a public defender

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Over the past week or so, a fight of sorts has broken out between New Haven mayor John DeStefano and Governor Rell. It started with a meeting in New Haven about prisoner re-entry, with town residents complaining that DOC “dumped” inmates into New Haven who then had nowhere to go. Then there were three murders in New Haven, prompting Mayor DeStefano emphatically called for some help.

“The probation system needs to deal with these kids,” said DeStefano in a press conference Tuesday afternoon. Two of the three shootings Monday night involved armed teenagers, violent offenders increasingly fearless of The Law, who put officers’ lives at risk.
DeStefano said the evening brought him to a boiling point of frustration with the state for dumping 25 to 30 prisoners on the city’s doorstep each week with no social services. “You cannot keep dumping people in our communities,” DeStefano charged.

The most troubling common thread, said DeStefano, was the criminal history of all parties involved. The dumping of prisoners in New Haven has already prompted the city to open a fourth homeless shelter. DeStefano railed against the state for “failing to engage” ex-offenders with case management programs, social services and “positive choices” after prison. Earlier this month, the city lobbied Hartford for $1 million for a pilot program to provide case management for people leaving prison, the mayor said. With tones of clear frustration, he said the city has been asking for one and a half years for a prison reentry system. The state needs to step up,” DeStefano said. “Do we have to, Godforbid, have an officer killed here?” He asked. “What is it going to take to solve this problem?”

Pretty strong stuff there. Yesterday, Governor Rell responded with some strong words of her own. Among them, she not-so-gently reminded DeStefano of New Haven’s cop troubles. Then she said this:

You are apparently unaware that of the number of inmates incarcerated today, a total of 12 percent report a New Haven residence. (Indeed, if I were in an ironic frame of mind, perhaps I might complain about the City of New Haven “dumping” its problems with drugs, violence, theft and other crimes on the State of Connecticut.)

You also appear to be unaware that nearly $5.5 million was spent in 2007 on residential and non-residential services for former prisoners in New Haven, or that the Office of Parole and Community Services, operated by the Department of Correction, has 23 parole officers, two substance abuse counselors and two case managers dedicated to New Haven.

That first sentence is so offensive, I don’t know where to start. So I’m not going to. Let’s take a look at the second paragraph - specifically the amount spent on re-entry.

The state spends close to $665 million on corrections a year. Isn’t that amazing? That’s not six hundred thousand…that’s 665 million. That would put corrections spending between the GDPs of Djibouti and Liberia. In the 2006 budget, out of the general fund, appropriations for corrections was $589 million. There was an appropriation for something called “community support services”, which was given $27 million. Don’t know exactly what that entails, but I’m assuming it has something to do with re-entry. Which is barely 4% of the budget.

And we wonder why cities aren’t happy and re-entry is a problem. To answer the question: It is our problem. All of us. Just as crime is and just as rehabilitation should be.

We need to spend more on getting inmates ready to re-enter society and start living amongst us again. When will we learn?