The National Association of Social Workers (NASW), including our Missouri Chapter, on July 20, 2023, requested Missouri Governor Parson grant clemency to Johnny Johnson, who was scheduled to be executed on Tuesday August 1, 2023.

Missouri’s 8th Circuit Court granted Johnny Johnson a stay of execution on July 29, which was a great win. Unfortunately, Governor Parson had the authority to overturn the stay and Johnson was executed on August 1.

NASW was deeply concerned about Johnson’s case given his extensive documented history of mental illness, learning disabilities, abuse, and trauma.

Johnson’s adolescence was riddled with suicide attempts and hospitalizations, and he ultimately was diagnosed with schizophrenia as early as 16 years old.

Johnson was not rationally able to understand the reason for his execution. NASW hoped Governor Parson would grant Johnson clemency and commute his sentence to life in prison without parole.  As social workers, we were advocating for Johnson’s most basic human rights.

The primary mission of the social work profession is to enhance human well-being and help meet the basic human needs of all people, particularly focused on the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty.

Inflicting the death penalty on people convicted of crimes permanently forecloses their capacity for redemption and reform. Life terms served in prison create the potential for these incarcerated individuals to recognize and recover from the emotional wounds that contributed to their violence and criminal behavior. (Capital Punishment, Social Works Speaks, ps. 26-31 [10th ed. 2015]).

We want to especially thank Cassie Brown, Missouri’s Executive Director for getting us involved in this important matter.

Social workers are helping these men and women while they are incarcerated. And they are instrumental in helping them prepare for release — and success — as they leave prison.

Right Help, Right Time

A March 2016 study from the United States Sentencing Commission, which surveyed people who in 2005 were either released from federal prison or placed on probation, found those released had a rearrest rate of 52.5%, while people released directly to a probationary sentence had a lower rearrest rate, of 35.1%.

In April of 2020, Pastor Tony Lowden, then executive director of the Federal Interagency Council on Crime Prevention and Improving Reentry, spoke to a virtual meeting of the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice.

He began by stressing the importance of beginning helpful efforts right away so people don’t end up returning to prison.

“When we find a way to make sure that from Day 1 they enter into our programs, we have a game plan to get them to change their behavior and their culture, as well as put together what I call a GPS Plan — a transition accountability plan — where that individual, the moment they get ready to go home, they are prepared to go home,” Lowden said.

His recommendations include turning a prison “into an evidenced-based program facility” where all inmates complete the program and lessen the risk they will end up back in incarceration.

Lowden suggested that could include having charter schools inside prison facilities so prisoners can leave with a high school diploma; having professionals help with behavior and family reunification; and “bringing in companies and employees who can hire these returning citizens the moment they get out.”

Prearranged Needs

Basic essentials should be set up so when a person is released from prison he or she knows where they are going to live and work, who they can contact to get the process started for SSI and medical benefits, and who they can contact for their emotional needs and support services, said Anna Scheyett, PhD, MSW, LCSW, a professor at and former dean of the University of Georgia School of Social Work at the Athens campus, where she also is extension specialist in the Department of Agriculture.

“The more pieces put into place beforehand, the better it will turn out,” she said. “They need the ability to think beyond ‘the day I get out of here.’”

Also important is communicating with the person’s family beforehand, because what happens may not be like “their expectation that everything will be great,” Scheyett said. “It may not be like that. It often takes time, it takes effort, it takes enough social workers to do it — and enough social workers in prisons so we can help prepare and have a good handoff.”

Having a criminal record can bring numerous challenges, like with finding a place to live, and that’s something that can put people at risk of recidivism, she said. Some other prior activities like drug use also can bring that risk, “and if people start using the same amounts, they could end up overdosing.”

Another risk of recidivism is if the person has challenges with personal relationships after release, relationships that were friendly or solid before they were incarcerated.

NASW members can read the full story after logging in here.

