Report of the Regular Grand Jury

REPORT OF THE REGULAR GRAND JURY

Presented to

The Honorable Barry Steelman Judge,

Criminal Court

Division I The Honorable Barry Steelman Judge, Criminal Court, Division I Hamilton County, Tennessee

Judge Steelman:

Enlightening, civic duty, honor, interesting, learning experience, enjoyable, Eye- opener, and fascinating is how this Grand Jury described their service when asked to use just one word or phrase. They would all agree that it was an education into the criminal justice system, and were all surprised by the high number of cases that come through the Grand Jury and most disturbing to them, the revolving door/repeat offender aspect of it.

It came as no surprise to me that many of them were impressed with the professionalism, knowledge and compassion shown by Law Enforcement as they presented their cases.

After hearing from our three Criminal Court Judges and a Session Court Judge, they realized that there is a level of compassion and that they want to help many of those that come through their courts: They were all surprised and glad to learn about Drug Court and Mental Health Court. After four months of service you quickly realize that substance abuse and mental health are at the root of most cases.

As part of their service, they visited the facilities of Silverdale CCA, the Hamilton County Jail, and Juvenile Detention and Courts.

This jury was charged with reporting on Silverdale CCA and Community Corrections.

SILVERDALE CCA

This Jury found the facility to be clean and efficiently run with a high level of professionalism shown by those who are in leadership.

This jury would ask that updated GED software and class materials be considered and they were told that reading material for all reading levels is needed. Below are the thoughts of one juror on her tour of Silverdale:

The facilities look about what would be expected from a corrections site in our county. I compare it to the schools we have. Some are new and have problems; some are older than dirt and have the same problems. Silverdale seemed to be smoothly run but I am sure to the naYve eye, there are probably more areas that need attention. I was glad to see that there is opportunity for educational help and programs to give the inmates some rehabilitation. It is so important to try and give people opportunities for self-improvement. It is disturbing to see how many young people waste their life away from poor choices. The medical attention that is provided for the inmates is good, but hard to grasp that you have to go to jail to get better health care than some families can afford. The education area of the facility is good for what it is used for. Most of the inmates will struggle with life skills because they lack the education and the desire to become better citizens. It is hard to make up for years of poor choices. I feel that the students at Washington Alternative School should have a field trip to Silverdale to help with this continuing problem. Maybe if they see their "future" in front of them, they may wake up and change their ways while they have the resources and educational opportunities.

COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS

Thank you to Superintendent Valda Cowan for coming to us and educating this panel on the different programs within Community Corrections. This group saw this as an important, cost effective alternative to incarceration for non-violent offenders. Some wonder about the true rehabilitation aspect of these programs. Some jurors would like to see more manpower for tracking purposes as well as additional funding for resources.

Below are the thoughts of one juror on Community Corrections:

I think that Community Corrections serves a great need to people in our society who want a chance at rehabilitation by giving them the tools to be successful in turning their lives' around. I think it is great that clients pay for this service, and not taxpayers. SOME FINAL THOUGHTS

Grand Juries all see the same thing. That criminal activity in our community is real, and there is an abundance of "repeat offenders". They often question why those repeat offenders are not just "locked away". That conversation is hard, and often leads to why more time and resources are not put into the rehabilitation of those that are incarcerated.

We have talked about the fact that for instance, to do something about the gang issues in our community we would need to put the time and resources into the children that are born TODAY. We talk about "the cycle" that some children are born into and if they are given the tools early on, they may have a chance at not continuing on in that lifestyle.

Below are some thoughts one juror has on "breaking the cycle":

Most women who are incarcerated are mothers, and are much more likely to be the sole caregiver of their children than male prisoners. Even a brief term in prison can have a harsh effect on women and can cause serious family disruption.

When one considered that historically most prisons have been designed with the male population in mind, and that there are far fewer women's prisons, women are far more likely to be imprisoned much further away from their children. This in tum, makes it more difficult to maintain contact with them.

