Latest / Our Community, Our Mission / Ep #320- Breaking The Cycle: Re-Entry, Recovery & Community

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Ep #320- Breaking The Cycle: Re-Entry, Recovery & Community · Our Community, Our Mission

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Father, thank you for um today.
0:02
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for another day to not only work jobs, but to um spend the day trying to do purposeful work that is not just for this world uh but what is to come.
0:18
SPEAKER_00: Lord, thank you for um Barry, thank you for our special guest that we're gonna be talking to and about in just a minute, Lord, and just thank you for the work that both of these men have done for years, um, and that new leaders like myself can learn from and um continue to do what uh they've been called to do.
0:38
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray for our community um just with the heat, uh, with the pressures that many people are facing, and um Lord, that we could just be honest that sometimes life is hard and life is difficult, uh, but you have created us to do life together and to do good work by um by people and for people.
0:58
SPEAKER_00: And just thank you that uh we get to wake up every day knowing, hopefully, that we have uh made this part of our community a little better each and every day.
1:06
SPEAKER_00: Uh just continue to protect everyone at the mission.
1:10
SPEAKER_00: Lord, be with staff, be with guests, be with volunteers and donors and our unsheltered neighbors.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, Lord, just uh continue to show us what it is you want us to do for each other so that we can do that well.
1:22
SPEAKER_00: In your name we pray.
1:23
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
1:24
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
1:28
SPEAKER_02: Hey everybody, thank you for joining us for our community, our mission, a podcast of the Topeka Rescue Mission.
1:32
SPEAKER_02: I'm your host today, Barry Fieker.
1:35
SPEAKER_02: On the 21st day of July of 2026, very toasty, warm uh July.
1:41
SPEAKER_02: Uh the nice thing about Kansas, um, if you're from Kansas, we will have extremes and weather, but fortunately most of the time it doesn't stay that long.
1:48
SPEAKER_02: So uh we are hoping for some cooler uh towards the end of this week.
1:52
SPEAKER_02: Um here with today with Lamanda Cunningham, CEO of Topeka Rescue Mission.
1:56
SPEAKER_02: Lamanda, we have a really, really special guest friend uh responsibilities.
2:01
SPEAKER_02: I'm not sure anybody you got big responsibilities, but this guy might have a few more.
2:05
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he does.
2:06
SPEAKER_02: So but before we jump into that, we have to then recognize the value and importance of the day of July 21st.
2:13
SPEAKER_02: Uh happens every year.
2:15
SPEAKER_02: Um a lot of people aren't aware of this unless they um are in communication with our uh research and development department who comes up with these wonderful days.
2:24
SPEAKER_02: But uh this is Lamanda, I don't know what you think about this first one that we're gonna mention today.
2:29
SPEAKER_02: Uh-huh.
2:29
SPEAKER_02: Uh again on July the 21st.
2:31
SPEAKER_02: It's national my favorite day, junk food day.
2:34
SPEAKER_02: Oh.
2:35
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
2:35
SPEAKER_00: Hey, I have I know the listeners can't see this, but I have to show you.
2:38
SPEAKER_00: I actually just took this this morning and I thought about um sharing it with grandparents and saying, say that it's summer without saying it's summer, but look what this is.
2:48
SPEAKER_00: Um I got up this morning and saw the trash can in my house, and it is full of bags of popcorn and um Rice Krispie treats and way too many sun kisses.
3:00
SPEAKER_00: So you can tell the kids are home for summer, and they apparently were celebrating National Junk Food Day yesterday in the Cunningham household.
3:06
SPEAKER_02: You have national who's going to take out the trash day for them.
3:09
SPEAKER_02: Uh-huh.
3:10
SPEAKER_00: For sure.
3:10
SPEAKER_00: Luckily, that's a chore they get paid for.
3:12
SPEAKER_02: So anyway, we can only imagine who created this day, but it is so that you can indulge in your favorite treats, not like it's one day a year, unfortunately.
3:20
SPEAKER_02: Um I think I did that yesterday.
3:22
SPEAKER_02: But I'll do it again today.
3:23
SPEAKER_02: I will do it later today.
3:25
SPEAKER_02: All right.
3:25
SPEAKER_02: And basically what we hear is 80% of the stuff in the grocery stores is junk food anyway.
3:29
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I know.
3:30
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you won't have a hard time finding any.
3:32
SPEAKER_02: Sad day.
3:32
SPEAKER_02: So now, Lamanda, I'm not sure uh where this came from.
3:36
SPEAKER_02: The next one is take a monkey to lunch day with junk food.
3:40
SPEAKER_00: Hey, I do that every time I take you to lunch.
3:43
SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much.
3:45
SPEAKER_02: Well, why do you think that a day like this was created?
3:49
SPEAKER_02: I have no clue.
3:51
SPEAKER_02: Uh this day was created to highlight the diverse world of apes.
3:54
SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
3:55
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
3:56
SPEAKER_02: And and different kinds of apes and shedding light on the challenges they face as a species.
4:01
SPEAKER_02: You know, here at the Rescue Mission, we'll focus on a lot of challenges, but I don't think taking care of the apes is probably one of the things.
4:07
SPEAKER_02: No, I don't think so.
4:08
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
4:08
SPEAKER_02: But uh anyway, for some people, for you ape lovers out there, uh, this is uh day that you can at least one time take them to lunch and then you can go visit Brian, who's going to be able to do that.
4:18
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
4:20
SPEAKER_03: For sure.
4:21
SPEAKER_02: We'll talk about more of that later.
4:22
SPEAKER_02: So it's national be someone day.
4:25
SPEAKER_02: And I was a little taken by this.
4:26
SPEAKER_02: I was saying, okay, well, everybody wants to, you know, be somebody.
4:29
SPEAKER_02: But this is actually about it's a day to recognize and report child abuse every July twenty first.
4:35
SPEAKER_02: So be someone day.
4:36
SPEAKER_02: So really look out for our little kiddos out there.
4:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
4:39
SPEAKER_02: Uh you might save a life.
4:41
SPEAKER_02: Um we do know it's a tough, tough world in the world for kids today, especially with all of the online challenges that are out there.
4:52
SPEAKER_02: Um when I was a kid, um, we had um we had block mothers.
4:56
SPEAKER_02: And so um when we'd come home from school, if we were afraid or something like that, there'd be a sign in a window.
5:03
SPEAKER_02: And this is a mother that you could actually go and knock on her door, and she knew who you were, and she knew how to get you help.
5:09
SPEAKER_02: Oh we didn't have the internet and um we didn't have all those things, and there was very little worry for children today.
5:16
SPEAKER_02: It's a different story.
5:17
SPEAKER_02: Yes, it is.
5:18
SPEAKER_02: Very different story, and Brian will talk about all those kind of things.
5:20
SPEAKER_02: Lamanda, uh, that's our big moments for the day of July the 21st for those who um, you know, tune in for that part.
5:28
SPEAKER_02: Um so um anyway, any updates uh from you before we jump into introducing our special guest today?
5:34
SPEAKER_00: No, I think you know, just some generic ones.
5:37
SPEAKER_00: Uh we are still tracking um the food needs, so more to come on that one.
5:44
SPEAKER_00: You know, we had announced that we had that over 200% increase in June that uh families who were new not accessing TRM just in the month of June.
5:55
SPEAKER_00: So we're still watching that.
5:56
SPEAKER_00: Uh we appreciate the community rallying around us.
6:00
SPEAKER_00: We have been blessed with significant donations in um regards to water bottles and hydration supplies.
6:08
SPEAKER_00: We also had a huge donation um in regards to peanut butter.
6:14
SPEAKER_00: Um and so we're so grateful.
6:16
SPEAKER_00: Uh now the key to that is even when we receive huge donations, when we have huge needs, um it doesn't go yes, it doesn't last very long.
6:26
SPEAKER_00: And so if anybody's listening to this and you saw um, you know, on our social media page where we're thanking people for the 3,000 jars of peanut butter or the um six pallets of water, which was like, I can't even remember, thousands of water bottles.
