By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Central Kansas Community Corrections continues to seek alternative solutions to incarceration for its clients. Tyler Lehmkuhl with CKCC, and Charity Muth with Stepping Stones to Recovery, recently attended a grant-paid symposium in Washington, D.C. Both were present at Wednesday's Barton County Commission meeting to share information about the CKCC Solidarity Program.
"We know that change is difficult," Muth said. "We know that the justice system does not frequently work with people that are naturally compliant. If they were naturally compliant, they wouldn't be in the justice system. Nobody changes a lifetime of learned behavior and participative behavior just because they're assigned to probation. This is a nice way to meet them in the middle."
To qualify for the program, probationers must have had at least one prior revocation hearing, score high-risk on state needs assessment, been identified with a Substance Use Disorder (SUD), and have been approved to return to community supervision by the court.
Part of the program involves the use of the Corrisoft AIR (Alternative to Incarceration) phone app that reminds probationers about meetings. The probationers can then use the app to check into scheduled case-plan activities like meetings and employment. The app works well for both probationers and supervision officers.
"You don't have to believe that SUD is a brain disorder," Muth said. "You don't have to believe that it takes time to change. Pain is universal. When we start seeing human beings as human beings and not the sum total of everything they've ever screwed up, change will happen."
Four CKCC clients have gone through the Solidarity Program, with three succeeding and one being sent to prison. Successful completion of the program requires at least 30 days of being substance-free, engagement in substance use disorder services, full-time employment for employable participants or engagement in an educational program, and completing 90 days with the Corrisoft AIR application.
"Evidence-based practices for community supervision teach us that a higher-risk population needs more intense and increased supervision," Lemkuhl said. "Sometimes regular supervision is not enough to meet the needs of high-risk individuals on our supervision. It becomes a revolving door in and out of jail and prison. The Solidarity Program was created for those whose next stop was in the Kansas prison system."