Pinal County: Houses of Healing.

Pinal county program helps inmates deal with issues.

by Lindsey Collom - Jun. 19, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

Donald Hill says this will be the first time his name has been published in a newspaper for something positive.

Hill is a maximum-custody inmate in the Pinal County Adult Detention Center. His name was last inked on newsprint March 18 in the crime-log section of a local paper.

The report said officers were dispatched to a Florence neighborhood early Feb. 28 after a call about people trying to break into empty apartments. When police arrived, "Donald Hill allegedly assaulted an officer and was stunned with a Taser," the article said.

He is now charged with aggravated assault and weapons misconduct - the latest in a line of criminal cases against Hill going back to at least 1997.

"I'm 32 years old, and I've spent most of my life in prison," Hill said recently. "I'm tired, and I want a better life, and I'm allowed to get rid of my demons."

For six weeks, Hill and 11 fellow inmates addressed their demons in a voluntary rehabilitation program to help them identify and make positive choices. Facilitators used a book - Houses of Healing: A Prisoner's Guide to Inner Power and Freedom - to guide inmates as they confronted the root causes of their behavior.

While there are a number of inmate-rehabilitation programs at Arizona jails, this is the first time one has been offered to maximum-custody inmates in Pinal County since a new administration took over the jails in January 2009.

"We felt like we needed to offer something," said Elke Jackson, correctional health director. "In most jails, they go in and they sit there until they get sentenced and they move on. We have a different philosophy."

James Kimble, chief deputy of adult detention, said the Sheriff's Office has a responsibility to help inmates "change so they do not continue to be a burden to society" and can go on to lead "productive, pro-social lives."

"People ask me, 'Do you believe in rehabilitation?' " Kimble said. "My response is, 'How do you rehabilitate someone who's never been habilitated?' . . . Sobriety, education, employability - if we can do any of those things, we can take a chink out of their armor."

Program participants studied the book and met for two hours each week to discuss topics including anger management and domestic violence. Inmates could also meet one-on-one with correctional health staff to discuss individual issues.

David Cruse, 29, said he studied the book in the mornings "when I had a fresh mind. Sometimes I could open it up and incorporate something positive in my day."

Cruse, who is being held in jail on an aggravated-assault charge, said the studies have helped him "discover the roots of the problem."

"It's really hard to look inside of your self," he said. "Everybody has an inner child, and it helps to go back and be a friend to that kid."

The dozen inmates who completed the program had a graduation ceremony last week in a jail recreation room, followed by coffee and doughnuts.

"It's not as hard out there as it is in here," Jackson told them. "Take what you learn. If you survived it in the (jail) pod, take that into the real world."

Time will tell whether the program is effective, Kimble said. Studies have shown slight reductions in recidivism rates for inmates who participate in rehabilitation. Previously, three groups of Pinal County inmates went through House of Healing, but staff has not followed up with participants.

Donald Hill said that when he gets out, he plans to take the lessons he learned with him.

"I'm missing my life," Hill said. "It's done for me. After this, I won't come back."