Georgia DOC Introduces New Community Impact Program
The Georgia Department of Corrections will create a cooperative venture in Macon to ease convicts back into society and turn them away from lives of crime, state officials said Wednesday. News from the Macon Telegraph.
The venture should launch within 60 days, said Joe Baden, who is coordinating the effort for the state agency. Four Macon police officers will be assigned to work in the new Community Impact Program, said Macon Deputy Police Chief Mike Carswell.
“Our folks are chomping at the bits. They’re ready to go,” Carswell said after a meeting in Atlanta to discuss programs for Macon and Columbus.
Baden said the state is negotiating for about 1,500 square feet of space behind the existing Day Reporting Center at 543 Second St. in Macon. The Macon Community Impact Program could later be expanded by another 3,000 square feet in the same building.
Initial partners could include the Georgia Department of Corrections, the Macon Police Department, River Edge Behavioral Health Center, Department of Juvenile Justice and state parole officers. River Edge hopes to get a grant to have counselors on staff, Baden said. Challenges for people leaving jail or prison often include poor education and life skills and problems finding jobs or housing.
Department of Corrections Commissioner Brian Owens said collaborative approaches ultimately can cut down on the number of crimes being committed, making people feel and be safer.
“The offenders are talking to each other. For a change, we’re talking, too,” Owens said.
But such changes require compromise. Macon police plan to shift the four officers out of the warrants division. The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office supports the concept but struggles to find enough staff for its regular duties, said Chief Deputy David Davis.
“Our issue right now is we’re just short-staffed all the way through,” Davis said.
Macon’s initial Community Impact Program will be modeled on an Atlanta program, which is modeled on a program in Savannah. A group called the Macon Re-Entry Coalition, led by state and federal probation officers with dozens of partners, has been pushing for a similar effort here.
Bibb County Commissioner Joe Allen said he would try to get more deputies. The county has offered the former Macon Baptist Association building to the Macon Re-Entry Coalition. The group initially asked for the former Virgil Powers School, which has been promised to a somewhat similar program being planned by Juvenile Court officials.
The Atlanta Community Impact Program has been running for about seven months. Atlanta police Sgt. Lamar Hester told Bibb County officials that partnerships brings deep benefits. Hester said police officers on patrol might see people lounging around houses, perhaps waiting to make drug deals, but don’t have probable cause to search the area. Probation officers can search the sleeping and common areas of people on probation but struggled to get police to follow up. Together, they’re more effective.
Hester said experience brings other benefits. Some probationers report their address as torn-down housing projects or use a trick from the “Blues Brothers” movie.
“Offenders give 755 Hank Aaron Drive,” he said. “That’s Turner Field. Our officers know that.”
The Macon area has about 5,200 people on probation. Stacy Rivera, chief probation officer for the Macon Judicial Circuit and a leader in the Macon Re-Entry Coalition, said collaboration is necessary to turn around lives of people leaving prisons.
“We know that we’ve got to address this re-entry problem, and it’s not something we can do by ourselves,” she said.
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