advertisement

Volunteers, DuPage sheriff reach deal over jail social services

Volunteers with J.U.S.T. of DuPage will continue to provide job training, addiction treatment and spiritual enrichment for inmates at the county jail as part of an agreement announced Tuesday.

The decision to continue the 32-year-old program comes after weeks of debate over its future and just days before the volunteer effort was scheduled to end on Sept. 10.

As part of the new pact, brokered during a Friday meeting between J.U.S.T. of DuPage President Joseph Udell and Sheriff John Zaruba, J.U.S.T. volunteers agreed to have the DuPage County Health Department take over the substance use treatment provided to inmates in the jail's "recovery pod."

Zaruba's office issued a statement saying the deal to continue the services hinged on allowing the health department to begin treating inmates for substance use.

"The process was complex and the result is a win-win for all involved, the inmates, the sheriff's office, J.U.S.T. of DuPage, the DuPage County Health Department and most importantly the citizens of DuPage County," Zaruba wrote.

Health department Executive Director Karen Ayala said in the statement her department will follow a curriculum developed by the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, which is highly regarded nationwide and has been proven effective.

Udell said the change affects the work of one employee of his organization, a certified addiction counselor who had been in charge of substance use treatment for inmates in the recovery pod. The counselor will coordinate with the health department to transition the program during the next 60 days and will begin to work more broadly with other inmates in need, Udell said.

Others among the 120 volunteers for J.U.S.T., whose name stands for Justice Understanding Service Teaching, will continue helping inmates who ask for education, life skills, social services, job training or other counseling.

"My hope is that we're back in there for another 30 years and we don't have to deal with this again," Udell said.

Udell called the change a "great opportunity" to broaden outreach to inmates needing help with drugs or alcohol, despite the fact it came after Zaruba's office said it would cut ties with his group and offered differing explanations as to why.

"When you focus on the recovery pod, the recovery pod is those, say, 15 to 20 people who are getting all of that counselor's attention, and that counselor has virtually no time to touch anyone else's life," Udell said. "When you think of the jail, with 500 people and probably 90 percent of them have some kind of an issue with drugs or alcohol, we can be doing a lot better job reaching out to others if the health department takes over this recovery pod."

The initial decision to discontinue the relationship came in an Aug. 22 statement from a sheriff's spokesman, which initially cited a judge's ruling that substance use treatment provided in the J.U.S.T. program failed to meet state standards set by the Illinois Department of Corrections.

The statement stemmed from an Aug. 7 court hearing involving an inmate who was sentenced to 18 years for a drug-induced homicide. The inmate was seeking a reduced sentence based, in part, on some voluntary J.U.S.T. classes he had participated in during his nearly three years in a part of the jail other than the recovery pod.

DuPage Judge George Bakalis decided not to extend credit to the inmate. But according to transcripts, Bakalis specifically said he was not ruling on whether credit could be extended to participants in the recovery pod, because the inmate was never in the pod.

After learning the judge never made such a ruling and the state department of corrections does not certify drug recovery programs inside county jails, the sheriff's office then blamed its erroneous information on the state's attorney's office.

Sheriff's officials said the root of their concern is the desire to improve the substance use treatment provided in the jail.

Udell said J.U.S.T. used some components of a curriculum developed by Hazelden but found it too expensive on a $220,000 yearly budget to pursue on an ongoing basis. For example, Hazelden Publishing's "A New Direction" cognitive behavioral treatment curriculum sells for $4,995 on the company's website.

More questions than answers DuPage sheriff owes better explanation for abrupt cancellation of jail volunteers' contract

DuPage sheriff sends jail volunteers packing, has new plan to rehabilitate inmates

DuPage sheriff's officials change reason for canceling J.U.S.T. program

DuPage sheriff officials now blame state's attorney's office for bad info on judge's ruling

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.