A recent issue of the journal Social Work Research, co-published by NASW Press and Oxford University Press, reveals findings on a study of an alternative intervention for the incarcerated.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a six-week yoga intervention on body dissociation, emotion regulation, and signs of substance relapse among incarcerated females. Participants were assigned to an intervention group, therapeutic community, or general population control group. This study conceptualized body awareness and emotional regulation as mechanisms of change and hypothesized that improvements in these constructs would ultimately lead to improved signs of substance use relapse scores as compared with the wait-listed control and comparison groups.

An analysis of covariance revealed significant differences in warnings of relapse (p < .01), emotion regulation (p < .01), and body dissociation (p < .05). Paired samples t tests revealed significant change from pre- to posttest for the intervention group across all outcome variables. Findings suggest that yoga may be an effective integrative treatment for mental health and substance use challenges among incarcerated females.

Study authors:

• Samantha Willy-Gravley, LCSW, clinical therapist, Mirasol Eating Disorder Treatment Center, Tucson, AZ.
• James Beauchemin, PhD, assistant professor, School of Social Work, Boise State University, Boise, ID.
• Phyllis Pirie, PhD, professor, College of Public Health, Ohio State University, Columbus.
• Alexandra Gomes, MSW, research associate, Boise State University, Boise, ID.
• Elizabeth Klein, PhD, associate professor, College of Public Health, Ohio State University, Columbus.

 ***

The journal Social Work is a benefit of NASW membership. It is available online or, at a member’s request, in print. Children & Schools, Health & Social Work and Social Work Research are available by subscription at a discounted rate for NASW members, either online or in print. You can find out more about the journals and subscriptions at this link.

The National Association of Counties and the National Sheriffs’ Association held a Capitol Hill briefing on March 3 called “The Intersection of Health and Justice: A Look Inside County Jails.” The National Association of Social Workers cosponsored the briefing along with the Grand Challenges for Social Work, the National Association of County Behavioral Health & Developmental Disability Directors, and the American Academy of Social Work & Social Welfare.

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., speaks at the event.

The National Association of Counties and the National Sheriffs’ Association are supporting counties’ efforts to improve health care services for justice-involved individuals and to reduce the number people with mental illness in jails.

Specifically, they support legislation that would allow individuals in custody to continue to receive Medicaid and other federal health benefits until they have gone through due process and are convicted.

Currently, the Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy puts undue hardships on county and parish jails, supporters say, by having them finance the expense of mental health treatment, which can also disrupt the person’s care and contributes to recidivism.

By providing access to federal health benefits for those awaiting trail and verdict decisions would help counties break the cycle of recidivism caused or exacerbated by untreated mental illness and/or substance use disorders, thereby improving public safety, supporters said.

Among the speakers were  Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., who introduced S. 2626. It calls for an eligible individual who is in custody pending charges to receive Medicare, Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), or veterans’ health benefits.

Merkley said removing federal health benefits for a person awaiting charges creates chaos and it also becomes a justice issue. Those who are wealthy enough to pay bail, continue their federal health care benefits, he noted. Those who cannot afford bail lose their health care, he said.

“This amounts to a penalty before adjudication,” he said. “We’re saying we presume you are innocent, but we are penalizing you by interrupting, terminating your health care. That’s a pretty big penalty and it’s just wrong….”

Also speaking at the briefing were Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La.; Greg Champagne, Sheriff of St. Charles Parish, La.; Nancy Sharpe, Commissioner for Arapahoe County, Colo.; and Ed Zackery, Director of the Veterans Service Office in Medina County, Ohio.

You can view a recording of the event at https://www.naco.org/resources/video/capitol-hill-briefing-intersection-health-and-justice-look-inside-county-jails. Learn more at www.NACo.org. Contact Blaire Bryant NACo Associate Legislative Director, Health at bbryant@naco.org.

By Mel Wilson, NASW Senior Policy Consultant

Increasingly, U.S. criminal justice systems have become the first responders to individuals living with mental illness and substance use disorders (SUD). More than ever, jails and prisons are expected to provide appropriate services and treatment for the growing populations they serve.

For that reason, the Consensus Workgroup on Behavioral Health Issues in the Criminal Justice System came together to develop policy recommendations to the Trump Administration and the 116th Congress for improving behavioral health policies and procedures.

