By Amy Coveno
A program at the Carroll County Jail is aimed at keeping inmates from returning after they’re released.
Jail officials said that about 90 percent of the 65 inmates in the facility are there because of drugs. A new program, called TRUST, aims to give the inmates the skills they need to stay out of jail.
“This is the first time in years that I’ve actually connected enough with other people to let them help me,” inmate Kayla Warren said.
Warren said she has been in and out of jail more times than she can count, but she said her time in the TRUST program is different.
“To have five months of clarity and to be able to look back, and I was like, ‘Oh my God,’” she said. “I recently looked at all of my old mugshots over the last few years, and it was scary.”
TRUST stands for Transitional Reentry Under Supportive Treatment. The four-month intensive mental health and substance abuse disorder program was started in September. Superintendent Jason Henry said that jails are ground zero of New Hampshire’s drug crisis.
“We’ve become the de facto place to send everybody,” Henry said. “It’s the first time when people come in that they have health care, mental health, food, clothing [or a] shower.”
Source: JusticeCenter