Jail and Prison Advocacy Project | |
JPAP celebrates 15 years in 2022!
| |
|
In this month's newsletter:
- Long Wait for Housing Finally Over
- Staff Member Spotlight: JPAP Director Tammy Seltzer
- Policy Updates: New Bills Introduced; Sign-up to Testify
- JPAP Awarded Two-Year Grant from the Sozosei Foundation
- First ACT Initiative Reentry Dinner a Success
-
NEW! Alumni Corner: Wallace Kirby
- Where Does Your Donation Go?
| |
Long Wait for Housing Finally Over
Reginald Williams has been working alongside JPAP since his release on May 13th, 2019. On October 1st, 2022--almost two and a half years later--Mr. Williams finally moved into his own apartment!
JPAP was able to secure Mr. Williams a place in DC's Pandemic Emergency Program for the Medically Vulnerable (PEP-V). Through the program, he has been living at a hotel for the last 16 months. At the same time, he participated in the Project Empowerment Program, which is a transitional employment program that provides job readiness training to District residents. After going through job, resume, and interview training, Mr. Williams graduated from the program and recently received a permanent position at a transitional house for veterans. His responsibilities include conducting wellness assessments and serving meals in the morning. He hopes to eventually trade his current night shift for a day-time one.
Mr. Williams's goal is to make his apartment as comfortable as possible. He is in the process of furnishing his apartment, waiting to see what assistance he may receive furnishing his bedroom. JPAP has used client flex funds to purchase stools to create an eat-in kitchen, toiletries, dish-washing detergent, and more!
When asked about what has been exciting in his life recently (besides moving-in of course), Mr. Williams shared how his great-granddaughter just had a little boy who turned three months old the other day. Family has been a strong motivating factor for him. Due to his incarceration, Mr. Williams was not present in the lives of his daughter and granddaughter. However, he is working to change that and support them in any way possible. Mr. Williams is excited that he can connect and build the relationship with his family. Having an apartment means he can host family get-togethers, something that cannot usually happen in transitional or temporary housing.
|  | |
The support you provide makes it possible for us to provide our clients with everyday essentials, like cleaning supplies for Reginald's apartment. | |
Staff Member Spotlight: Tammy Seltzer, JPAP Director
Tammy Seltzer began her career in the disability rights field in special education. She was inspired to get involved in special education by her sister, who was born with spina bifida. At the time, there were few services available to aid her sister, who was paralyzed from the chest down and had an intellectual disability, and there were many accessibility issues. After her sister’s death at the age of 8, Tammy believed she would become a special education teacher. However, that changed after some time.
Aware of her passion for doing social service work and igniting the one-on-one connection with people, Tammy worked at an organization called Food and Friends after college. The organization was delivering meals to people with HIV and AIDS at the time. She was inspired to do more after seeing people, who were mostly lawyers, do amazing things.
| |
|
She decided to attend law school, despite some initial hesitation. At the David A. Clarke School of Law (formerly known as the the DC School of Law) at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC), she enjoyed three legal clinics. Tammy saw many young people who were in the juvenile delinquency system because no one had identified that they had mental health or other learning issues, or those disabilities were not being addressed properly. Her clinic work led to an Equal Justice Works Fellowship at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law.
“It was while I was working at the Bazelon Center that I realized the plight of
adults in the criminal legal system who had mental illness and how they were getting arrested more often for behavior that other people weren’t getting arrested for. Once in the system, they struggled mightily to get out from under it.”
In late 2012, Tammy saw the announcement for the JPAP Director’s job on Idealist and leapt at the chance to do meaningful work for people with disabilities in her own DC community. She connected with DRDC's values, as they aligned with her own about the way people with disabilities should be a part of the community like anybody else and should be treated with dignity and respect.
Tammy says that her greatest accomplishment has been to remain hopeful and believe in the people JPAP serves.
“When people with mental illness and developmental disabilities experience a lifetime of victimization, low expectations, racism, poverty, poor services and support, it’s unrealistic to think JPAP can help everyone turn everything around the first time they leave jail or prison with our support. Even DRDC’s reputation and JPAP’s stellar staff cannot always secure what our clients need when they need it, which is immediately.”
However, JPAP is a program that provides not just second and third chances, but as many as the people we serve need. Upon reflection of her work with JPAP, Tammy expressed pride with the responses and comments she receives from their clients. Their clients do not feel judged for what they’ve done in the past because JPAP is focused on their potential and the future. What others might view as depressing, Tammy sees her work to be optimistic.
