Barnstable County Sheriff Donna Buckley has unveiled a new vision for the county jail. As part of this new initiative, called Public Safety 2.0, the sheriff's office has opened a resource center in Barnstable called the Bridge Center, aimed at helping people turn their lives around after being incarcerated.
CAI's Gilda Geist spoke with Sheriff Buckley to learn more about what this means for incarcerated people on Cape Cod.
Gilda Geist Let's start broadly by talking about your new initiative. What is Public Safety 2.0?
Donna Buckley Well, Public Safety 2.0 is best understood when we think about what Public Safety 1.0 was. And Public Safety 1.0, especially as it related to incarceration, was, essentially, lock people up, let them do their time, let them go back out into the community and see if they can figure it out. What we learned from Public Safety 1.0 is that doesn't work if we are trying to keep our community safe, prevent more crime and keep people from returning to jail. So, Public Safety 2.0 is about corrections with purpose. It's about making sure that when someone is incarcerated, we have the support systems in place to make our community safer when they get out.
GG So there's this newly opened Bridge Center in Barnstable. So what is the Bridge Center? And then how does that fit into Public Safety 2.0?
DB The Bridge Center is a first-of-its-kind facility on the Cape and it gives us an opportunity to create continuity of service, continuity of connection that people need when they leave incarceration. The best outcome for all of us is that they move forward in a positive way. Leaving incarceration is a daunting task. No matter how much programming and support we can provide for people while they're incarcerated, if we are relying on their ability to go it alone once they are released, it doesn't always result in a positive outcome. In fact, when we look at recidivism and why people come back, it's because they resort back to behaviors that got them in trouble in the first place. When we're dealing with 60 to 70 percent of our population being challenged with addiction and/or mental health issues that play a role in the crimes that they commit, we can treat those things while people are here, but those are ongoing challenges. They exist when someone leaves. The expectation that people can go it alone is a false expectation. The support needs to continue. We at the sheriff's office are in the best place to do that because we have built that relationship, started that work while people were here, and now with the Bridge Center, we are able to identify for people who are justice-involved, there's one place to go. You don't have to figure out how to address whatever challenges you have. You just have to find out one place to go.
GG What kinds of services are provided at the Bridge Center, and who is eligible to use those services?
DB This is available to, it's not just people from our facility, it's justice-involved individuals. The Bridge Center is a place. It can fulfill its purpose with one person in the building because the vision is that people can knock on the door and that the person who's in the building is the connector. The person who can relate, answer questions, provide support, resources and tools, depending upon why someone's coming in. They might need help with a resume. They want to know where AA meetings are. They want to get connected to a mentor. They want to figure out how to make a doctor's appointment or how to find transportation or housing or food or clothes. The Bridge Center allows us to continue to connect the amazing community resources that exist in Barnstable County to the people that need them. It's also a place where our community partners can use the Bridge Center to provide services—maybe someday in the building, but right now they can get referrals, employment readiness, job fairs, parenting programs, peer support, GED prep, college classes, financial literacy. So that's sort of the present scope and there are opportunities to imagine even beyond that.
GG I can imagine that some people getting out of jail might feel apprehensive about going to the Bridge Center. How do you plan to have you and your staff get people to go and actually use the Bridge Center?
DB First of all, people have to be willing to accept help and support. Unfortunately, there's always going to be people who are not. But what we find here, even while people are incarcerated, is that they are looking for opportunities to move in a different direction. They are looking the ability to have a second chance. What we are planning to do is make sure that we introduce the Bridge Center to people while they are here. What I believe is the key to the success of the Bridge Center is that not only us, but our community partners are familiar to the people who have been incarcerated in Barnstable. They know us. They know our partners because they've already worked together while they were here. So that fear of walking into a place cold is actually alleviated.
The Bridge Center is located in the Barnstable County court complex in Barnstable Village.
