For immediate Release
Media Contact: Xochitl Bervera 404-861-0756
June 17, 2016
Atlanta and Fulton County Join Forces to Design Innovative New Public Safety Initiative
New initiative offers solutions instead of punishment for residents struggling with mental illness, drug addiction, and poverty
ATLANTA - On Thursday, June 23rd, from 1pm-7pm at the Loudermilk Conference Center, the community will gather to launch a unique effort to develop an innovative pre-arrest diversion initiative for Atlanta and Fulton County. The initiative aims to divert people out of the criminal justice system whose infractions are driven mainly by addiction, mental illness, and poverty and who would be better served by quality social services. The effort would reduce recidivism, lower the number of people in our expensive and ineffective criminal justice system, and improve public safety and our communities’ quality of life.
The launch makes Atlanta/Fulton County the 5th jurisdiction in the nation and the 2nd in the South to embrace pre-arrest diversion. Participants at the 6/23 forum will bring together stakeholders who don’t often sit at the table together, including reformers, judges, prosecutors, law enforcement, elected officials, community leaders, and those individuals who will be directly impacted by the new program.
What: Re-Thinking Justice Community Symposium: Launch of the Atlanta/Fulton County Pre-Arrest Diversion Initiative Design Team and Planning Process.
When: Thursday, June 23rd, from 1pm-7pm. Symposium runs 1:00 – 5:00, followed by a reception and the announcement of the newly appointed members of the Design Team.
Where: Loudermilk Center, 40 Courtland Street NE, Atlanta, GA 30303
Who: Community members, law enforcement and case managers from operating pre-arrest diversion programs in Seattle, Santa Fe, and Fayetteville, NC, City Council Member Kwanza Hall, representatives from Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard’s office, Superior Court Judge Constance Russell, Liz Frye of Mercy Care’s Street Medicine, Fulton County Commissioner, Marvin Arrington, and more (see attached Program for a full list).
Background
For years, in Atlanta and Fulton County, residents, businesses, and city and county leaders have been frustrated with what has seemed like an unsolvable problem of recidivism – of the same people cycling in and out of our local jails and courts with no positive effect on public safety and at great cost to tax payers. Local advocates for the mentally ill and the addicted and formerly incarcerated people joined the chorus of frustrations from a different angle. They have long complained that our local criminal justice system targets the most vulnerable – not the most dangerous – and needlessly destroys lives and families.
But late last year, in an unprecedented collaboration, various stakeholders came together to authorize a Design Team and Planning Process to create a version of one of the nation’s most innovative and successful programs aimed at solving exactly these problems.
Pre-arrest Diversion was implemented in Seattle, WA, Santa Fe, NM, and Albany NY and has shown positive results. A recent evaluation of the Seattle LEAD program showed close to 60% reduction in recidivism for program participants. Cost savings is also an incentive. Captain Sanchez from Santa Fe has noted that a year in jail costs taxpayers $41,000 per inmate while the average price for a LEAD participant is $6,000 a year.
The Atlanta/Fulton County Pre-Arrest Diversion Initiative aims to divert people out of the criminal justice system whose infractions are driven mainly by addiction, mental illness, and poverty and who would be better served by quality social services. It promises to reduce recidivism, lower the number of people in our expensive and ineffective criminal justice system, and improve public safety and communities’ quality of life. In other jurisdictions where its being implemented, it has also shifted the culture of policing, reduced the number of low level arrests, and improved police-community relations. The symposium features prosecutors and case managers from Seattle’s Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program – the first of its kind in the nation which launched in 2011 – as well as police captains from Santa Fe and North Carolina and a prosecutor from King County. In addition, national representatives from foundations such as the Open Society Foundation (OSF) who have invested heavily in these initiatives in recent years will present. Atlanta/Fulton County was one of 5 jurisdictions in the nation to receive a planning grant from OSF for the design process. Local presenters include City Council Member Kwanza Hall, representatives from Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard’s office, Superior Court Judge Constance Russell and the director of psychiatry at Mercy Care.
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Atlanta/Fulton County Pre-Arrest Diversion Initiative Launch
June 23, 2016
Program of Events
Nationally, there is a movement toward rethinking our criminal justice system. There is increasing consensus across the political spectrum that the use of police and incarceration to address the social and public health challenges in our communities such as drug addiction and mental illness has been both ineffective and costly. It is time for a change.