The Consensus Workgroup on Behavioral Health Issues in the Criminal Justice System includes national organizations representing individuals with behavioral health needs and their families, providers, correctional systems and administrators, criminal justice reformers, state and local governments, state and local program directors and researchers. Participating organizations recognize that the intersection of behavioral health issues and criminal justice necessitates coordinated, collaborative, and sustained efforts, so we formed a workgroup to find consensus.

The workgroup engaged in extensive policy conversations surrounding best practices and implications of certain language and messaging, and reached consensus on the included policy recommendations, reflecting a coming together of law enforcement and mental health organizations. Throughout the process, the report from the Interdepartmental Serious Mental Illness Coordinating Committee (ISMICC) was considered in developing the recommendations.

Read the full Policy Recommendations

Together, we call on the Administration and the 116th Congress to comprehensively address issues at the intersection of behavioral health and criminal justice. In our consensus document we acknowledge the progress made in recent years to address the behavioral health needs in the criminal justice system. We also outline recommendations for achieving continued progress on issues such as diversion tactics, effective practices during incarceration, workforce development, federal research and coordination, juvenile justice reform, and much more.

The National Association of Social Workers is fully committed to continuing its collaboration with the Consensus Workgroup on Behavioral Health Issues in the Criminal Justice System on an ongoing basis to highlight current and emerging behavioral health concerns that impact inmates in the nation’s prisons and jails. A list of partners in the Consensus Workgroup on Behavioral Health Issues in the Criminal Justice System is below:

American Psychiatric Association

American Psychological Association

National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors

National Council for Behavioral Health

Campaign for Youth Justice

National Criminal Justice Association

National Alliance on Mental Illness National Association of Counties

National Association of Social Workers

Police Foundation

Treatment Advocacy Center

Vera Institute of Justice

]]> https://www.socialworkblog.org/featured-articles/2019/12/behavioral-health-policy-recommendations-for-americas-prisons-and-jails/feed/ 1 https://www.socialworkblog.org/sw-advocates/2017/05/researchers-tackle-smart-decarceration/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=researchers-tackle-smart-decarceration https://www.socialworkblog.org/sw-advocates/2017/05/researchers-tackle-smart-decarceration/#comments Mon, 15 May 2017 16:08:13 +0000 http://www.socialworkblog.org/?p=8498 By Alison Laurio, News contributor

The huge auditorium was filled with people from all over the country who had come to hear about one of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare’s grand challenges.

They came from varied backgrounds — from social workers to lobbyists, said Melissa D. Grady, associate professor at Catholic University’s National School of Social Services.

The challenge co-leaders came out and asked “How many of you know someone — not from a professional standpoint — who is incarcerated?” Grady said.

“It seemed like 90 percent of the room raised their hands,” she said. “It was a visual representation of how the criminal justice system and incarceration really is across the country.”

The United States leads the world in locking up its people, both in numbers and by the percent of its population, and social workers are tackling the issue as one of the 12 Grand Challenges for Social Work: Promote Smart Decarceration.

In a December report, the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics released data on 2015 correctional populations nationwide. It states the correctional population “decreased 1.7 percent” during that year, dropping below 6.8 million “for the first time since 2002” and was at “the lowest rate since 1994.”

Still, an estimated 6.7 million adults were under supervision by adult correctional systems in December 2015. That is one in 37 adults, or 2.7 percent of adults in the United States, who were incarcerated or supervised in the community while on probation or parole, the bureau said.

At the end of 2015, there were nearly 2.2 million adults in state prisons, federal prisons or local jails; almost 3.8 million were on probation; and 870,500 were on parole, it said.

In a 2014 concept paper titled “From Mass Incarceration to Smart Decarceration,” Grand Challenge co-leaders Carrie Pettus-Davis and Matthew W. Epperson wrote that the challenge is far-reaching and urgent for social work.

From the May 2017 NASW News. Read the full feature article here. 

Photo by Tara Alan at GoingSlowly.com.

FROM AN NASW NEW YORK STATE CHAPTER PRESS RELEASE:

More than 850 social workers and social work students from across New York State gathered in Albany on March 28 to rally in support of raising the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 18 years old and to demand that state legislators include this bill in the final budget.

