Oak Ridge Today

Anderson County hires Alternatives to Incarceration director

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Anderson County Detention Facility

The Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton is pictured above.

Information from WYSH Radio

Anderson County is one step closer to having a full-time director for its Alternatives to Incarceration program.

Last week, the committee in charge of finding someone to head the department unanimously recommended hiring Clinton resident Mary Young to fill the position. She will be responsible for finding ways to reduce the jail population through programs that could include expanded use of electronic monitoring devices, “day reporting” (described as a way to have offenders work on community projects during the day while still sleeping in their own beds at night), and offering more classes like anger management to help offenders deal with some of the underlying issues that led to their arrests and subsequent incarcerations.

Young will operate out of the Anderson County jail and officials say that she has worked in a similar program in California. She is expected to begin work on February 2. [Read more…]

Letter: Cutting alternatives to incarceration may save money now, but will cost more later

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To the Editor:

Is it wise to downsize the Alternative to Incarceration (ATI) program? Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank wants to cut funding for this program by 80 percent. The program was intended to reduce the jail population by focusing on drug addiction in particular, thus preventing the need for building more expensive jail space in the future.

For those who have not kept up with these developments, the ATI program was put in place in Anderson County a year ago by Mike Baker, a longtime officer in the Iowa corrections system. His analysis of Anderson County’s constantly increasing number of jail inmates points to several problems, one of which is “recidivism” (when a former prisoner returns to jail).

He commented that “Anderson County has a tremendously high recidivism rate. When I looked at the jail stats this morning, the average number of ‘priors’ for the 348 inmates incarcerated was nearly 10, while the average age of the inmates is 31. Those numbers indicate that inmates between the ages of 18 and 31 are being arrested on average nearly once each year.” [Read more…]

Judges say resigning jail alternatives director made ‘no real attempt’ to work with them

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Mike Baker

Mike Baker (Photo by D. Ray Smith)

Note: This story was updated March 31 to add a link to the judge’s letter.

Mike Baker, the director of Anderson County’s alternatives to jail program, was critical of the judiciary and the county mayor when he announced his resignation last week, saying he didn’t have their support.

This week, though, three Anderson County judges said Baker, whose last day is April 4, had made “no real attempt” to work with them. When Baker started his job about a year ago, they said, he lacked knowledge of Tennessee laws related to prisoner release programs, and he had no relevant experience in the state or Anderson County. [Read more…]

Director resigns from Anderson County alternatives to jail program

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Note: This story was updated at 6:39 p.m.

The director of an Anderson County program meant to save money and reduce crime and the jail population has resigned.

Mike Baker, director of the county’s alternatives to incarceration program, announced his resignation Thursday in a letter to Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank, Anderson County commissioners, and members of an advisory board. His last day will be April 4. [Read more…]

Alternatives to jail featured at ‘Lunch with the League’

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The director of Anderson County’s alternatives to jail program will be the featured speaker during “Lunch with the League” on Tuesday.

The presentation by Mike Baker will focus on alternatives to incarceration and the benefits to those affected, including their families and the community. The program starts at noon in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church.

[Read more…]