CREST HAVEN — Imagine a conversation between two young teens as they talk about what they did this summer: “Hear you screwed up big time and went to court.” “Dude, I went to jail for a day. No lie, man, I’m swearing to ya, I am NEVER going back there again, never!”
If something like that takes place, Sheriff Gary Schaffer and three of his officers will have succeeded with a new program that will begin in July.
It’s dubbed “Jail – It’s Not for Me!” and will have a target audience of teens 13-17 referred by the juvenile court, school resource officers and police agencies using “station house adjustments.”
Freeholders learned Tue., June 14 of the latest summer program designed to steer errant teens from a life of crime.
One such past program, initiated when James Plousis was sheriff, was the summer teen “boot camp.” Held at the Coast Guard Training Center, the teens there lived a brief time under strict military life. They lived in barracks, marched in precision drill under cadence from a retired Marine Corps sergeant, and were shown the error of their ways by counselors.
Trouble with that program, according to some close to it was lack of follow-up.
“Jail – It’s Not for Me!” aims to allow impressionable teens to learn, first hand, what wrong choices can mean, and let them sample the harsh reality of jail.
Schaffer said the program has been in planning for the past five months. “Stakeholders” that had input included Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office, county chiefs of police, Youth Advisory Commission, judges, counselors and probation officials.
The sheriff said he was approached by Officers Rich Harron Jr., James Johns and Don Riggins Jr. who pitched the idea of a program that would be similar to the popular “Scared Straight” program at the state’s correctional facilities.
That program put youthful offenders in a room with convicts who told them, with no holds barred and in language prisoners use daily, what prison life is like.
Schaffer was quick to say “Jail – It’s Not for Me!” will be different than “Scared Straight,” but he hopes its after shock will be similar.
Goals of the program include:
Prevent the young person from becoming a correctional system statistic.
Life changing experience to deter juveniles from gang and criminal activity.
Educate the young person about wrong choices, consequences and harsh experiences of a correctional center setting.
Educate about negative effects of gang affiliation, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and addiction.
Enable officers of the county Correctional Center and Sheriff’s Officers to use their skills in a program designed to give something back to the community.
Track and reduce recidivism in the correctional system.
In order to make all those happen, those young offenders will be exposed to jail conditions, and have the experience of being incarcerated and see what it can do to family and friends.
The young people will hear, first hand from inmates who have spent time behind bars how that experience changed their lives, how they viewed their experience in jail and that they wish they never made bad choices they did.
They will be presented with consequences of drug and alcohol abuse, criminal actions and gang affiliation.
No more than 10 juveniles will be accepted at a time.
Each participant and their guardian must sign a waiver of liability that would advise them that there would be no contact with any inmate during the program.
Attendees and the agency referring them will be required to complete all forms for the program before attendance is permitted.
All participants will complete a program assessment form prior to being release from the program.
A record of each participant, including follow up reports, will be used to track the program’s success.
Schaffer wants the experience to be as close to a real jail experience as possible.
He said the program will start early in the morning. The young offender will be picked up in a Sheriff’s transport van, and immediately taken to the correctional center.
Once there, they will be given a special green jumpsuit worn over their clothing. They will be fed a prison breakfast, and the processing of a new inmate in the facility will be explained.
A tour of the center will follow, including the block, yard, educational and medical facilities.
They will then spend 20-30 minutes in a jail cell. They will then be fed a prisoner’s lunch.
An education session will follow detailing gang involvement, drugs and alcohol use.
They will then hear from counselors and a rehabilitated state inmate who learned from his mistakes and now operates a successful business.
Jack Trombetta, a retired Lower Township police officer and teacher at the county’s Compact School, will also speak with the teens.
Participants will finally complete a questionnaire of the day’s experience, and will get outreach sources, if they need help.
A parent or guardian must pick up their teen from the jail at day’s end.
Schaffer said the program would be low-cost to the county, two meals.
Officers will volunteer their time in the program, he said.
The sheriff commended Harron, Riggins and Johns for hatching the idea of the program.
Cape May – Governor Murphy says he doesn't know anything about the drones and doesn't know what they are doing but he does know that they are not dangerous. Does anyone feel better now?
