.”
The networking and education that occur at the town hall are a vital part of the process, said Mellon. But so, too, is the coming together of a diverse crosssection of Yuma County from business and government leaders to its citizens, among them students, to engage in civil dialogue on a topic important to the community’s future. “We’re able to come up with recommendations that will have a positive impact. It gives everybody a voice … to invest in the community and the direction we want it to grow.”
Over the years attorney Wayne Benesch says he has seen a big impact the various town halls have had. He first got involved in the Arizona Town Hall process in 1979, when the topic was the Indian tribes in the state. “What an education,” he reflected. He became “enamored of the process” where he rubbed elbows with key business and government leaders and experienced the flow of ideas that were “hammered” into a final report.
About that time some local leaders came up with the idea of having a Yuma County town hall with sponsorship by the Yuma County Chamber of Commerce. That declined after 15 years, but got a revival in 2005 with reorganization as the Southwest Arizona Futures Forum.
Later the organization became known as SWATH and a new concept was begun of partnering with local stakeholders to address issues that concern them. Such examples are the town hall on Joint Technical Education Districts that led to the development of STEDY (Southwest Technical Education District of Yuma), a town hall on wellness in partnership with Yuma Regional Medical and a session on water that was followed by a large contingent of Yuma residents attending the Arizona Town Hall as advocates to protect Yuma’s water.
In addition, the local town hall became aligned with the Arizona Town Hall, which decides on the topic, sponsors the research document and crafts the questions to be used first by the local event, then by the state group.
This year, SWATH has decided to hold a second town hall in the spring of 2019 to address a more local concern, that of mental health, its impact on the criminal justice system and the lack of local treatment options.
As a resource, research documents and final reports of previous Yuma County town halls are posted on the SWATH website at www. southwestarizonatownhall. com.