The Atlanta/Fulton County Pre-Arrest Diversion Initiative is Atlanta’s response to this momentum toward change. Authorized jointly by the Atlanta City Council and the Fulton County Board of Commissioners in December 2015, it marks an exciting new approach to the way we handle the people in our communities struggling with drug addiction, mental illness, and poverty. It promises to reduce recidivism while increasing the health and wellness of our neighborhoods and loved ones.
Now is the time for a new era of justice in Atlanta where resources are provided to those in need and jail cells are not used as homeless shelters or mental health hospitals. Now is the time for innovative harm reduction policing standards and high quality services for all of our communities, especially those populations who are most vulnerable –communities of color, young people of color, the homeless, immigrants, trans and gender non-conforming people.
1:00 – 1:15 Welcome & Introduction
Welcome from the Initiative’s staff, elected leaders, and those whose lives will be impacted by the program and a brief film starring Atlanta City Council Member Kwanza Hall, Fulton County District Attorney, Paul Howard, Kim Anderson, Director of Forever Families, and more…
Kwanza Hall, District 2 Council Member, City of Atlanta
LeRoy Evans & Che Johnson-Long, Co-Coordinators of the Atlanta/Fulton County Pre-Arrest Diversion Program
Xochitl Bervera, Director, Racial Justice Action Center
Marilynn Winn, Co-founder/Lead Organizer, Women on the Rise
Film by Voiceraiser.com
1:15 – 2:15 National Perspectives on Pre-Arrest Diversion & its Role in Criminal Justice Reform
The Atlanta/Fulton County initiative is modeled after the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion Program (LEAD) first implemented in Seattle in 2011. Since then it has been implemented in Santa Fe, NM, Albany, NY, and Fayetteville, NC and garnered national attention & support for its success in reducing recidivism and increasing safety and improving quality of life. This panel will explore the national perspective on the importance of these initiatives and invite law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and case managers from LEAD jurisdictions to share how it works and what lessons have been learned.
Moderator:
Kris Nyrop, LEAD National Support Director, Seattle Public Defender Association
Panelists:
Ronald Simpson-Bey, Just Leadership USA
Jamie Wood, Open Society Foundation, NY
Captain Jerome Sanchez, Santa Fe Police Department
Captain Lars Paul, Fayetteville, NC Police Department
Robert Childs, Executive Director, North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition
Natalie Walton-Anderson, Prosecuting Attorney, King County, WA
Cathy Speelmon, LEAD Project Manager, Evergreen Treatment Center, Seattle, WA
Najja Morris, Case Manager/ LEAD Supervisor, Evergreen Treatment Center, Seattle
2:15 – 3:15 State of the City & County: Why Pre-Arrest Diversion for Atlanta & Fulton County?
In this panel, local prosecutors and judges, faith based leaders, service providers, and elected officials discuss what makes Pre-Arrest Diversion so important for Atlanta in this moment.
Moderator:
Che Johnson-Long, Co-Coordinator, Atlanta/Fulton County Pre-Arrest Diversion
Panelists:
Paul L. Howard, Fulton County District Attorney
Kim Anderson, Director, Families First
Hon. Lillian Caudle, Presiding Judge, Fulton County Treatment Court
Kwanza Hall, District 2 Council Member, City of Atlanta
Dee Dee Chamblee, Executive Director, LaGender, Inc.
3:15 – 3:45 Brief Presentation on the Atlanta/Fulton County Pre-Arrest Diversion Initiative’s Design Team and Planning Process for 2016
3:45 – 4:00 Break
4:00 – 5:00 Reaching Our Potential: Why Atlanta Will Do It Right
In this panel, local business leaders, street medicine doctors, prosecutors, judges, immigration rights attorneys, and elected officials will discuss why Atlanta is the right place for this innovative initiative.
Moderator: Xochitl Bervera, Director, Racial Justice Action Center
Panelists:
Hon. Constance Russell, Judge, Superior Court
Dr. Liz Frye, Director of Psychiatry and Street Medicine, Mercy Care
George Chidi, Social Impact Director, Atlanta Downtown Improvement District/Central
Atlanta Progress
Eunice Cho, Staff Attorney, Southern Poverty Law Center
Ronda Graham, Deputy City Solicitor
Marvin Arrington, Fulton County Board of Commissioner
5:00 - 7:00 Closing, Reception, Announcement of Design Team Appointees
Please join us for a wine and cheese reception, a showing of the brief film starring Atlanta City Council Member Kwanza Hall, Fulton County District Attorney, Paul Howard, Kim Anderson, Director of Families First, and more, PLUS the announcement of the newly appointed members of the Atlanta/Fulton County Pre-Arrest Diversion Initiative Design Team!