“Just seeing our clients reach their personal goals and really find their true potential – when they’re supported – is the greatest satisfaction to me from what I do.Clients often express surprise when they succeed. I always say I knew they would, because I do."
| |
Policy Updates:
The ERASE Act and Safe Cells - Sign-up to Testify
On July 14th, Councilmember Mary M. Cheh introduced the Eliminating Restrictive and Segregated Enclosures (“ERASE”) Solitary Confinement Act of 2022 in the DC Council, which would prohibit segregated confinement in DC jails and youth detention facilities. This bill follows years of advocacy on the part of Councilmember Cheh and others against DC’s disproportionate use of this inhumane practice. In 2018, the Department of Corrections (DOC) reported that 17% of people incarcerated at the DC jail were placed in restrictive housing at some point in their stay, amounting to a total of 1,781 individuals held in restrictive housing at the jail that year.
The ERASE Act would prohibit all kinds of solitary confinement at the DC Jail, including for “discipline, safety, security, and administrative convenience” purposes. The Act would also limit, but not prohibit, the use of safe cells – a form of solitary confinement for incarcerated individuals at risk for suicide – at the DC Jail, reserving it for cases in which “it is immediately necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury.”
Given our focus on incarcerated individuals with psychiatric disabilities, JPAP is especially concerned with the bill’s stance on safe cells. These cells are more restrictive than other forms of solitary confinement, as most occupants are only allowed an uncomfortable smock, one blanket, and limited access to water. Incarcerated individuals and their advocates have spoken out against safe cells for years now. In response to this advocacy, the DOC updated its policies in 2017, allowing safe cell detainees 30 minutes outside of their cells every day and conditional access to phone calls, personal property, and running water. However, JPAP’s Monitoring & Mitigation Staff Attorney Natasha Walls Smith has documented and even testified to the DC Council on multiple occasions about the lack of implementation of these new policies. Despite continued advocacy by JPAP, safe cells continue to subject incarcerated people to inhumane conditions that have lasting effects on those who endure the cruel isolation. To truly ensure the end of inhumane solitary confinement at the DC Jail, the ERASE Act should completely prohibit the use of safe cells in favor of mental health treatment and other appropriate supports.
There will be a public hearing on October 20th, 2022. Sign up to testify by close of business on Thursday, October 13th, 2022. To testify, you must sign up through the link below or by calling this number: (202) 417-7996
| |
|
Bill to Overhaul the Rapid Rehousing Program
Sign-up to Testify
DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson introduced legislation to reform the Rapid Rehousing (RRH) Program. RRH moves individuals in shelters to apartments and covers part of their rent for about a year. However, this program has been criticized by many, including people experiencing homelessness and their advocates.
The short-term housing subsidy expires after a year, and only 3% of families in the rapid rehousing program can afford rent in DC without assistance after their subsidy ends, as explained by Amber Harding of The Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless. 42% of families that left the District’s homeless services system using RRH subsidies later required assistance to obtain housing. JPAP has usually discouraged clients from accepting RRH under the current rules because they are highly unlikely to remain in housing when the subsidy ends.
Chairman Mendelson’s proposed reform would ensure that those in RRH would pay no more than 30% of their income for rent. The bill would also require Mayor Bowser’s administration to determine which participants are eligible for long-term housing within the first six months of enrollment in RRH. It would prioritize participants for Targeted Affordable Housing, a long-term housing program that provides people with a permanent subsidy and case management. Mendelson is seeking to bridge the gap between temporary subsidies and permanent vouchers with this legislation
Chairman Mendelson’s proposed legislation is known as the Rapid Re-Housing Reform Amendment Act of 2022, and a public hearing to consider the bill will occur on October 20th, 2022. Sign up to testify by close of business on Thursday, October 13th, 2022.
| |
|
Bill To Give DC Residents $100 A Month For Metro Clears Council Committee
On Monday, September 26th, a DC Council committee advanced a bill to give DC residents $100 a month to be used for Metro fares. If this bill is passed, public transit would become significantly cheaper, or even free, for many residents of DC. Returning citizens, especially those who are unhoused and/or living with disabilities who rely on public benefits would greatly benefit from this bill, which would make it easier for them to attend appointments or travel for other reasons.
The first plans for the bill intended to only offer these funds to lower-income residents. However, verifying incomes would be costly and time-consuming on the administrative end and is often difficult for people just returning from jail and prison who may not have any government documents.
If passed, the bill would also create a Transit Equity Fund, which would dedicate $10 million a year to “improve transit infrastructure and service in areas of high transit need or historically under-served communities,” as explained in a committee report.
| |
|
Unreported Deaths in DOC Custody
There have been seven deaths this year of people in the custody of the DC Department of Corrections (DOC), four of which had not been previously reported or publicly disclosed. There is currently no established system for disclosing information about deaths in DOC custody. Advocates say that this lack of disclosure allows for the DOC to “escape accountability for keeping people safe,” as reported by Jenny Gathright on DCist. This new information also exposes another gap in the Corrections Information Council (CIC)’s oversight power, as deaths in custody is an issue over which the CIC should have jurisdiction.
