Huntington Police Department's Turn Around Program

The Western Regional Jail (WRJ) in Cabell County, West Virginia which serves Cabell county along with five (5) other partnering counties is among the state's largest and most crowded regional jails. The facility has been in operation since 2003 and serves five of the state's 55 counties. In recent years, the number of inmates has increased dramatically, and many of these individuals have mental health and/or substance use disorders. Before the Turn Around initiative was introduced in October 2017, no process existed to provide substance abuse/mental health services or tailored support to assist those charged or convicted misdemeanors with reentry or successfully remaining in their community. Turn Around is a previously successful program the applicant wishes to continue that aims to reduce recidivism rates for individuals charged or convicted of misdemeanors in those currently incarcerated by identifying those with co-occurring mental health/substance use disorders and assessing criminogenic needs. The program uses evidence-based practices and validated instruments to determine the most effective type of intervention to reduce recidivism. Turn Around staff which consists of a Program Coordinator, Two (2) Case Managers and a Peer Recovery Coach will develop pre-release and transition plans for clients complete with peer support, wraparound services, and connection to community resources to provide each client with the needed assistance. The program previously aimed to reduce recidivism by 10%, to 40.6% during operation and was successful in reducing it to 41.3%, which was within 0.7% of the goal which was greatly affected by the COVID pandemic during operation. The ultimate goal of the TA program is to reduce recidivism of inmates of the WRJ charged or convicted on a misdemeanor by engaging inmates in direct services, linking to service within the community once released, and establishing new partnerships with organizations within the communities in which clients were released to assist them in meeting their needs. The applicant's goal is to reduce recidivism, increase job stability, permanent housing and healthcare access with the Turn Around program.