CARING and DARING
By Sheriff Jim Alderden
I’m going to take a week off from educating the public about the flawed budget process and even more flawed county commissioner. After a couple of “negative” Bull’s-eye articles, it’s time to focus on something positive. Unfortunately, it’s too easy to find critical issues that have decidedly negative impacts on our agency, personnel and community. As the “scir-reeve”, the protector of the shire, I take my duty to protect the public very seriously. I hope you will forgive my lack of patience with those who appear indifferent to your safety.
Fortunately, one needs look no further than the doors of the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office to find numerous examples of good character and positive contributions to our community. Today, I want to focus on one such example.
For the past year, we have been trying to re-focus some of our programs at the jail on after-care or programs designed to help inmates transition from the jail back into society. While we only have a year’s worth of data, it does appear that our recidivism rate is lower than it has been. We are still gearing up the “re-entry” program at the detention center if we can find the space. I have also been working with Freedom Fellowship, trying to get the Freedom Ranch ready to accept inmates released from jail. This will be a faith based residential program to help former inmates get re-established in the community while continuing their journey of personnel growth. One program that is operational and has shown great promise is the Transformations class taught by Dr. Larry White of Designated Solutions.
Transformations is a science based “educational process by which individuals identify and understand behavioral tendencies which impact their daily interactions, experiences, and choices; evaluate various influencing factors to behavior; create a plan to modify behavior and identify future outcomes and goals to reduce or eliminate behaviors that lead to unintended consequences.” Dr. White has presented his material to many federal agencies and private corporations. Considering the above stated purpose of the training, it is easy to see how it is also applicable to inmates who have a history of making poor decisions with unintended consequences. This is cutting edge training and to our knowledge, the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office is the first to bring such education to inmates.
Dr. White presented his first class in the fall of 2006 and just completed his third class. Each class is an intensive 40 hours of training compressed into five days. The first two sessions were comprised of a total of 39 men. All but three of them have since been released from jail. Of the 36, not a single one has re-offended. This is nothing short of amazing!
I won’t get into the details of the training other than to say the participating inmates each complete a Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The MBTI serves as the basis for understanding their personality, filters and beliefs. Subsequently, they are taught to make conscious life choices and how to manage conflict and anger.
The participating inmates are forced to face their demons and let go, understanding that they “aren’t perfect, but are good enough.” To say the experience is intense is a bit of an understatement. When I went to the classroom on the final day of instruction, I was confronted by 16 female inmates, most of who had tissues in their hands and had obviously been crying. Dr, White asked if any of them had anything they wanted to say to me, and most raised their hands. Through her tears, the first lady thanked me for the opportunity to attend the training. She added that if she had this knowledge twenty-five years ago, she wouldn’t have been in and out of jail so many times. Written critiques added that the “material was amazing” and I “am so greatful (sic) and truly blessed to have had this learning experience.” Another wrote, “Thank you LCDC for the best gift of my life.” Another participant wrote, “This was my first visit to LCDC & I truely (sic) believe it will be my last. I wasn’t the only one in my class who said that they could not believe that they were happy to come to jail. I truely (sic) believe everything happens for a reason. I came here to be in this class…. Before I took this class I felt like I might return because jail almost felt comfortable, easier – but now I know I’m ready for my journey & excited to know what my destination will be.”
“Thank you” to Dr. Larry White and my excellent staff for caring and daring to make a difference.
August 22, 2007