6:44
SPEAKER_00: Just please know that when we're seeing hundreds of households on a Tuesday and hundreds of households on a Thursday, those households could have a single person in it or it could have 10 people in it.
6:57
SPEAKER_00: And so when we see the needs increasing, that's why we are continuously doing asks of the community.
7:04
SPEAKER_00: Uh so I just wanted to kind of explain that it's not that we aren't grateful for what we're getting, it's just between what we're doing on our food distribution.
7:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, our number yesterday was we were at 215 guests in our shelters.
7:20
SPEAKER_00: So when you're doing that times three meals a day, that adds up.
7:24
SPEAKER_00: We also do a community meal every evening um out back, which is, you know, anywhere between one to two hundred meals for that.
7:32
SPEAKER_02: So uh in addition to the people staying in the rescue matrix.
7:35
SPEAKER_00: Correct.
7:35
SPEAKER_00: You know, so all of that is a lot of need.
7:38
SPEAKER_00: So if anybody is questioning, man, I feel like they're asking a lot for food, they're asking a lot for non-perishables, it is because we're seeing an uptick uptick in need, and we need a lot of supplies in order to do that.
7:50
SPEAKER_02: And that's not it.
7:51
SPEAKER_02: Um you also do the food distribution for the distribution center, um, which that need is really where it spiked.
7:56
SPEAKER_02: And then also Topeka Rescue Mission is one of the primary partners for the Moving Ahead Partnership, which is now the Compassionate Impact Center.
8:05
SPEAKER_02: Uh you provide the uh lunches and uh breakfasts for that as well two days a week.
8:09
SPEAKER_02: So it uh there's a lot of people, and these are different people who are getting getting help.
8:14
SPEAKER_02: And so uh it demonstrates a need in our community um and it demonstrates some generosity of great people in our community as well.
8:21
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
8:22
SPEAKER_00: And want to thank everybody too.
8:23
SPEAKER_00: We've had um a lot of people bless us for the back to school giveaway that's coming in early August.
8:30
SPEAKER_00: Um so we appreciate all the school supplies that we've gotten, uh, but also um, you know, we still have needs for the supplies and the backpacks.
8:39
SPEAKER_00: Um when the um jot form went live, we had hundreds sign up within the first three days.
8:47
SPEAKER_00: So um again, want to be so thankful and express a lot of gratitude for everybody that's bringing us the crayons and the pencils and the paper and and all of that.
8:58
SPEAKER_00: Yet when we know um that we're gonna have hundreds of kids, I mean we're anticipating three to four hundred.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: Um, that's gonna be just on our list.
9:07
SPEAKER_00: And that's including all the great work that's being done around the community of their school drives, too.
9:11
SPEAKER_02: Let me ask a question that gets asked every once in a while.
9:14
SPEAKER_02: Why is Topeka Rescue Mission doing all of that?
9:18
SPEAKER_02: And you shelter the homeless every night, uh, have a place for them to be, and you feed the people in.
9:22
SPEAKER_02: Why feed people outside?
9:24
SPEAKER_02: Why participate in the in feeding people who are not homeless and different activities like you have with uh taking care of so many children, not just at the rescue mission but in the community.
9:35
SPEAKER_02: Why do you do all that?
9:37
SPEAKER_00: You know, I think um it is a responsibility of myself as the CEO, the board, and our staff to constantly be evaluating mission drift.
9:46
SPEAKER_00: And I do think that sometimes organizations can get to doing too much, right?
9:52
SPEAKER_00: Um and so one of the evaluation things that we do at the rescue mission is well, how do we know what is too much?
9:58
SPEAKER_00: Um, because there's a lot of good work that is being done in our community, and there's a lot of good work that's yet to be done that needs to be done.
10:05
SPEAKER_00: And I think the rescue mission always um wants to try to pioneer those new ideas um to then say, hey, can we spark other people doing this?
10:17
SPEAKER_00: Now, that being said, the other side of it is I'm not sure in the area of food, um, shelter, clothing, basic needs, um, I'm not sure you can do too much.
10:32
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and the reason why we kind of have that philosophy is um when you look through scripture, and I know this might sound silly to some, but that's the root of everything we do here.
10:43
SPEAKER_00: Um, and it is mentioned so many times to take care of the poor, so many times to um, you know, lend help and and be doing this with the brokenhearted and and all of those things.
10:56
SPEAKER_00: And so I think that in doing that, there is just always work to be done to make sure that we're doing everything we possibly can to keep different groups of people safe and basic needs met.
11:13
SPEAKER_00: School supplies, um, and this could be controversial, and I know some people won't agree with me, but my background is education.
11:20
SPEAKER_02: We don't disagree with that.
11:21
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, everybody's okay with that one until I say school supplies is a basic need.
11:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
11:28
SPEAKER_00: And I know that it's not a basic need to keep children alive, but it absolutely is a basic need that is um linked to social emotional health of children.
11:39
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so when we look at how that directly impacts that little child's um heart and personality, but also knowing what it's does and is helpful to the brain for that kiddo to not be anxious that they're automatically starting something that they're gonna have to spend eight hours plus every day, that they know, hey, I'm going in there with these things and I'm prepared.
12:02
SPEAKER_00: Um, then we know that we've met that need.
12:04
SPEAKER_00: What's cool about that is the seeds of back to school items, right?
12:10
SPEAKER_00: We don't know how far that reaches because that kid is also then going into a classroom and that teacher is responsible for 20 plus kids.
12:19
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, hands down to all the teachers and paraprofessionals and um food service workers and custodians and administration, it takes a lot to provide education to kids, especially nowadays.
12:32
SPEAKER_00: So hopefully, when we are meeting the needs of one, that one goes into a classroom with 19 others.
12:39
SPEAKER_00: And if there's other great agencies helping another one and helping another one, then you're automatically limiting the stress and all of that that that teacher's facing.
12:47
SPEAKER_00: That's responsible for all those kids.
12:50
SPEAKER_00: So I think that yes, it's wise for us to evaluate that we aren't on mission drift and that we're not doing things that God isn't calling us to do.
12:59
SPEAKER_00: But I think hands down, at any time I could go toe-to-toe to talk about in the area of food service, sheltering, um, bringing hope and healing through basic needs and school supplies for kiddos.
13:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, I think that is definitely a calling that the rescue mission has.
13:16
SPEAKER_02: Aaron Ross Powell You mentioned the foundational uh background is why you do what you do here.
13:20
SPEAKER_02: Speaker rescue mission been that way for 70 plus years.
13:23
SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, people um uh sometimes will uh mention the passage in scripture that Jesus said to the poor you always have with you.
13:32
SPEAKER_02: Um that's true.
13:32
SPEAKER_02: He said that once.
13:33
SPEAKER_02: The context of that wasn't mean don't do something for the poor.
13:36
SPEAKER_02: But the Bible also, uh if you count it up, um, says uh about 2,000 different times what to do about it.
13:43
SPEAKER_02: The poor you always have about 2,000 times.
13:45
SPEAKER_02: So Jesus said it once.
13:46
SPEAKER_02: 2,000 times the scripture mentions what you should do about it to be rescue mission attempts to follow those different directives.
13:52
SPEAKER_00: And in order to do that, we need the community to help us do that.
13:57
SPEAKER_00: You know, we understand the why of what we're doing, we understand that we've been called to do it, we understand that this work is important to the Lord and He provides, but He provides through His people.
14:10
SPEAKER_00: Um and so we're thankful for that, you know.
14:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, real quick, I've said this on the podcast a couple of years ago, you know, I was really I can kind of laugh about it now.
14:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, I was really worried about three years ago because of inflation and what that did to our peanut butter cost.
14:28
SPEAKER_00: And so I had said on the podcast a couple of years ago that a pallet of peanut butter when I first started um was a thousand dollars.
