The Davidson County Sheriff's Office releases an average of 110 offenders daily into the greater Nashville community. These offenders face significant barriers including, but not limited to, substance abuse, mental health issues and placement, housing, employment, violence, educational deficiencies, and lack of basic identification. The Criminal Justice Planning Committee's review of recidivism rates of offenders who were incarcerated in 2006 and re-arrested in 2007 found that offenders who received both programming while incarcerated and reentry planning connections with service providers before release had a high rate of success. Providing programs that meet the assessed needs of the offenders while at the same time providing strong comprehensive reentry plan give the offender the best chance of success.
The DCSO has a long history of collaboration with community agencies and encourages open access to inmates by former, present or prospective care providers. At present, 100 community agencies provide programming and resources to inmates during their incarceration. These agencies include representatives from mental health, housing, health, education, training, employment and recovery. The goal of Davidson County's Community Linkage component is to ensure that each participant is released with a comprehensive release plan that has been developed by jail staff, offenders and community agencies.
In the past 15 years, Sheriff Daron Hall has forged a solid relationship linking the public and private sectors into a grassroots effort around reentry. Partners who have been working with intently in this area for many years are: General Sessions and Criminal Courts, Probation State and Local, District Attorney Office, private and public attorneys and the County's Criminal Justice Planning Committee. There are approximately 100 community agencies that provide services within our facilities.
Through participation in the Transition from Jail to Community Initiative, Davidson County hopes to enhance its already extensive jail reentry work. Specifically, Davidson County is focused on finding ways to dedicate staff time to working with offenders from intake to release, increasing data collection and analysis in the jail reentry process, and ensuring that resources are strategically allocated to be as effective and efficient as possible. Sheriff Hall describes the role of the jail and their partners in the effort by saying, "the police arrest the person, and we are charged with arresting the problem."
For more information, contact Davidson County TJC Coordinator Jeaneice Shearon: SShearon@DCSO.nashville.org.