Sponsored by the National Association of Social Workers – New York State Chapter (NASW-NYS), the New York State Association of Deans of Schools of Social Work, and the New York State Social Work Education Association (NYSSWEA), the Raise the Age rally kicked off the organizations’ annual Legislative Education Advocacy Day (LEAD), an event that brings hundreds of social workers and social work students to the state capitol to advocate on behalf of the profession and important client issues.

The rally started at 10:30AM at West Capitol Park. Speakers included several juvenile justice reform advocates, including Richard D. Smith and Khalil A. Cumberbatch who were personally affected by the adult criminal justice system.

“As an incarcerated teen, I desperately needed treatment for trauma resulting from childhood sexual abuse. Locking me up in an adult jail at 16 normalized my anger and aggression and contributed to me losing over a decade of my life in prison,” said Richard D. Smith, who had been in and out of county jails and was eventually sentenced to a 10-year bid in state prison in Massachusetts at the age of 21. He earned his GED in prison and matriculated in the Boston University Prison Education Program, earning his degree within a year of his release and is now working toward his doctoral degree in social work at the University at Albany.

“When we’re discussing Raise the Age, we’re not only talking about legislation, but more importantly, we’re talking about children who have had their adolescence criminalized. To continue to be punitive towards these youth, is to be contrary to the very principles under which we prosecute them, i.e. fairness, accountability, justice, and humanity,” said Khalil A. Cumberbatch, a formerly incarcerated advocate for social justice movements in the New York City area. Today, Khalil works at JustLeadershipUSA, a non-profit dedicated to cutting the US correctional population in half by 2030, and lectures at Columbia University.

The presence of over 850 social work leaders and student delegates demonstrates the true power of social work — Dr. Lisa Z. Newland, Vice President of the New York State Social Work Education Association

This year marks the organizations’ largest LEAD event to date and the second time that LEAD is calling for passage of a comprehensive Raise the Age initiative that would prevent many 16- and 17-year-old youth from being treated as adults in the criminal justice system. Last year, legislation was proposed by Governor Cuomo but legislators failed to pass a bill.

“The presence of over 850 social work leaders and student delegates demonstrates the true power of social work. This experiential learning initiative engages students in the political arena and equips them with knowledge and skills that are essential to social work practice. Our Association is excited to see their passion and presence,” said Dr. Lisa Z. Newland, Vice President of the New York State Social Work Education Association.

“We are hopeful this would be the year we finally see Raise the Age become law,” said Ron Bunce, Executive Director of NASW-NYS. “It is long past time for New York State to join with the other 48 states in the nation that recognize youth are not adults, and therefore should not be treated as such.”

“As a profession committed to promoting social justice and social change with and on behalf of clients, social work supports the Raise the Age Campaign because the safety and future of communities and the well-being of our children depends on society treating children appropriately,” said Dr. Victoria M. Rizzo, President of the NYS Association of the Deans of Schools of Social Work.

Photo by Tara Alan at GoingSlowly.com.

Research across the scientific spectrum overwhelmingly supports raising the age and demonstrates that our current system does not work, leads to higher recidivism rates, and re-arrests. By contrast, 37 states and the District of Columbia set their respective ages of criminal responsibility at 18; 11 states set it at 17; and the one state that shares New York’s distinction as a hold-out for criminal prosecution of 16-year-olds, North Carolina, has begun a process leading toward increasing its age of criminal responsibility to 18.

Treating children as adults in the criminal justice system is short-sighted and ineffective; youth incarcerated in adult facilities are more likely to suffer physical and emotional abuse, and to recidivate – realities that are at odds with the goal of rehabilitating youth and protecting public safety. By raising the age of adult criminal responsibility to 18, New York can reduce crime, lower recidivism rates, save taxpayer dollars, and provide young offenders with access to services to help get them back on track.