14:35
SPEAKER_00: And then I mean, within 12 months of me being here, that same pallet was$2,000.
14:41
SPEAKER_00: And um, so believe it or not, I have had, and I know this sounds silly, anxiousness about peanut butter because I was just like, we go through it so much, we give it out, we make sandwiches with it, we utilize it, it's a great protein, all of these things.
14:56
SPEAKER_00: And so I've kind of been neurotic over the last several years.
15:00
SPEAKER_00: I'll go through and I look at our distribution center.
15:02
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, count the jars of peanut butter.
15:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm counting the jars of peanut butter, right?
15:06
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so, anyways, make a long story short, the other day I drove into the DC and wanted to go check on things.
15:13
SPEAKER_00: And Scott, our fabulous um director of of distribution services, he was telling me where we're at and that we've been blessed.
15:21
SPEAKER_00: And then he went to walk off and he came back to me and he goes, and I just feel the need to tell you, but we also just got this huge donation of peanut butter.
15:31
SPEAKER_00: And as soon as he said that, I said, Really?
15:33
SPEAKER_00: How much?
15:34
SPEAKER_00: And he's telling me the quantities and he's telling me who did it.
15:37
SPEAKER_00: And he said, I just felt like you needed to know that.
15:39
SPEAKER_00: Have you been worried about peanut butter?
15:41
SPEAKER_00: And I just looked at him, I was like, You have no idea.
15:43
SPEAKER_00: Because I hadn't told the staff that that was a it's silly, but I'm on my own personal journey, right?
15:49
SPEAKER_00: Of trusting the Lord and learning how to have this faith piece while also being a leader.
15:53
SPEAKER_00: And there's been a couple of times I'm like, God, are you gonna let us down with peanut butter?
15:57
SPEAKER_00: Is that gonna be the thing that just solidifies me being anxious?
16:01
SPEAKER_00: Yet he always comes through with providing peanut butter.
16:05
SPEAKER_02: Somebody who wrote a book on peanut butter.
16:06
SPEAKER_02: It is, that's gonna be my first story.
16:07
SPEAKER_02: I was called in peanuts like still shines.
16:10
SPEAKER_02: That's exactly right.
16:11
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
16:12
SPEAKER_02: Well, Lamanda, there's a guy here with us today that I think uh you and I both can be on the same page.
16:18
SPEAKER_02: He is one of the people we admire the most in this community.
16:20
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
16:21
SPEAKER_02: And uh he's authentic, he is smart, he has got a huge responsibility, he is uh uh one of those kind of silent servants in the community.
16:31
SPEAKER_02: A lot of people want uh the kind of what he does to stay silent, but yet it isn't.
16:37
SPEAKER_02: Uh it affects so many different areas.
16:39
SPEAKER_02: I'm building them up here.
16:40
SPEAKER_02: So uh because it's just all so true.
16:42
SPEAKER_02: We we have today a dear friend Brian Cole, who's the director of the Shawnee County Department of Corrections.
16:48
SPEAKER_02: Brian, thank you for joining us on our community our mission.
16:50
SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you so much, uh, Amanda Barry.
16:52
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's an honor to be here and just uh be able to educate and to demonstrate what we do.
16:59
SPEAKER_02: Well, and and you know, uh uh Brian, I got a chance to serve on the Public Relations Board or whatever that was many years ago when uh Director Gillespie was there and you were working there.
17:10
SPEAKER_02: Uh Dick Klein, I think, was deputy at that point, and then he became director and you business deputy, and now you've been the director for a number of years.
17:16
SPEAKER_02: Talk about that here in a minute.
17:18
SPEAKER_02: You've been involved with um uh Shawnee County for thirty-nine years, roughly?
17:24
SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm in my 37th year, right?
17:26
SPEAKER_02: 37th year.
17:27
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
17:27
SPEAKER_02: All right.
17:27
SPEAKER_02: So you got a little more time.
17:29
SPEAKER_02: Do you want to get that 37 so or 40 or whatever your your your uh uh a goal is?
17:34
SPEAKER_02: But you know, when I when I came into that, um I knew about law enforcement uh from the street side.
17:40
SPEAKER_02: Um I knew we had a jail.
17:42
SPEAKER_02: I knew that um over the years there was incredible improvements in the jail.
17:47
SPEAKER_02: But it wasn't until a banquet that I went to um the night of this uh I was pretty new on this uh on this board, um, that uh it was a volunteer recognition banquet.
17:59
SPEAKER_02: You were there, um others were there, but right before I went into there, we had a situation uh where a former homeless individual who had become a staff member of the Topeka Rescue Mission Um had charges in California.
18:15
SPEAKER_02: Um and the three strikes are out back in those days on drug charges, uh, who had done a lot of reforms, but he got arrested um because he had a taillight out one night and the police pulled him over and had found a warrant in California.
18:26
SPEAKER_02: He ends up in Shawnee County, and his kids and his wife, and they were really trying to get on their feet, um, uh were on their feet and moving forward, and now he's gonna get extradited back to California.
18:37
SPEAKER_02: And so I was kind of bummed out.
18:38
SPEAKER_02: So I'm in on the phone with a panicked wife, kids in the background, we're gonna lose dad.
18:43
SPEAKER_02: Um he didn't realize he still had charges hanging over in California.
18:48
SPEAKER_02: Um and I came in, I sat down, I'm sitting there eating with you guys, and I'm just kind of telling the story.
18:53
SPEAKER_02: And um I could not uh adequately describe the care and compassion that I heard from staff with Shawnee County, uh Department of Corrections about how, hey, you know what?
19:05
SPEAKER_02: Let us get with this guy, let us help see what we can do, let us evaluate this, and if we can support helping him to not have to go back to California for that, we will do that.
19:18
SPEAKER_02: And I thought, yeah, I thought these were just jail people.
19:20
SPEAKER_02: Lock them up, you know, serve their time and kick them out.
19:23
SPEAKER_02: And uh it totally changed my whole thinking about that.
19:27
SPEAKER_02: And I've paid a whole lot of attention to what uh what has happened with our Department of Corrections here in Topeka, Shawnee County.
19:34
SPEAKER_02: I've watched you get a chance to work alongside you.
19:38
SPEAKER_02: You guys care.
19:40
SPEAKER_02: Um, and it's not just about okay, somebody's coming into jail, we gotta lock them up until their sentence is over and then they go.
19:46
SPEAKER_02: Um, it's not like people are coming there to go to summer camp.
19:49
SPEAKER_02: Uh they uh it's jail.
19:52
SPEAKER_02: But you attempt to help them to not only navigate through the time that they're in, but also get them ready to leave.
19:59
SPEAKER_02: And so that's a lot about your heart.
20:02
SPEAKER_01: Well, I I think a big part of my fist uh philosophy is to and I when I talk to staff is I want you to treat people with the same respect you wish to be treated, but also I want you to think about what would happen if one of your family members ended up in jail.
20:18
SPEAKER_01: And we have a lot of families to see some negative things, some people without resources, uh addictions, and things like this.
20:26
SPEAKER_01: We're not by any means soft on crime.
20:28
SPEAKER_01: We hold people responsible, we hold people to the rules, but we also understand that these are humans, these are people uh they have feelings, they have relationships.
20:38
SPEAKER_01: Uh I've seen many times where somebody who makes a bad decision, it interrupts the uh uh the foundation of the family, and the family deteriorates.
20:50
SPEAKER_01: Uh you're talking about losing finances, you're talking about losing their homes, uh, unable to pay for their food uh and things like that.
21:00
SPEAKER_01: And uh it's again, it's not that somebody doesn't need accountability, but we try to put in place from day one to start classifying a person for uh to be successful, meaning let's get you in the right program so you don't have stagnant time, let's get you in the right programs, let's prepare you for release.
21:20
SPEAKER_01: Maybe that is to go to prison or back to the community, the majority go back to the community, but we want to make sure that you're given the resources uh to be successful and not uh return.