Women living in insecure/rented accommodations at the time of their arrest usually lose their housing upon incarceration. Finding secure accommodations upon release can be difficult, and women whose children have been placed in state care cannot normally reclaim custody of them unless she has secure housing. Therefore, even a short prison term may lead to the permanent separation of families. Statistics from the Department of Justice indicate that individuals who are homeless have substance abuse issues, lived in the foster care system, and/or have a family member who has been imprisoned and are more likely to be imprisoned themselves. Thus, it is easy to see how criminality can become cyclical within a family.

From my tour of the Silverdale facilities, I learned that infants are taken away from pregnant prisoners immediately after birth. Certainly, prisons are no place for babies and children, yet babies who bond with their mothers and breastfeed in the early months of their lives tend to have better mental and physical health in the long run. The presumption should be that babies should remain with their mothers unless there are compelling reasons for separating them.

While running a prison nursery may not be appropriate or feasible, as a lay-person I am not knowledgeable enough to contribute alternative solutions to maintaining meaningful parental contact and family relationships. However, I do have concerns that the movement towards video visitation, combined with the reduction or elimination of face to face interaction, harms the family unit. This contributes to mental, emotional and social dysfunction for both parent and child, increasing the odds of re-incarceration for the parent and the likelihood that the child will one day enter the correctional system.

(NOTE: we as a Grand Jury will not pretend to have the answers to this problem that we know exists. This is a conversation that is almost always brought to the forefront during a juror 's four month term and I felt it needed to be reflected in a report.)

Another problem that is often a "head scratcher" is the fact that we get so many DOR charges and the cycle that it creates.

Below are the thoughts of one juror on this subject:

Many of the cases that pass through the Grand Jury contain a driving on revoke license component. This charge seems to create a hopeless cycle that will never allow some individuals to break free of the criminal justice system. A majority of Americans require a driver's license for work. This basic privilege allows freedom and mobility as well as access to a broader job market. I would recommend that a program that focuses on helping individuals secure their drivers license when caught up in this cycle.

Other than the four listed above this jury was made up of a manager with Food City; a Cardiac QI coordinator at Erlanger; a security guard with Walden Security; an interviewer with Wilkins Research; a property manager/exec assistant with the River City Company; a Real Estate Agent with Berkshire- Hathaway; a Police Officer with the Dalton Police Department and two retired CPD Officers.

During their term they heard 445 cases. They came together and took serious the charge, as well as the education they were given and made the decisions they felt necessary in these cases. ACKNOWLEDGEME NTS

We wish to thank the following people:

• Judges Poole, Steelman and Greenholtz for sharing their wisdom and passion for the Criminal Justice System. •Assistant D.A. Bill West for his legal assistance. It was of the utmost importance that we had your knowledge of the law to make necessary decisions in our cases. As always his patience and kindness was appreciated. • Court Liaison Sgt. Jeff Rearden of the Chattanooga Police Department for his diligence in getting our witnesses in and the wisdom that he shared with us concerning CPD procedure and policy. • Don Klasing for keeping our witnesses organized, and the wonderful ENTHUSIASM he shows! • Sheriff 's Deputy Jeremy Long for escorting us on our facility tours. • Larry Henry and staff of the Circuit Court Clerk's Office; along with Assistant Jury Coordinator Margo McConnell and Julia Kinser of the Criminal Court Clerk's office. We appreciate everything they do for us. • The administration and staff who conducted our tours through Silverdale, the County Jail and Juvenile Detention Center. • Investigator 's Lee Wolff and Vernon Kimbrough for the education we received from them on drugs and other illegal activity that goes on in our community. They left a lasting impression on this Grand Jury. • Captain Gene Coppinger and Sgt. Robert Harvey for the interesting class on safety and contraband in the jail. • Larry Henry for providing in his budget, our lunch at Golden Coral while touring the facilities. This is much appreciated and not taken for granted. • Brittani Daniels for serving as our official note takers. • Our Permanent On Call Alternates