Residential centers offer ‘bridge’ to community after prison

CEDAR RAPIDS - Earlier this year, Kenny Emerson was homeless, unemployed, struggling with alcohol abuse and running afoul of the law.

After being arrested on an assault charge, Emerson said his probation officer recommended he try the Hope House - an Iowa Department of Corrections residential center in Coralville. Emerson is proud to say the move was life-changing.

'I went from being unemployed to having two jobs and I've been sober for six months now,” Emerson said with a smile on his face.

The Hope House is one of three residential centers operating in Johnson and Linn counties, which are part of Iowa's Sixth Judicial District. Fred Scaletta, assistant director for the Iowa Department of Corrections, said those facilities serve probationers, inmates coming out of prison as well as some people serving sentences for drunken driving.

Scaletta said those coming out of prison generally have had longer sentences on more serious offenses. Residential centers help them fit back to the outside world.

'It's best to help transition them and have a more defined supervision level, where they're actually living in the community under our supervision,” he said.

Soon, the state will open a new residential center in Cedar Rapids. The ANCHOR Center - which stands for Accountability and Knowledge to Create Hope Opportunity and Resources - will be a first of its kind facility for the state and offer inpatient mental health and substance treatment for inmates.

Melinda Lamb, who holds a doctorate in social work and is the Sixth Judicial District's clinical services manager, said the department of corrections has been offering outpatient substance abuse treatment for a number of years. The ANCHOR Center represents that 'next step,” Lamb said.

'People will come and stay,” she said. 'We're hoping it will be a four- to six-month stay to evaluate what's going on and put some things in place to hopefully stabilize them and work toward them being successful in other locations.”

Just as other residential centers serve as a bridge to non-correctionial community supports, Lamb said the goal for the ANCHOR Center is to close the gap between a correctional environment and community-based care providers. Inmates who require treatment likely will continue to require some supervision in the community due to their conditions, but it won't have to be corrections-based supervision.

'We don't want people to become more dependent on corrections than they need to be,” Lamb said.

Lamb said about 42 percent of Iowa's prison population has a mental health disorder. Generally speaking, about 75 percent of those who suffer from mental health disorders also have a substance abuse disorder, she said.

In addition to dual-diagnositic - substance abuse and mental health - inpatient treatment within the facility, Lamb said the facility also will offer outpatient care for non-residents.

At facilities such as the Hope House, where substance abuse treatment is offered - along with other educational programs - but is not the primary focus, residents focus on transitioning into the community as fully independent citizens. Sam Black, residential manager for the sixth judicial district, said the goal of such facilities is 'to provide opportunities for offenders to be successful.”

Those opportunities include skills and job training and an educational component.

'We've been able to impose an expectation ...

that every resident that comes in without a high school diploma or equivalent will not be able to leave until they achieve that,” Black said.

Randy Cole, the recently retired residential supervisor for the Hope House, said there are misconceptions about what residential centers do.

'It's not prison,” he said. 'These are not locked facilities. (Residents) do have the ability to make choices about whether they return or not.”

For Emerson, the accountability factor is key to getting the most out of the residential facilities.

'It really works for people if you work the program,” he said.