21:31
SPEAKER_01: And one of our goals is is our re-entry, is to be able to identify those risk factors uh that have led to you coming back to jail maybe once, maybe more than that.
21:43
SPEAKER_01: And we want to break that cycle.
21:46
SPEAKER_01: And uh so, but we have staff that tremendously care, not having inappropriate relationships with inmates, but they have fundamental care as for dignity, uh, to make sure they get their food on time.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: Make sure that they're kept safe, make sure that they're getting their medications on time.
22:04
SPEAKER_01: We're not without our challenges.
22:06
SPEAKER_01: We make mistakes, but overall, I have been very blessed and very lucky to have the support in the community and a staff around me and a good Lord above me that said that's pushed me in each direction on where we need to go.
22:18
SPEAKER_01: So uh uh I'm not perfect by any means, but the staff do know my respon uh my philosophy on that uh people will be treated with dignity, and that even means each other's staff and image.
22:30
SPEAKER_02: I think that we see this in the community.
22:31
SPEAKER_02: Those of us that know you see that, um, admire that and uh and really need that, um, that that is the direction uh that you have given to the jail.
22:41
SPEAKER_02: Uh we call it the jail for short.
22:42
SPEAKER_02: It's uh that's the official name of it.
22:45
SPEAKER_02: Where I think that uh some people see the movies, uh, stereotypes of prison, jail, uh the warden, you know, all those kind of things, Sharshank Redemption and all that kind of stuff.
22:54
SPEAKER_02: Not the norm.
22:55
SPEAKER_02: Um and uh maybe it happens uh periodically, but when when you know, I I think, and Lamanda jump in on this, I think that uh jail is a good tool to help people to reset who have made some bad decisions in life, not just a place to go serve um time of uh offense that you committed against person or society um and have to pay a price, but it's a good reset.
23:23
SPEAKER_02: Um talk about that.
23:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, I I know that that this the thought of jail and what people should get and not get while they're in jail, it is so controversial.
23:34
SPEAKER_00: Um but one of the things that I say many of times when I'm out is crime gets you there.
23:42
SPEAKER_00: Um and so the rest of us that haven't committed that crime, what do we want for that person who committed the crime?
23:52
SPEAKER_00: Um and do we want them to have an environment that's going to worsen that person's cognitive ability, their mental health, maybe even physical health, all of this?
24:03
SPEAKER_00: Or do we want that to be a place where healing can happen and um that person can ask for forgiveness and that person can try to do everything to make themselves a better person so that overall our community is healthier, especially when the chances are high that they're gonna come back and reintegrate into our society and our community.
24:27
SPEAKER_00: And so um this is even kind of a split household sometimes with my family uh back home in what we think should happen and shouldn't happen.
24:37
SPEAKER_00: But I feel like removing the faith side, just looking at society and public health and all of that, I of course want that person that has gotten into that place, regardless of why they've gotten into jail, to then have the opportunities to make themselves better, make themselves healthier because they're gonna come back to our community and we don't want them worse off coming back into our community than when they went to jail.
25:02
SPEAKER_00: Right.
25:03
SPEAKER_00: Now the faith side of me is, and that can be controversial too.
25:08
SPEAKER_00: Um I just believe that none of us are ever too far gone.
25:13
SPEAKER_00: And so now I understand that that doesn't mean everybody gets out of jail or prison.
25:18
SPEAKER_00: And I understand that some consequences mean that person's rest of this life is spent in jail.
25:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, and and I understand that.
25:26
SPEAKER_00: I understand consequences and justice and all of that.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: However, I don't think that we should be caring less about anybody in jail and prison because they are still made in God's image, they are still human, they still that's just what I personally believe because of the faith side.
25:43
SPEAKER_00: And if I feel like I can be redeemed from really horrible choices I've made in my life, why would I not want that same restoration through Christ for somebody just because they're sitting in a jail?
25:57
SPEAKER_00: And so that's where I stand in regards to having a lot of support, and I fully support what we are trying to do in the Department of Corrections, um, not just for our own society, but because of the faith piece of what we believe for that person.
26:12
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
26:13
SPEAKER_02: Brian, you um have a lot of different uh situations that come to you in in the Department of Corrections.
26:20
SPEAKER_02: Uh people with some minor offenses that um are are are gonna be uh spending a night in jail or or some time there, and some serious crimes.
26:30
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
26:30
SPEAKER_02: What would you guesstimate off the top of your head is the percentage of people that come to Shawnee County jail that are gonna come back to the community of Topeka not going into prisons?
26:42
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's well over 75, 80 percent.
26:44
SPEAKER_02: So that's a that's a huge number.
26:46
SPEAKER_02: 75 percent of the people that are going to be going to jail or coming back into the community, correct, not going off to Leavenworth or Lansing or some other d situation.
26:57
SPEAKER_02: Uh so I think that common sense is we really want to be ready for them to come back.
27:03
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
27:03
SPEAKER_02: And uh and do everything we can while they're in, and everything on the outside to receive them when they come back.
27:09
SPEAKER_01: Correct.
27:09
SPEAKER_01: Well, outside of, you know, Lamanda eloquently's talked about faith, and I believe people should be treated with dignity and respect.
27:17
SPEAKER_01: And I have seen people change and have done.
27:20
SPEAKER_01: I I have peer support uh uh people in the jail that have been remarkable.
27:26
SPEAKER_01: But so much of what we have going on at the jail today is driven by the the direction of the courts that we have court hearing or court decisions that are saying jails are going to start acting more like psychiatric centers than a strict prison.
27:42
SPEAKER_01: I know there's a lot of people that talk to me daily about that you know, this person committed murder, they should not get anything.
27:49
SPEAKER_01: I don't argue that.
27:51
SPEAKER_01: What I do argue is that when I get sued, you you we just simply can't do that.
27:55
SPEAKER_01: That's just not that's just not a uh a reaction we can't we can have.
28:00
SPEAKER_01: So everything I do is for public safety and the officer safety.
28:05
SPEAKER_01: So if I can provide healthy meals, uh good medication, a sanitary place, uh treat people with respect, give inmates the opportunity to go to programs.
28:18
SPEAKER_01: When they're behaving and they're doing stuff, it makes it safer for the officer, it makes it safer.
28:22
SPEAKER_01: They're willing to work, they're willing to do different things.
28:25
SPEAKER_01: I don't make any inmates work or anything like that.
28:28
SPEAKER_01: They have the opportunity to engage in hundreds of programs.
28:32
SPEAKER_01: If they're wanting to do that and make those changes, it's available to them.
28:36
SPEAKER_01: And we put a lot of uh uh emphasis on our um uh programming and re-entry, coming back.
28:44
SPEAKER_01: And if we can provide them with a tool, it might be credits for housing, it might be passes for transportation, it might excuse me, it might be medication, it might be getting their next doctor's appointment, it might be getting their Medicaid or Medicare back ready to go when they leave.
29:03
SPEAKER_01: We have those responsibilities.
29:06
SPEAKER_01: Um I can by law just kick a guy or a gal right out of jail and just say you're on your own.
29:11
SPEAKER_01: We've seen court cases where that's come back to bite the jail.
29:15
SPEAKER_01: Um so we have, I believe our jail has the responsibility to make sure people are equipped with the opportunity to uh make good decisions when they get out and to do everything they can to uh keep from reoffending, and that's what our re-entry does.
29:32
SPEAKER_02: How many people annually are we talking about that will end up different people in Shawnee County Jail?
29:37
SPEAKER_02: How many people, unique individuals, maybe your population on an annual basis?
29:42
SPEAKER_02: How many different people go to your jail?
29:46
SPEAKER_01: Well, we have an average daily population right now, close to 600.
29:50
SPEAKER_01: Uh that's every race, that is every uh, you know, males, females.
29:55
SPEAKER_01: You're talking sick, non-sick, you're talking uh those with behavior health issues, those without behavioral health issues, you're talking those that are very have good support of rich, uh, those that are very poor.
