CONGREGATIONS ACTING FOR JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT
APRIL 10, 2022
Vanderburgh County has been in possession of Federal funding for community use for a year. Â We ask that you allocate a mere one percent of those funds for a crisis care/jail diversion facility that has the potential to create substantial savings for area taxpayers. Conservatively, we expect such a center to yield a return of 800%.Â
Dear Vanderburgh County Officials:
CAJE has been a voice for justice in the Evansville area since 2003. We comprise 27 area congregations and their thousands of members—people of faith working together to make our community a place where all are empowered to reach their human potential. One of the most obvious areas of concern for us, for our community, and for you as elected officials, is the number of people housed in the Vanderburgh County Jail and in other detention centers at considerable expense to Vanderburgh County.Â
We began in earnest during the fall of 2020 to get you to take the initiative for a Crisis Care/Jail Diversion facility. We provided compelling research for you on the jail’s population, outlining the problem in clear terms, using the best available data. We have yet to hear an objection or correction to our findings. So, we must conclude our assessment is accurate.
Sadly, taxpayers have been funding an overcrowded jail almost since the day it opened nearly 20 years ago. The jail, under your purview, is routinely used to warehouse individuals that suffer from mental and/or substance abuse issues; many of these souls carry neither a felony charge nor conviction and are not violent. This issue is not a new one. It started before many of us were even born, 50 years ago, when funding for State Mental Hospitals dried up and their patients were, in most cases, released into society.Â
CAJE has reported publicly on this shameful reality—year after year after year—and we wonder: How long will this proverbial be kicked down the road?
A year ago, County Commissioners and a few County Councilors committed to seeking funding for a diversion center at United Caring Services. Sheriff Wedding has repeatedly stated that from 35 to 50 percent of the jail’s inmates suffer some form of mental illness. We understand that, 50 years ago, there were no options to send such patients elsewhere. Now there is. All it takes is one percent of the Federal funds you have been sitting on for a year—and not a penny of local taxpayer dollars.
Now, almost a year after your commitments to seek funding, do you want to hire consultants for advice on how to proceed? Please, take a moment and consider just one individual suffering some form of mental disorder that currently resides in your jail, in the general population. Maybe he or she is a little weaker than the average inmate. Maybe a little more confused. Maybe a little more vulnerable to the kinds of inmate misfortunes that can happen in overcrowded quarters.
We urge you to step up now and do the right thing.
Sincerely,
Rev. Floyd Edwards, Sr. & Pamela Decker
2022 CAJE Co-Chairs