“I am a young person with a lifetime of possibilities to look forward to because I wasn’t discarded into the adult prison system, but was given the treatment I needed. My experience should be the standard, not the exception,” said Cortney Lovell, Founder and Director of Wrise LLC. As a teenager, Cortney struggled with addiction issues, eventually leading to her incarceration. She began her journey to wellness and recovery at the age of 19, after breaking out of a cycle of heroin addiction. She now advocates for greater access to recovery support for youth.

“It’s long past time for our elected officials to stop talking about Raise the Age and finally pass comprehensive legislation in this year’s budget,” said Elizabeth Powers, Director of Youth Justice at the Children’s Defense Fund – New York. “Automatically charging 16 and 17 year olds as adults is out of line with the rest of the country, exposes youth to harmful conditions and practices, and increases the likelihood that youth will return to the criminal justice system in the future.”

About the Raise the Age NY Campaign:

Raise the Age NY is a public awareness campaign that includes national and local advocates, youth, parents, law enforcement and legal representative groups, faith leaders, and unions that have come together to increase public awareness of the need to implement a comprehensive approach to raise the age of criminal responsibility in New York State so that the legal process responds to all children as children and provides services and placement options that better meet the rehabilitative needs of all children and youth.

About NASW-NYS:
The National Association of Social Workers – New York State Chapter in Albany, NY, is the largest membership organization of professional social workers in the state with over 8,000 members. It promotes, develops, and protects the practice of social work and social workers. NASW-NYS also seeks to enhance the well-being of individuals, families, and communities through its advocacy.

About NYSSWEA:
The New York State Social Work Education Association (NYSSWEA) is a statewide organization whose purpose is to provide a forum for social work faculty, dean and directors, field instructors, students, practitioners and administrators to exchange information regarding social work education and related issues, and to promote, encourage and support activities that provide a greater understanding of social work and the role and contributions of social work educators.

About New York State Association of Deans of Schools of Social Work
The New York State Association of Deans of Schools of Social is a volunteer membership organization, composed of deans, directors, and chairpersons of social work programs in New York State. dedicated to promoting excellence in social work education.

In a recent article in the journal Social Work Research, published by NASW Press, Gina L. Fedock, PhD, LMSW, argues for integrating these two theoretical approaches in order to guide researchers toward a more complete understanding of incarceration’s effects on women prisoners. She reviews factors from both deprivation and importation perspectives that have been shown to influence women’s psychological adjustment and she identifies research gaps to inform future social efforts related to improving incarcerated women’s mental health, preventing suicide in prison, and promoting long-term outcomes such as reduced recidivism.

Dr. Fedock notes that The prison environment is a physically, socially, and psychologically distinct location with intentional deprivations (such as loss of privacy), with adjusting and adapting to this environment as challenges for inmates. Prisons are total institutions in that they operate within a contained space, dictated by their own set of rules, regulations, surveillance, and consequences and maintained by authoritative custodial staff. In the 1950s and 1960s, social scientists developed the concept of prison adjustment with three goals: (1) to prevent and reduce prison violence and misconduct of both an individual and a group nature (for example, prevent prison riots); (2) improve skill building and rehabilitation; and (3) ultimately, lower recidivism rates. Thus, a prisoner’s level of adjustment displays how well she or he is able to survive within prison, the degree of rehabilitation occurring, and the level of risk for future criminal behaviors. Dr. Fedock further notes that psychological adjustment has been understudied in comparison with disciplinary and behavioral adjustment.

Two main theories are commonly used to examine psychological adjustment in prisons: deprivation theory and importation theory. Deprivation theory highlights the role of the prison environment; in contrast, importation theory focuses on individual-level factors that influence psychological adjustment.

Deprivation theory

Deprivation theory posits that the prison environment inherently deprives the inmate of basic needs, resulting in tension and particular ways of adaption. Deprivation theory focuses on analyzing:

• The type of correctional facility
• Overcrowding
• Length of stay
• Inmate perceptions
• Separation from children
• Prison policies for social support

The main critique of deprivation theory is that the prison environment doesn’t’ explain all or nuanced variations in prisoner adjustment. Deprivation theory shifts the focus almost entirely to the prison environment, and may ignore individual-level prisoner needs or care.