The CIC is mandated to inspect and monitor the correctional facilities where DC residents are incarcerated, including Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and DOC facilities. However, it is difficult to get to BOP facilities, and the CIC cannot inspect facilities without prior notice, putting limitations on the CIC’s oversight power.
| |
JPAP Is Awarded a Two-Year Reentry Grant from the Sozosei Foundation
We are excited to announce that Disability Rights DC (DRDC) is a 2022 grant recipient of the Sozosei Foundation!
The Sozosei Foundation was established in 2019 as a philanthropic arm of Otsuka. The Foundation engages in dialogue and works collaboratively to decriminalize mental illness. Their primary focus is to eliminate the use of jails and prisons for the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness by improving access to mental health care in communities. The Foundation offers multiple funding opportunities for the Decriminalizing Mental Illness program area.
With Sozosei’s support, DRDC will continue its successful, data driven, evidence-based project and identify keys to replication. In addition, we will be able to develop organizational capacity on the social media and communications front, thereby increasing our ability to effectively communicate our mission to advocate for the rights and protections of people with disabilities. The only way we succeed in our work is by remembering that the process of decriminalizing SMI is necessarily intersectional, trauma informed, and focused on the whole person.
We want to drive social change and reinforce understanding that mental illness is not a crime.
| |
|
The ACT Initiative Reentry Dinner
On September 20th, 2022, the ACT Initiative, A Chance to Thrive, hosted a Reentry dinner with returning citizens and council members. Guests included Donald Hines and Elizabeth Palagallo, formerly incarcerated individuals and JPAP clients; Jane Brown, ULS' Executive Director; and public officials such as Councilmember Charles Allen. The goal of the ACT Initiative Dinner was to encourage conversation between returning citizens and policymakers regarding barriers that formerly incarcerated individuals face in their process to return home.
This dinner was the first of its kind and very successful! Rather than a formal town hall or hearing, the dinner was an informal and authentic chance for returning citizens to chat with DC decision makers about what reentry was really like in the District.
|  | |
Greg Rockwell is the Director of Development of Thrive DC, one of the host organizations of the dinner. He says, “It was a great reminder that lived experience is expertise - and returning citizens, far from being a community that is just a burden on DC, has a lot to offer. When we exclude returning citizens from the workplace, or apartment buildings, or certain professions, we exclude residents who are the most passionate about making DC a better place for all and the most knowledgeable about the ways in which the promise of the city falls short.”
| |
|
Alumni Corner: Wallace Kirby
We often get asked about former staff or think about former clients: Where are they now?Alumni Corner is a new feature to share what some of our favorite people are up to.
Wallace Kirby first became involved in JPAP following a community forum hosted by JPAP, where Wallace got the opportunity to speak on the intersection of reentry and mental health. He later joined JPAP as a community outreach specialist in 2010 and worked with JPAP for six years. Now, Wallace works with Hustlaz 2 Harvesters, a social-impact enterprise that he founded in 2017 with Muhsin Boe Umar.
Hustlaz 2 Harvesters primarily works with returning citizens and disadvantaged young adults to grow and maintain a network of organic gardens and farms. By doing so, Hustlaz 2 Harvesters seeks to produce food, preserve community-owned land and cultural heritage, and create socio-economic opportunities to aid returning citizens in finding employment. Hustlaz 2 Harvesters converted a quarter acre of unused public land into an Applied Research Garden, a community-led food production garden to provide land for Ward 7 residents interested in growing food. Through Hustlaz 2 Harvesters, Wallace continues to advocate for the mental health of reentering citizens, providing trauma-informed care sessions and other resources at the community garden.
“Most … institutions were ill-equipped to provide any real treatment [for mental health], and very seldom did anyone reach out to hear from individuals who were experiencing it. When I did come in contact with the peer facilitator for JPAP and talk with the director, I was ecstatic that there was an entity that offered that and offered me an opportunity to utilize my skills and my voice [to] represent different circles of the population… It’s always been my passion to do that. Even in what we do at the garden, we also do trauma informed care and mindfulness sessions.”
Mr. Wallace Kirby can be reached at (240) 274 -7180.
| |
Where Does Your Donation Go?
We cannot do the work we do without help from our supporters. Any amount can make a major difference for every client. Here are a few ways that your donations can help to support our clients:
| |
Stay Updated!
If you haven't joined our mailing list yet, you can sign up here!
If you're already on our list, please add our email address to your contacts to make sure our newsletter is not delivered to your spam folder.
| |
Thank you for your continued support! | | | | |
