Courtesy of Roanoke City Sheriff's Office
The office held a back to school extravaganza. It parntered with a company that helped provide free tablets to community members.
In an effort to change the culture at the Roanoke City Jail, Sheriff Antonio Hash recently launched an initiative called (R) I.G.N.I.T.E.
The acronym stands for “residents individually growing naturally and intentionally through education.”
Hash took office at the beginning of this year. He has been with the office for 14 years, 13 of which were spent as a deputy sheriff.
He admitted that adjusting to his new role has been challenging at times. He took time to assess where the office was, before he considered the direction he wanted to move it in going forward.
(R) I.G.N.I.T.E., he said, will play a prominent role in shaping his vision for the office. It addresses many of the areas he campaigned on wanting to improve, including prison reform, recidivism and community engagement.
The initiative was launched Sept. 6.
Courtesy of Roanoke City Sheriff's Office
The Roanoke City Sheriff's Office participated in an Autism awareness event.
Although the idea isn’t original to Hash, he has embraced it fully. It started at the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office in partnership with the National Sheriff’s Association in Michigan in 2020 with the goal of eliminating generational incarceration through education. The initiative sought to do so through restoring value, hope and purpose to the county’s inmate population.
It has since been adopted by law enforcement agencies in a number of jurisdictions in North Carolina, Michigan, Minnesota and North Dakota.
Hash first found out about the initiative when he was scrolling through Facebook one evening. He likes to follow other sheriffs around the country to see what they are working on. When he saw a post about an inmate graduation from the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office, he immediately wanted to know more.
“I don’t have to reinvent the wheel. If I like what someone else is doing, I can put my own spin on it,” Hash said.
Instead of referring to those who are in jail as “inmates,” they are now called “residents.” Hash explained, “Part of changing the culture is changing how we see them.”
Courtesy of Roanoke City Sheriff's Office
The Roanoke City Sheriff's Office held a community meet and greet.
In an additional move to change the culture around incarceration, Hash is seeking approval from the Roanoke City Council to change the name of the jail. Instead of calling it the Roanoke City Jail, Hash wants it to be called the “Roanoke City Justice Center.”
The initiative will provide the roughly 320 residents who are housed at the jail with education, job training and certification, purpose, goals, hope and employment opportunities upon reentry into society.
Hash cautioned that the residents aren’t the only ones who benefit. The jail, he said, can reduce resident on resident violence, reduce resident on staff violence, reduce lawsuits, reduce recidivism, improve public trust and community relations and open up opportunities for funding and donations.
Funding for the various components of the initiative largely comes from money raised through resident commissary purchases.
The guiding principle behind the initiative relates back to the idea of how the community wants its members returned to it after being incarcerated. “Do you want me to return them broken, like we found them, or rehabilitated and productive members of society?” Hash said. “I’m trying to cut the cycle in half. The buck stops with me.”
Although the initiative is still new, Hash explained most of residents have been pleased with it thus far. He even received a call from a woman whose son is currently being held by the Virginia Department of Corrections because she was interested in having him participate in the reentry program.
While many of the components of (R) I.G.N.I.T.E. aren’t new to the sheriff’s office, they are now being administered as part of a collective whole. The COVID-19 pandemic forced many of the jail’s programs to temporarily shut down. “Our goal was to implement everything under one umbrella and to relaunch,” Hash said.
At the Roanoke City Jail, residents will participate in the initiative through programming pods, education modules on the resident tablet system, classes/groups outside of the housing units and discharge planning.
Aila Boyd
The Roanoke City Jail normally houses around 320 individuals at any given time.
Pods
Pods will be broken down into several categories, including behavioral healthcare, mental health and reentry. Instead of wearing traditional striped uniforms, residents will wear colors that denote the specific pod they are in.
Examples of the type of behavioral healthcare that will be offered, which Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare has partnered on, include substance abuse, outpatient care assistance, parenting assistance and drug court.
The mental health therapeutic pod will help residents with living a balanced life, anger management, mindfulness, journaling and spirituality.
The reentry pod, which is focused on reducing recidivism, will help with such things as employment, housing, medication, mental health treatment and identification cards.
Residents will work their way through the various pods. Hash provided the example that residents will likely be unable to focus on pursuing educational opportunities until they have addressed the prior “trauma and drama” that led to their incarceration.
Tablet system
The resident tablet system will provide all residents with access to education modules, which they will be given dedicated time each day to work on. Some of the subjects residents will be able to study include GED education, languages, enrichment programming and professional studies, like paralegal and phlebotomy training.
Classes/groups
The classes and groups will range in focus and duration.
A culinary program was started in July. A total of 21 kitchen trustees completed an eight-week training program, which resulted in ServSafe certifications.
A four-week group geared towards connecting participants with resources that will enable them to improve their economic self-sufficiency will be offered as part of the Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project.
Bridges to Life is a 14-week faith-based restorative justice program that allows offenders to openly discuss their crimes and understand the impact on their victims and society.
Reentry
The reentry component will consist of several programs and partnerships.
Goodwill will play a role in the initiative through its GoodStart Re-Entry Program, which provides education and training for various fields, job search support, employment placement and referrals to community resources.
BrightView Roanoke Addiction Treatment Center provides medication-assisted treatment, individual counseling and group therapy, case management and social support.
Women Initiating New Growth, a program that empowers women and provides gender-responsive services, is offered through Total Action for Progress.