On September 4, 2007, Royster Washington of the state Department of Corrections Division of Community Corrections presented an annual report to the Vance County Board of Commissioners during their regular monthly meeting.
District 9 includes Franklin, Granville, Vance, and Warren Counties.
Washington reported that was collecting $78,558 of restitution towards an annual collection amount of $259,455.
He added that fines go to the schools and supervision fees to the North Carolina legislature to disburse as they see fit.
Washington said that drug offenses are the “number one categories”. He emphasized that crimes are being committed for drugs, including breaking and entering and larceny.
Washington said that drug screening tests were “consistent” with 39% of those screened by court order testing positive. He said that those testing positive can get an addendum to their sentence, house arrest, or fine.
Commissioner Dan Brummitt asked what percentage of the probation population is tested. Washington replied “roughly one-third”.
He added that the ones arrested for drugs do not get “put off” of drugs.
Commissioner Eddie Wright asked what programs, if any, help those on substances.
Washington replied that there are counselors or state-funded programs. He also said that counties do not have programs.
Eddie Wright said that he thinks it is sad that there are no programs in place. Stating that jails are not the answer, he said that getting to the root of the problem was to help these people.
Noting the difference in the perception of crime in the last 25 years, Washington said he did not know what the solution was.
“It’s sad, it really is,” Washington said. He also added that prisons have increased costs in medical expenses, but that “letting them out” has costs, too.
Commissioner Danny Wright noted that Vance County leads the region in negative statistics.
It takes a village to raise a child and we’re not a very good village, Danny Wright said.
Washington said that much of the problem with criminality has to do with parents and educational background. He said that the population under discussion ages “physically but not mentally”.
County Commission Chair Deborah Brown asked Washington if it was possible to get information on services in next year’s report. Washington replied that the board should talk to the Five County Mental Health Authority.
Washington went on to say that the authority was dealing with the consequences of the decision to decentralize mental health care at the state level.
“What’s been done to mental health in North Carolina, we’ve been abused,” Washington said.
Brummitt recommended that the matter be referred to committee to study what other communities are doing to address the problem. The decision to refer the matter to the Public Safety Committee passed unanimously.
Later in the agenda during his report to the board, North Carolina Sen. Doug Berger provided input into the situation of mental health care in North Carolina.
Berger recounted that in the early 1990’s that the courts had said that [patients] need to be “in the least restrictive envirnoment”.
According to Berger the state, realizing that institutionalization was expensive, felt a need to decentralize and privatize mental health care.
Berger said there were two problems: the first problem was that the governor pulled money out of a $50 million mental health trust fund during the economic recession; the other problem was that in rural areas there is no one to provide the service.
Danny Wright asked Berger about not being able to get psychiatrists to come to Vance County. Berger said that $7 million had been put into the state budget to help alleviate that problem, noting that it was “probably not enough”. He said measures were being taken to have oversight to control expenditures to use to “incentivize”.
Berger also stated that the state’s Blue Cross Blue Shield had been mandated to provide coverage for many mental health diseases.
When Brummitt inquired about methodone addiction treatment, stating it was the hardest addiction to break, Berger said that some money had been put into it, but that it was hard to get legislators to commit to it because the money is for drug addicts.
Eddie Wright asked if there were safeguards against private enterprise misuse [of funds] and to make sure that the population was being served.
Berger said that he hoped that “single-string” funding would help get money for substance abuse.
Single-string funding is funding that is allocated for use within a general framework rather than for the treatment of specific problems.
Berger said that he hoped that local providers would get more direction and oversight from the state’s executive branch in the future.