30:07
SPEAKER_01: Uh we have uh we hold for every crime we work with other counties.
30:12
SPEAKER_01: So the diversity of the jail is it's it's there.
30:16
SPEAKER_01: I mean it is it is a community.
30:18
SPEAKER_02: So in a given time, 600 plus inmates um in Shawnee County Jail.
30:22
SPEAKER_02: Um how many people annually uh end up in the jail?
30:25
SPEAKER_01: We book in probably close between 9,000 and 10,000 a year.
30:29
SPEAKER_02: Okay, 9,000 to 10,000 different people coming and going.
30:32
SPEAKER_02: That's a that's a lot of um work on the uh front end and the back end, but during that entire time, uh that that's that gives a reflection.
30:43
SPEAKER_02: If you take a look at Shawnee County, what are we about 270,000, something like that, um in the in the surrounding areas?
30:50
SPEAKER_02: Um that's quite a number of people that end up going to jail.
30:54
SPEAKER_02: Correct.
30:55
SPEAKER_01: Usually about out of that, if I said 9,000, we probably would have 1,500 would be or to 2,000 would be first-time offenders, the rest would be reoffenders, which we do have uh a higher recidivism rate than we have had in the past, or recidiv, we had saw some uh recidivism, but we're starting to see a lot of repeat offenders coming in.
31:17
SPEAKER_01: A lot of it uh drug addiction, behavior health, uh uh, you know, physical health.
31:26
SPEAKER_01: Uh we're seeing people that on technical violations that are either on community corrections, court service probation, misdemeanor, that are having problems with relapsing, having problems with uh getting to appointments, uh, and things like that.
31:41
SPEAKER_01: So uh I'm trying to work with uh director uh or deputy director Steve Willis on what we can do to continue to keep our participants successful.
31:52
SPEAKER_01: But when I mean successful, I don't just say they didn't go back to prison.
31:55
SPEAKER_01: I mean successful is that they're with their family, they're working, and they're uh making good choices.
32:01
SPEAKER_01: But it's a big, big tall order.
32:03
SPEAKER_02: It is to do that, it is uh the brokenness, the decisions that were made, the unfortunate circumstances, not something you can fix while they're in jail, but you can get them a little further towards that.
32:13
SPEAKER_02: Brian, you mentioned um um the courts and um the mental health emphasis here in corrections.
32:20
SPEAKER_02: Talk a little bit about what that looks like.
32:22
SPEAKER_02: I know that you have done something very proactive here, that you are on the uh the verge of of opening.
32:29
SPEAKER_02: Um and then the why.
32:31
SPEAKER_02: What what um why are why are jails being looked at as mental health facilities?
32:36
SPEAKER_01: Well, with the closing of our our our facilities uh early on uh and being released, we you know there was the anticipation that money was going to go to all the community uh mental health providers, and I don't think it uh was done uh efficiently or were giving enough to handle the load.
32:56
SPEAKER_01: Uh Shawnee County, I've done the statistics, has a higher per capita rate of those who suffer with serious mental illness uh than a lot of cities our our size.
33:06
SPEAKER_01: Why do we guesstimate that's well we had state hospital, we had minigars, we had a lot, we have major highways coming through and things.
33:14
SPEAKER_01: So we just saw it.
33:15
SPEAKER_02: Um so those institutions are gone.
33:17
SPEAKER_02: They're gone.
33:18
SPEAKER_02: And we have a higher than average percentage of people suffering from mental illness.
33:22
SPEAKER_02: And so that's not just a stat.
33:24
SPEAKER_02: No, that's that's a fact.
33:26
SPEAKER_02: That's a fact, that's a challenge for those fam those individuals, those families, and community at large.
33:31
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and a lot of those that were left uh either were in there, their families died, and uh their parents who with their kids were in the state hospitals, they died.
33:40
SPEAKER_01: They were released with no family members, uh increased census across county uh Kansas to homes, whatever.
33:46
SPEAKER_01: They couldn't take them, so they were released.
33:48
SPEAKER_01: And they were overwhelmed in the community mental health centers.
33:51
SPEAKER_01: And so we started seeing across the nation a wide variety and a huge increase of those who were getting arrested with serious mental illness.
34:02
SPEAKER_01: Uh they say the average of your population is about 18 percent uh is seriously mentally ill.
34:08
SPEAKER_01: Ours is about 50.
34:10
SPEAKER_01: And that meets a shared definition of severe mental illness, schizophrenia, major depression, bipolar, things like that.
34:18
SPEAKER_01: Half of your population.
34:19
SPEAKER_02: Half of your population, I hope people are listening to that.
34:22
SPEAKER_02: Half the population that's in Shawnee County jail is suffering from some form of mental illness.
34:26
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
34:27
SPEAKER_02: Um and the national average is about 18%.
34:30
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
34:31
SPEAKER_02: That says a lot.
34:32
SPEAKER_02: That says a lot about challenges in our community.
34:35
SPEAKER_02: Lamanda obviously challenges before they go to jail, what's happening in the streets, what's happening at the rescue mission, what's happening all over our community, that we have that particular issue.
34:45
SPEAKER_02: But that said, um it is what it is, as they say, and you get them, and they're they're coming your way because they've committed a crime.
34:54
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
34:55
SPEAKER_02: And um sometimes we will argue a little bit about the severity of those crimes.
34:59
SPEAKER_02: Should they really be going to jail or maybe some other diversion?
35:02
SPEAKER_02: Um we can talk about that if we have time.
35:05
SPEAKER_02: But you have uh not just a need to know, you have a need to do something about what you know.
35:10
SPEAKER_02: What have you been doing?
35:11
SPEAKER_01: Well, not only have we increased our behavioral health staff uh through our wonderful contractor of Vital Core uh health care, uh, we've increased our uh behavioral health staff, uh, we've increased our peer support navigators in the facility for connections to care.
35:28
SPEAKER_01: Um we put a lot more boots on the ground inside the jail.
35:32
SPEAKER_01: But one of the things that we're missing was a program.
35:36
SPEAKER_01: We were proactive to suicide, um, and we were trying to do that, but we were we weren't meeting the need in my eyes of when they get there, the average length of stay is about 30 days.
35:48
SPEAKER_01: Those with mental health or behavioral health, they stay three to four times longer than that.
35:52
SPEAKER_01: It was basically we were doing just simple medication.
35:57
SPEAKER_01: That was it.
35:57
SPEAKER_01: And just like if you're being okay on your medication, but there was more to that.
36:01
SPEAKER_01: There was programming, there was fundamental needs and skills, and when the inmate was feeling better, then they wanted to stop their medication to educate them.
36:09
SPEAKER_01: No, you need to keep doing this, getting the families involved.
36:12
SPEAKER_01: But the problem we had at the jail is we were so spread out, we had groups all over the facility, and um that would include suicide watch.
36:20
SPEAKER_01: So I said, look, and early on when I was appointed in 2012, is I said, we need a specialized unit, housing unit, to handle those severe cases and step down modules that once we can get everybody to start meeting their needs in the severity, the severe areas and stepping them down.
36:39
SPEAKER_01: So uh a team of ours, uh Major Tim Phelps and I started, we hit the road.
36:44
SPEAKER_01: We went to Columbus, Ohio, a new facility out there.
36:47
SPEAKER_01: We started studying, went to Tulsa looking at how other counties were doing it.
36:52
SPEAKER_01: We took and pieced together ideas from theirs and we built and we said, okay, it's time.
36:58
SPEAKER_01: Um we were looking at initially uh 2005 of trying to find out if we can get 100 beds, and we realized that cost was going to be anywhere from 20 to 35 million.
37:10
SPEAKER_01: The Shawnee County um commissioners have always seen the need.
37:16
SPEAKER_01: It was the matter of cost.
37:18
SPEAKER_01: What do we do?
37:19
SPEAKER_01: We we already have property taxes, we already have this one more demand um from the county, and then here comes Brian Cole with this very expensive and kind of an unpopular thing to raise money for.