Importation theory

The other main theory used to study and predict adjustment is importation theory, which posits that an inmate’s demographics and past experiences determine his or her psychological adjustment in prison. These individual factors shape prisoner perceptions and responses to the environment. Researchers using this theoretical perspective commonly explore the following four variables:

• Demographics
• Personal and family histories
• Substance use
• Prior mental health

Importation factors are commonly conceptualized as risk factors and, specifically, factors to be assessed for when women enter prison to guide custody determination, risk levels (for recidivism and prison misconducts), the provision of specific treatment services such as substance abuse groups, and even parole decisions. However, because importation factors are often described as prisoner risk factors, the conflation of needs into risk factors has shifted the responsibility from system solutions to individual-level factors. Therefore, this perspective has been criticized as distracting from problematic environmental factors within prisons and the structure and functions of prisons themselves.

Integrating deprivation and importation theories

Dr. Fedock thus calls for an integration of deprivation and importation theories in order to provide a more complete assessment of women’s psychological adjustment to incarceration. Women present with high rates of mental health needs in prisons and, as such, research is needed that examines influencing factors on their psychological health, especially to prevent poor outcomes such as suicide. Deprivation and importation theorists have found a range of significant factors, which illuminates multiple directions for advancing social work policy, practice, and research efforts. Given the inherent tension between prison goals of security and the mental health needs of prisoners, social work may serve as a field for mediating this tension. Also, this social work integrated theoretical perspective, along with ecological models, may bridge individual and institutional factors, as well as incorporate additional social work concepts of a strengths perspective, the role of resiliency in prison, and human-rights-focused policies and practices—thus expanding theoretical and applied perspectives on women’s mental health in prison.

Dr. Fedock calls for further research using this integrated perspective, with the goal of improving social work with incarcerated women’s populations. The psychological adjustment of women to prison is shaped by both institutional and individual factors. This area of research is still emerging and in need of work that elicits women’s perspectives and definitions of adjustment, including a range of conceptualizations about positive and negative adjustment.

Report cover

On any given day 80,000 to 100,000 inmates in U.S. prisons, jails or juvenile detention facilities are in solitary confinement.

The practice can cause long-term damage to the mental health of inmates.

This Social Justice Brief from the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), Solitary Confinement: A Clinical Social Work Perspective, offers and overview of this issue. It urges social workers to advocate to end this destructive practice but also offers guidance on how social workers can help inmates who are currently in solitary confinement or have experienced it.

For more information on this issue contact NASW Social Justice and Human Rights Manager Mel Wilson at mwilson@naswdc.org.

NASW member Sammy Rangel has cumulatively spent about 16 years in prison throughout his life, mainly for charges related to theft and violence.

Rangel, who originally is from Chicago, said he started getting into trouble with the law at age 11. He repeatedly ran away from home, and joined a gang — eventually becoming its leader.

On reflection, Rangel says he always felt a need within himself to protect others and he was seeking a sense of belonging; a place to escape from a troubled childhood. But he didn’t know at the time how to handle those feelings or find a path for himself.

He is now a social worker in Racine, Wis., helping other ex-offenders establish healthier and more productive lives through the Racine Vocational Ministry, where he is the re-entry program director. The ministry offers a second-chance program for re-entrants — those establishing themselves back into society after a prison sentence.

“Everyone deserves a second chance,” Rangel said. “I’ve been through it all — foster care, rehab, solitary confinement, mental institutions — and I changed. People can change, and not every criminal is bad. Our criminal justice system needs to change, so we can give those who deserve it a chance.”

Many people agree that the U.S. criminal justice system is broken, including President Barack Obama, who in July called on Congress to take up criminal justice reform. A bipartisan group on Capitol Hill was putting the final touches on a sentencing overhaul deal during the same month.

Obama said in his State of the Union address that the current lower crime rate is a starting point to reform the criminal justice system.

“ … Surely we can agree that it’s a good thing that for the first time in 40 years, the crime rate and the incarceration rate have come down together, and use that as a starting point for Democrats and Republicans, community leaders and law enforcement, to reform America’s criminal justice system so that it protects and serves all of us,” Obama said.

From the November 2015 NASW News. Read the full story here.