Thank you Pranshu
Verma, for your recent article in the Philadelphia Inquirer
titled:
Click the title to read the full article:
This article
highlights one man's exit from the Philadelphia jail system and the
consequences of not being given his personal effects upon discharge. It's very well written.
I'd like to
review one of the lines in this article that caught my attention and offer
some additional insights:
…But minutes after his release about
10:30 p.m., Garrett realized that his identification, $80 in cash, and other
personal belongings were still locked up in the cashier’s office — the place
where prison facilities store personal property of inmates until they are
released — and he wouldn’t be able to get them until the next morning when the
office reopened.
…He wouldn't be able to get them until the next morning
when the office reopened…
This gentleman
had a home to go to and that's great for him.
The people of the streets of Kensington who are in the addiction phase
of their Substance Use Disorder do not have that option.
Here is how I
have described this situation to three Philadelphia Court Judges when I've
spoken on behalf of people of the streets:
These men and
women are dealing with Substance Use Disorder, an officially recognized condition as described in the DSM-5. Virtually every illegal act that lands them
in jail and the court system has its roots in this medical disorder. Most are reliant on Medicaid to cover their
medical expenses. If given the slightest
opportunity to do so, their Substance Use Disorder will win the battle in
demanding that they continue to "take her medicine"[1] even
if they absolutely determine to the deepest depth of their soul that they will
never again do so.
To whatever
extent this court can serve as their de facto physician in bringing about
healing, I urgently and humbly ask that when the time is right, they would be
transferred directly to an appropriate care facility that will serve them in a way that is best for them and will truly help them achieve their goals for a
new, healthy, normal and productive life.
In the absence
of a predetermined place for these members of our society to go directly from their
current incarceration, with the judge having declared them discharged in the
morning hours of their day in court, they will be released from their
incarceration any time between 7pm and the middle of the night.[2] They will be provided with a bus token or two
for Septa (public transportation) and will have little choice but to return to
Kensington. They will be released
without whatever personal effects they had on them when brought to jail. These items, which include their ID, some
degree of cash and occasionally a cell phone will need to be picked up on some
future business day between the hours of 9:00am and 1:30pm.
If they even bother to make this trip back to jail,
they will be required to hop on the visitor's bus and return to the same
building in which they had been incarcerated.
To make this journey, they must raise the funds[3]
for Septa to the jail on State Road, enter the visitor's reception trailer,
provide their ID (which they are coming to get) or their jail number which they
might not know. They then wait for the
bus along with the folks who are coming to visit loved ones. This transportation may be a window barred
prisoner transport van or a civilian style small bus. They then enter the same building in which
they have been incarcerated, interact with the guards in the room who had just
the day before held them captive, go to the cashier's window, identify
themselves, get their belongings and then sit in the visitor's waiting room
until the next prisoner transport van/civilian style small bus arrives with new
visitors and will then be transported back to the parking lot. This round trip on the jail campus could
easily be over an hour. From there, with their substance use having restarted during the night, they
will hop back on public transportation and go back to Kensington.
Between their
moment of release and retrieving their personal belongings, upon return to the familiarity of the streets of Kensington, with hunger setting in and the call
of Substance Use Disorder screaming for attention, in the case of a lady in
this situation, she will have little choice but to succumb to her nightmare of "dating"
(the very crime that may have landed her in jail and of which she has just been
released) so as to gain a few dollars for food and heroin.
Because it
will be too late to find a shelter bed, they
will have to find some step or back ally or piece of sidewalk
to consume there first doses of heroin[4]
and lay down for this round of homelessness.
Wouldn't it be
better to provide personal effects upon release?
[1] This is not a weakness within the person. It is a recognized pattern for any person who
would be in this situation.
[2] I have been there to pick up three people upon release
from RCF. The earliest was approximately midnight. The latest was after 2:00am.
[3]Ladies will need to 'date' AKA prostitute themselves to raise the needed funds.
[4] First doses following abstinence from the drug run a
much higher risk of causing deadly overdose.
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