37:33
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and nobody calls to say, Brian, we need more space at the jail um or programs.
37:39
SPEAKER_01: But so the county commission um awarded the jail$10 million and Parks and Rec$10 million.
37:47
SPEAKER_01: And I said, this isn't gonna meet our needs.
37:49
SPEAKER_01: So Major Phelps and I, and I, you know, I you know, I have a lot of contacts in the community.
37:55
SPEAKER_01: So we started meeting with the governor and those from uh K Dats and started saying, you know, Larnard State Hospital is getting sued for the wait times.
38:05
SPEAKER_01: I want to do a pilot pilot project in Shawnee County, I need your help.
38:10
SPEAKER_01: They, without a blink of an eye, graciously accepted our challenge and they gave us a$10 million grant to be able to put this facility up.
38:18
SPEAKER_01: We ended up what we we had to scale it down, but we uh have uh essentially was approved.
38:25
SPEAKER_01: It's taken us about a year, year and a half, uh, to build 60 specialized uh cells, which is uh three-tier, three floors of 20 beds that will serve those with uh severe behavioral health issues, will be in the process of renovating some other modules to once you're successful here and step you down and get you into more program connected, you know, uh working, vocational stuff like that.
38:54
SPEAKER_01: With the prayers are answered in this.
38:57
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, I I didn't know what was gonna happen.
39:00
SPEAKER_01: Um, but we have a good contractor, we have a good team.
39:03
SPEAKER_01: They said, okay, Brian, we know your vision, you get out of the way.
39:06
SPEAKER_01: We'll do it from here.
39:07
SPEAKER_01: Um, the team that that I have around me, it's second to none.
39:13
SPEAKER_01: Uh, if people see, if anybody can see me, they'll say that that guy's got to be the most blessed guy in Shawnee County because I have been blessed with resources.
39:23
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I've had the governor in a couple times and talking about it.
39:26
SPEAKER_01: But to make a long story short, by the end of this month, we will have the keys to that facility.
39:31
SPEAKER_01: It will be fully done.
39:33
SPEAKER_01: We will start, um, we will have uh tentatively, it will be August 24th, our official ribbon cutting there.
39:40
SPEAKER_01: We expect that to be very popular with our state partners and community partners, uh, you all as well.
39:47
SPEAKER_01: Um uh and we have some private partners, and I didn't I didn't wasn't able to talk to them today, so I won't say any names, but we became about$500,000 short of completing the uh third floor.
40:00
SPEAKER_01: I said, uh-uh.
40:01
SPEAKER_01: No, we're we're not we're not going to get this close and not finish because of the need.
40:07
SPEAKER_01: Now I'm talking 60 beds.
40:10
SPEAKER_01: You heard me earlier say that 50%.
40:12
SPEAKER_01: Well, I have 600 inmates, that's 300.
40:15
SPEAKER_01: So that just that's about 20 percent of those individuals will get this treatment.
40:20
SPEAKER_01: I it's so the need's still there.
40:22
SPEAKER_01: But so I reached out to some community uh partners who've been very generous to the jail, um, and they basically said, we'll do half if the county will pitch in the other 250.
40:34
SPEAKER_01: So I met with the county commissioners, I met with the county counselor, we went in, we talked, we said, we're good to go.
40:41
SPEAKER_01: And so uh I I didn't expect that to happen.
40:45
SPEAKER_01: Um so it's done.
40:47
SPEAKER_01: Um if I would have had my choice and I'd have been a billionaire, we'd have had 200 bids.
40:52
SPEAKER_01: Um but we're kind of landlocked where I'm at too.
40:55
SPEAKER_01: So you did attach this to the existing county facility.
40:58
SPEAKER_01: And so it is uh, you know, it's gonna take at least 30 more staff uh because every staff that goes in there is going to have specialized training.
41:07
SPEAKER_01: I'm not just gonna throw somebody in there and say, have at it, um, but you'll go through several different types of behavioral health uh uh training of recognizing uh diffusing conflicts and things like that.
41:19
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna start in after the ribbon cutting at the end of August, we're gonna start with our suicide watch inmates and putting them in this facility.
41:28
SPEAKER_01: We're going to take a new, I'm gonna call it a leap of faith in how most jails, uh, or at least I will say it's my understanding, most jails when you're on suicide watch, you stay locked down 23 hours of the day, or you come out and you eat, you're in a uh a suicide gown.
41:43
SPEAKER_01: Those inmates are not going to be staying in their cells.
41:45
SPEAKER_01: They're going to be out doing program from exercising to cognitive skills to to you name it.
41:52
SPEAKER_01: Not just gonna warehouse them, you're gonna try to help them.
41:54
SPEAKER_01: Correct.
41:54
SPEAKER_01: They're going to be out.
41:55
SPEAKER_01: Our deal, my goal is to get them to make suicide watch unpopular.
42:00
SPEAKER_01: That we I want to give them hope.
42:02
SPEAKER_01: I want them to be contacting their family, I want to get them off Suicide Watch.
42:06
SPEAKER_01: I want them to be on close observation or general population, get them the support they need, whether it's medication, the community support, preparing them for discharge.
42:16
SPEAKER_01: And um, and if they have to stay longer, if they're on a major case like murder or something like that, that they're able to um function well in the jail.
42:26
SPEAKER_01: And uh stuff, so we're gonna start with that.
42:28
SPEAKER_01: And then in December we'll we will fill up the second floor.
42:33
SPEAKER_01: Um if I had to do it today and I had all the staff, which I don't have all the staff ready, I could fill it up today.
42:39
SPEAKER_01: And you know, and I keep all the stats and uh um our um connections to care is is increasing, which is good, like getting people to the mission, getting people to Astra, to that placing that that is there, but we're still seeing an increase of those who are being arrested, which I'm not here to uh uh reprimand or say anything negative about law enforcement.
43:04
SPEAKER_01: We are in charge.
43:05
SPEAKER_01: We don't question any arrest or anything like that.
43:07
SPEAKER_01: We know when they come here, but we're seeing an increase of those who are coming to jail with behavior health issues, they're staying longer and um us getting there.
43:18
SPEAKER_01: The other part that we did in the jail was we started seeing our own waiting times, up to a year and a half to get somebody to Larner State Hospital for competency.
43:29
SPEAKER_01: So I said, let's change it and our team.
43:32
SPEAKER_01: I said, What what what can we do?
43:34
SPEAKER_01: So we piloted with the Kansas Department of Corrections and them uh mobile competency where they were instead of traveling out to Larner, they had doctors that were on contract in the area that did the restoration in the jail.
43:47
SPEAKER_01: Then the law with our judges and everybody, attorneys, everybody across the board said, Let's do our stand-up, our own competency restoration program.
43:57
SPEAKER_01: That's a huge move.
43:58
SPEAKER_01: And we've been doing It.
44:00
SPEAKER_01: We have seen success.
44:02
SPEAKER_01: We are taking those that are uh we work with uh Larnard on evaluating those that we think we can do here at our jail.
44:10
SPEAKER_01: So they can still get family visits and stuff like this.
44:13
SPEAKER_01: But if Larnard or we think man, they're just a severe case, Larner says no, they ought to come out here to us.
44:18
SPEAKER_01: Um but we have a great relationship with the courts in Astor that who do the screening and the uh um and the treatment.
44:26
SPEAKER_01: Um and but if there ever becomes anything like uh medication over objection, that would be through our health care.
44:33
SPEAKER_01: We have not had any of that.
44:34
SPEAKER_01: I don't want that.
44:36
SPEAKER_01: Um so but those are those we have we're we're reducing the time for our inmates.
44:43
SPEAKER_01: We're letting our rural partners get people there who don't have the resource, and I'm hoping I get to a point to where I can start helping our rural community and our state partners who have to go to Larnard that if you can't handle them, maybe you can get into our program and I can expedite their case here to get it to get it done.
45:02
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I've I have a guy in jail that's been there five years.
