Community Partnership Council
(CPC)
The CPC in Houston is utilizing the tools of
Restorative Justice Community
to facilitate the Collaborative efforts
of many elements in the Community
Houston's CPC began several years ago, bringing together the Regional Leadership of TDCJ's Parole Division, Harris County Probation Department, Houston Mayor's Community Assistance Office, Businesses, Community Non-Profit Service Organizations, Churches and the Faith Based Community in a Collaborative process to provide Resources for our population on Probation, Parole, or otherwise struggling with Life Issues.
A new level of Community awareness, communication, and trust has evolved into a process of Networking Resources in the Community to meet these needs. The past several months has seen a major increase in the identification of Resources in the areas of: Non-Contract Residential Facilities; Community-Faith based Substance-abuse Counseling programs; Employers, Employment, and Job-Counseling; Mentoring, and 'Nurturing Churches'. These Community Resources are being ADDED to the RJC Directory, to be utilized in Mentor-matching, Case-management, and connecting those in need to the Community.
You are invited to become a part of this process by Attending the next
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Interagency
Victim Council
Meetings
on
(2nd Wednesday of each month)
From
1:00 -2:30 p.m.
at
HCCSCD Training Center
2nd Floor, Conference Room B
9111 Eastex Freeway (Hwy 59-N)
at the Tidwell Exit|
See Map
'Click Here...to RSVP'
or by contacting Rita Cortez at:
713 696-2095
or
ritacortez@csc.hctx.net
Facilitated by
Restorative Justice Community
www.RJCTexas.org
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And for those working with the Issues in the Neighborhoods,
Join us for our
'Juvenile & Family Issues Council'
Meeting
to be held at
NEW LOCATION
(Beginning January 15, 2008)
at
West End Multi-Service Center
170 Heights Blvd.
(2 blocks south of I-10)
Houston, TX 77007
MAP...
(on the 3rd Tuesday of each Month)
from
8:45-11:00 AM.
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The Community Partnership Council Hosted 'A Community Forum'
with the theme of 'The State of The Community and Restorative Justice',
in Cooperation with the Criminal Justice Institute of The University of Houston
Law Center, at Krost Hall on Friday, February 10, 2006.
A Forum of two Panels of Judges from Harris County District Courts, Drug Courts, Houston Municipal & Harris County Criminal Justice System, and
Criminal Justice Officials from TDCJ, Correctional Institutions Division,
Parole Division, Chaplaincy, Reentry & Rehabilitation, and Harris County Adult Probation (HCCSCD), Harris County Juvenile Probation (HCJPD), and the Houston Police Department (HPD) presented Issues and trends, and the need to build a collaborative relationship with Leaders from the Community's Service organizations, Businesses, Churches, and Faith based organizations
to establish and support community initiatives, in the manner of a
Restorative Justice Community.
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Not the Same Old Tune
A new song is ringing out across Texas. Old approaches to criminal justice and rehabilitation have not worked. New initiatives are more than welcome, they are prized. Accountability is the name of the game.
Those themes sounded loud and clear at a community forum on "The State of the Community and Restorative Justice" at the University of Houston Law Center. The Community Partnership Council and the Law Center’s Criminal Justice Institute co-sponsored the forum.
Bryan Collier, director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Parole Division, uttered words in plain English that would have been unthinkable even to whisper a few years ago. "Successful re-entry and effective public safety are the same thing," Collier said.
The public soon will become aware of the realization that has dawned in the corrections community and the courts. Kicking an offender out of prison with $50, a bad suit and a "go get ‘em" isn’t merely a blueprint for recidivism for that individual, it’s also a crippling blow to efforts to improve public safety. If the system is to protect the public it must generate real change in the ex-offenders it puts back on our streets. When they make a successful re-entry into society, the public is the big winner.
Officials have begun to think in terms of collaboration among police; judges; prison officials including wardens; probation and parole departments, and community groups. The goal is to address the inmate and ex-offender as a complete person with intertwined needs that must be met before he can be expected to accomplish successful re-integration into the community.
One state district judge at the UH forum, Bonnie Crane Hellums of 247th Family District Court, called for Houston-area churches to supply prayer partners for individuals she sentences to probation. Virtually everyone who appeared on the two panels – one for judges and the other for prison, police and juvenile officials – called for the faith community to provide mentors for probationers and parolees.
The term "therapeutic jurisprudence" echoed through Krost Hall as judges and officials discussed initiatives already under way. Prominent among them are STAR (Success Through Addiction Recovery) Drug Courts in which the adversarial environment to which offenders are accustomed in the courts has been tempered with a large measure of encouragement and practical support.
The judge keeps the stick in the form of jail or prison time, but first offers any number of carrots to individuals who profess an inclination to receive help. Offenders appear in court, and at other functions together, and the judge and court officers foster a sense of community among them. An offender who has just gotten a job, for example, gets a rousing ovation from the entire courtroom. "That praise is the biggest thing for them," said Hellums, "and how small a thing is that for us to offer?" |
Probation officials cited improved effectiveness from community-based work, including a program that places probation offices in churches in various parts of Harris County. A ranking Houston Police Department officer cited a new willingness among officers to approach their work in ways that reduce confrontation with citizens.
Panelists remarked the folly of treating the addiction of an individual who is both addicted and bipolar, and leaving the bipolar disorder unattended. Up and down the line, judges and officials urged enlightened approaches. "Some things we think are obvious, are not obvious to them," said Hellums. "Some don’t know how to change a diaper. Some don’t know not to leave young children alone in a motel room while they go for a few beers.
"We may think these things are obvious but we’re coming from where we’re coming from, and they’re coming from where they’re coming from."
In addition to Hellums, the judges’ panel at the forum on Feb. 10, 2006, was composed of Caprice
Cosper, 339th Criminal District Court; Brock Thomas, 338th Criminal District Court; Georgia Dempster, 308th Family District Court, and Jay Karahan, Harris County Criminal Court-at-Law No. 8. On the other panel with Collier were Doug Dretke, director of the Correctional Institutions Division, TDCJ; Billy Pierce, director of the TDCJ chaplaincy department; Kim Valentine, interim director, Harris County Community Supervision and Corrections Department; Harvey Hetzel, director, Harris County Juvenile Probation Department, and Lt. William Hoffman, community liaison, South Central Division, Houston Police Department.
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