45:04
SPEAKER_01: He's gone back to Larnard three times.
45:07
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we're talking five years.
45:09
SPEAKER_01: Um so uh it's no no one's fault.
45:13
SPEAKER_01: But uh um that's what we have to do.
45:15
SPEAKER_01: So the programs we're trying to think ahead.
45:18
SPEAKER_01: We're trying to figure out what can we do as the capital city in the county to help law enforcement to get them back on the streets.
45:27
SPEAKER_01: Uh uh, what can we do with our courts to look at sentencing, that we can look at uh bonding and resources.
45:34
SPEAKER_01: We're working closely with the jail or the judges if they say, hey, look, we're gonna give them a uh signature bond.
45:40
SPEAKER_01: We work with their defense attorney, say, give me 48 hours because I'm working on a bed for that person right now.
45:46
SPEAKER_01: They're saying, Bryant, that's a no-brainer.
45:47
SPEAKER_01: Let's get the bed before we release them.
45:49
SPEAKER_02: And that's your success in working with so many different systems over the years, the relationships you have, walk into the K Dads, say, hey, here's uh what I need, okay, here's 10 million.
45:59
SPEAKER_02: Uh you get a philanthropy that comes along and wants to help you make up the gap, and you go to the county commission.
46:06
SPEAKER_02: You have um authentic relationships of trust of Brancoel.
46:13
SPEAKER_02: And that's huge.
46:14
SPEAKER_01: Well, relationship I I think in life everything's about relationships.
46:18
SPEAKER_01: Uh again, I'm not without my challenges or mistakes.
46:21
SPEAKER_01: Um uh I pray a lot.
46:23
SPEAKER_01: I I pray a lot, and uh I believe prayers are answered.
46:28
SPEAKER_01: I have a staff who are so faithful and so loyal to this cause because they have family members who are in these things.
46:38
SPEAKER_01: They have family members, they they they see it.
46:41
SPEAKER_01: And I have a lot of, you know, when I started, I was the youngest officer there in 89, in December of 89.
46:50
SPEAKER_01: I have new officers that come in there and they see overwhelming people who are talking to themselves or have these and they see family members.
46:59
SPEAKER_01: Again, it's not that they have inappropriate relationship with them, it's they really start seeing that and they go home.
47:05
SPEAKER_01: They want to make sure they care.
47:07
SPEAKER_01: They do care.
47:07
SPEAKER_02: And that's what we've seen.
47:08
SPEAKER_02: And uh the re-entry folks are just phenomenal.
47:12
SPEAKER_02: I know they've had rescue mission connection there.
47:14
SPEAKER_02: Oh, working with them with uh Compassional Strategies coming in, trying to help people get ready for the impact center, and those kind of things are making a big difference.
47:21
SPEAKER_02: Well, Brian, we we gosh, there's so much we can talk about.
47:24
SPEAKER_02: Um do want to pivot a little bit to the homeless uh piece of this.
47:28
SPEAKER_02: Uh-huh.
47:28
SPEAKER_02: Um you um uh have been working with the all hands on deck uh uh initiative to address this issue of homelessness.
47:36
SPEAKER_02: Um one of the things that we asked from you is uh could you give us a picture of people that might be considered homeless inside Shawnee County jail?
47:45
SPEAKER_02: And you do that every month to to give us a picture of people who came in and probably more than likely have no place to go when they leave.
47:54
SPEAKER_01: You know, it many years ago when I was at a lower rank when they started doing the point in time counts, the jail population was counted.
48:02
SPEAKER_01: And and then it came to a point to where they were no longer counted.
48:06
SPEAKER_01: I was a little angry with that.
48:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the federal government says we don't want to count those people anymore.
48:10
SPEAKER_01: I don't know why.
48:12
SPEAKER_01: I I have no idea why that happened.
48:14
SPEAKER_01: I was just a little angry.
48:15
SPEAKER_01: At first, I took it uh a little vanity, it's like well what we it they the the homeless inmate doesn't matter and and we don't matter.
48:24
SPEAKER_01: And so I was a little angry, so I said no, we're gonna start keeping.
48:27
SPEAKER_01: But to make a long story today, we do it, we do it every month.
48:30
SPEAKER_01: I look at uh I try to find out who's homeless, if they're if they're still in jail.
48:35
SPEAKER_01: Um I don't I don't try to do it but uh to repeat the same person, but I try to find out how long they've been homeless, reasons why they're homeless, and then I do uh uh the two I do a count in the jail on the two-pointed contact.
48:50
SPEAKER_01: Our population has gone up every time.
48:53
SPEAKER_01: And we were at one, I believe, one forty this last point in time count.
48:58
SPEAKER_02: In a count, there were 140 inmates that would be considered homeless.
49:03
SPEAKER_02: Correct.
49:04
SPEAKER_01: And uh percentage out of six hundred sixty percent were I and I have to go back, but I thought it was like sixty percent were seriously mentally ill, who meet our definition, uh, and then we break out, you know, the crimes, most of the top crimes are low-level misdemeanors.
49:23
SPEAKER_01: And so basically what I could say now is that we're running between 20 and 25 percent of our population is homeless.
49:31
SPEAKER_01: And what I wanted to just keep that out there and people to be aware, because I don't ever we're not I don't ever ask for mass releases from jail.
49:44
SPEAKER_01: I never will.
49:44
SPEAKER_01: Um that would be overwhelming to the the the community, our resources, and even those inmates.
49:49
SPEAKER_01: And Lamanisis, thank you.
49:50
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's right.
49:51
SPEAKER_01: But if we were to, if that would be another 140 if they all got out.
49:57
SPEAKER_01: And so I want people to be aware is that we get people that are coming in.
50:01
SPEAKER_01: I have another 140 that people are like, good, they're in jail, they're not here.
50:06
SPEAKER_01: They're gonna get out.
50:07
SPEAKER_01: And uh it's adding to the complexity of what's going on in the community.
50:12
SPEAKER_01: So that's why I'm trying to work with people on one-stop shops and and we provide rides to people.
50:17
SPEAKER_01: You need a ride to the mission, you need a ride home, you need a ride to Astra.
50:21
SPEAKER_02: Um, so somebody just doesn't walk off and Brian, one of the things you helped us to see is um not just the numbers, but also the cost taxpayers for a bed.
50:33
SPEAKER_02: It's not free to be in jail.
50:34
SPEAKER_02: No, no.
50:34
SPEAKER_02: Well and so uh last time I recall, um, and and correct me on this, about$110 a night per bed.
50:43
SPEAKER_02: Um and so that's$140 beds, uh hundred and ten dollars a night, and you annualize that.
50:48
SPEAKER_02: Now we're talking about millions of dollars.
50:50
SPEAKER_02: Uh but if I uh and and just go ahead and and put the figures on the table here, if they have a severe mental illness, that goes from 110 to much higher.
51:00
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, it could it'll uh that probably averages about 400.
51:04
SPEAKER_01: Uh we spend about$50,000 a month on medicine.
51:07
SPEAKER_01: Per day.
51:08
SPEAKER_01: Per day.
51:08
SPEAKER_01: Per day.
51:08
SPEAKER_01: Uh about fifty thousand dollars a month on medication for both medical and behavioral health.
51:14
SPEAKER_01: Uh medication is very expensive.
51:17
SPEAKER_01: We don't just like to start switching medications.
51:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
51:19
SPEAKER_01: We want to make sure we keep people there.
51:21
SPEAKER_01: We have people that come in under the influence, so we have to pause it.
51:24
SPEAKER_01: We have people who discontinued their medication.
51:27
SPEAKER_02: So people sometimes say, well, we don't really have the resources to um do any more for the homeless than the PICA rescue mission is already doing and those kind of things.
51:37
SPEAKER_02: Right now, um, just on an average, um, we're spending 10 to 20 million dollars a year um on incarceration of homeless folks uh at those price points.
51:48
SPEAKER_02: My uh Lamanda, what could you do with another 10 million?
51:50
SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
51:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's a a lot of um not just reactive services and programs that we could be doing, but I think we could also be very creative and proactive.
52:00
SPEAKER_00: You know, Barry, you mentioned a lot about what are we doing to go upstream to help people prevent them from falling in the stream.
52:09
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so much of what the rescue mission does is once the people are in the stream, we're trying to get them out.
52:14
SPEAKER_00: Now we do have several programs that are upstream, but not as much as we could.
52:19
SPEAKER_00: Um, and that goes back to a dollar amount and being able to do the payroll to have the people do the work too.
52:27
SPEAKER_00: So$10 million could be done uh a lot wiser in regards to being proactive.
52:33
SPEAKER_00: So that maybe Brian's job was a little bit easier too.
52:37
SPEAKER_02: Well, you know, and please don't hear us saying that uh this is a bad thing, that people are in jail um and it's costing this much because that's just what it costs.
52:46
SPEAKER_02: Um and we're glad that they have a place.
52:48
SPEAKER_02: And if they commit a crime, they need to do the time and those kind of things.
52:52
SPEAKER_02: But we are already spending uh an exorbitant amount of dollars on homeless issues, and uh probably the biggest cost is in the Shawnee County Jail.
53:01
SPEAKER_02: And uh thank you for the job you're doing with the individuals there.
53:05
SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you.
53:06
SPEAKER_02: Um I uh with the uh moving head partnership and now at the uh Compassion Impact Center here in the former children's palace.
53:14
SPEAKER_02: Um there was a guy named Jared, and uh um he's been on Facebook uh a few times now, but he uh I was in there to visit um the module with the men and then with the ladies uh a number of months ago, and I was walking down the hallway here in this building, and he goes, I'm out.
53:30
SPEAKER_02: And I'm going, Out of what?
53:32
SPEAKER_02: And so he said, I'm out of jail.
53:34
SPEAKER_02: I'm going, Well, that's good.
53:35
SPEAKER_02: He said, You came to see me.
53:38
SPEAKER_02: Now, there was 50, 60 guys in that module, you know, and I didn't remember him.
53:42
SPEAKER_02: And uh, and so it was because you invited people to come on the inside um that were on the outside to be able to be there, even though I didn't remember the guy.
53:52
SPEAKER_02: I know him now, it's become a really good friend.
53:55
SPEAKER_02: Um, and um, and there was these times where Astro caseworker and some of our grit navigators working with the guy, and now he's relocated to a place that he doesn't have drug influences like he does here with his wife, and they're getting ready to have a baby and those kind of things.
54:08
SPEAKER_02: But the point of it is that connection of relationship like you have with this community, like we have with you, um, is a game changer.
54:18
SPEAKER_02: And I think that what we ought to really as a community take a look at is this is all of our responsibility.
54:26
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and if you don't realize that, just look at your tax bill um and uh look at your charitable giving.
54:32
SPEAKER_02: This is all our responsibility to do this and champion these relationships, champion Brian Cole, champion our county commissioners who have invested in this, champion people who really want to do something in this regard.
54:44
SPEAKER_02: And as you have taken in this pilot arena for working to help those who suffer from mental illness who have got incarcerated uh so they're not warehoused, um, to champion not only that, but what can we do next?
54:57
SPEAKER_02: What can we do next to help us to as a community not be a throwaway society like oftentimes we are, but to be a society that just like your staff and the rescue mission staff and many, many people in this community look at individuals who suffer and say they're a person just like me.
55:14
SPEAKER_02: Correct.
55:14
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
55:15
SPEAKER_01: Uh and they are, they are uh uh bad decisions.
55:19
SPEAKER_01: Uh I've been knocked for that philosophy.
55:21
SPEAKER_01: I I I try to see the good in everybody, and I know some people have made some very bad decisions and they need to go to prison.
55:27
SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm not I'm not afraid to say that, but I still think people can make decisions to to do some good.
55:33
SPEAKER_01: And I will find the good in everybody.
55:35
SPEAKER_01: I uh love what I do, uh, and I hope that uh that the impact that the relationships I've had, I hope I have as much impact on them as they have certainly had on me in my career.
55:49
SPEAKER_01: Uh and at the end of the day, if I can do half as good as what we do at the mission and half as good as we do in the community, I can hang up my hand.
55:56
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I think you're up there.
55:57
SPEAKER_01: I can say uh I've done a good job.
56:00
SPEAKER_02: Well, you really have, Brian.
56:01
SPEAKER_02: And uh uh thank you for the the career that you put into this.
56:06
SPEAKER_02: Um uh Lamanda and others at Topeka Rescue Mission serve sacrificially um to utilize their lives as their calling um in a ministry.
56:18
SPEAKER_02: And uh you um um a lot of people would recognize you've got a different kind of ministry, but it's still a ministry, of helping people just as representing the heart of God to um uh particular population that sometimes people uh would not like to look at.
56:34
SPEAKER_02: And again, there's no qualms here.
56:37
SPEAKER_02: Commit a crime, they've got to go.
56:39
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
56:40
SPEAKER_02: And uh and sometimes those crimes have hurt other people.
56:43
SPEAKER_02: And so that's never okay.
56:45
SPEAKER_02: And sometimes it's just they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
56:49
SPEAKER_01: And I've been an advocate, you know, when people talk to me that when I had Congressman Derek Schmidt, and I'm I was very clear that we have victims in our community.
56:56
SPEAKER_01: We have victims.
56:57
SPEAKER_01: And we have victims that need to have justice, we need to have victims that need to be taken care of and thought of and prayed for.
57:04
SPEAKER_01: And uh and so uh we cannot forget about those who have been the victim of crimes and uh they need to be lifted up as well.
57:15
SPEAKER_02: Yes, and and that's um and uh Lamanda, as you well know, sometimes those victims end up to be a rescue mission because of the brokenness and the harm that's come to them.
57:22
SPEAKER_02: So, Brian, thank you.
57:23
SPEAKER_02: Uh before we close today, Lamanda, anything else?
57:26
SPEAKER_00: No, I just want to thank um Brian and and really the whole team um at DOC because um I can't say I know how you feel and I know how it is because I haven't walked your exact shoes.
57:38
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but I do think that um, you know, we we have an operation that's about a tenth um 10% of what you guys do, and and we're juggling that too, and kids and and all of that.
57:52
SPEAKER_00: And so um I do know the work is hard and the work is controversial and sometimes even thankless.
57:59
SPEAKER_00: Um and so just know that you've got a lot of support by myself here, but also the TRM team, because we do appreciate um the the fine line of what you all are doing to ensure um that people that are awaiting justice are are are doing that, but then also um that no one is hopeless because we realize nothing comes good from hopelessness.
58:23
SPEAKER_00: I agree for the individual, for the loved ones, or for even just society when people are walking around feeling hopeless.
58:29
SPEAKER_00: So uh we appreciate the partnership.
58:31
SPEAKER_00: We appreciate y'all being in the trenches with us and are very grateful.
58:34
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, echo all of that.
58:36
SPEAKER_02: Brian, thank you for being with us today.
58:38
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for doing what you do, keep doing it, never retire.
58:41
SPEAKER_02: And uh even if you do, we'll find a spot for you.
58:44
SPEAKER_02: So uh as you know.
58:45
SPEAKER_02: So uh thank you for that.
58:46
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for listening to our community, our mission, a podcast of the Topeka Rescue Mission.
58:50
SPEAKER_02: You've heard from Brian Cole today, who's director of Shawnee County Department of Corrections.
58:54
SPEAKER_02: He spent his life helping people in a very unique way, um, in a way that uh many people couldn't do, wouldn't do, uh, but yet making a profound impact on um our community and lives uh over many, many years now, and more to come with that.
59:10
SPEAKER_02: If you'd like more information about Topeka Rescue Mission, you can go to TRMonline.org.
59:15
SPEAKER_02: That's TRMonline.org.
59:18
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for listening and thank you for being a part of our community, our mission.