In 2015, after Eric Higgins retired from a 30-year career with the Little Rock Police Department, he volunteered with an organization called The Exodus Project: Out for Life.
That program provided classes for men and women incarcerated in the Arkansas Department of Community Corrections, and was held on the campus of Arkansas Baptist College.
In teaching classes there, he told me he learned the importance of helping students accept responsibility for their actions and explaining what resources are available to them.
He also said he frequently asked students what could be done to better help them. They agreed it would be beneficial if they could be housed together at the prison.
"They explained it would be helpful to be housed in a unit filled with other individuals who were also trying to improve themselves and not return to prison."
After becoming Pulaski County sheriff in 2018, Higgins recalled the lessons from the Exodus Project and decided the Pulaski County jail would be a good place to launch a similar program, especially since between 70 and 80 percent of those incarcerated in the jail would be released back into the community.
"When I ran for sheriff, one project I wanted to implement was a re-entry program in the Pulaski County Regional Detention Facility," he said.
Based on his observations and experience, Higgins believed if his office could address the underlying issues that lead to a person committing a crime, then crime could be reduced in the community.
A few jails nationwide have implemented successful re-entry programs. He was determined to join their ranks in Little Rock.
Thus far, he said, his idea has paid off in a big way, resulting in a recidivism rate of 17 percent and many success stories when compared to 46 percent within the Arkansas Department of Corrections. And the former jail inmates who've participated are appreciative.
"We have participants who have completed our program and been released and will tell you our CSI re-entry program has helped them more than any other program they have been a part of," Higgins said.
"I had a mom tell me our program has saved her daughter' s life. We have had a number of defense attorneys contact our staff and request their client be placed in our re-entry program. In addition, a couple of circuit court judges have sentenced defendants to our program."
Asked what he believes society and law enforcement can learn from his experience, he said people convicted of a crime shouldn't be written off because of it. "There are a number of factors that lead a person to commit a crime to repeatedly commit criminal activity," he said.
Those include addiction (a big one), mental health issues, emotional or physical abuse or both. "It's important to show people they have value. This can give the hope that change is possible," Higgins continued. "This, combined with resources and opportunity, can assist a person in returning to the community to become a productive citizen.
"If we assist more individuals coming out of county jails to become productive citizens, they are less likely to commit another crime and return to jail or prison."
The bottom line, according to Higgins, is just that simple.
Providing such help to jail inmates comes with a considerable price tag funded by the sheriff's budget, federal grants and funding from the 501(c)(3) nonprofit called the Pulaski County Sheriffs Prevention and Reentry Foundation.
There are two full-time employees assigned specifically to the re-entry program at an annual cost of $113,000 (in addition to 25 area volunteers).
"In 2020 we received a three-year federal grant for $440,000 that paid for three additional positions, including a peer specialist and counselor, as well as temporary housing at treatment facilities," Higgins said.
"This year we received an additional federal grant totaling $1.5 million for three years. Those funds will allow the program to expand to include drug treatment, housing assistance and job training."
The sheriff also told me he feels strongly that this concept represents the future in reducing recidivism because implementing a re-entry program at the county jail level makes more sense than waiting for someone to be sentenced to prison before they have the opportunity to receive help in addressing issues that result in criminal activity.
One key to a successful program, he maintains, is having the right people operating it, including those with experience as volunteers and employees. "The CSI re-entry program is part of our holistic approach to reducing crime in our community," he said.
Today, the program features at least 11 classes, including one taught by the sheriff titled, "My Moral Flag," and others such as "Anger Management," "Inside Out Dads," "Getting Ahead While Getting Out" and "Relapse Prevention."
Katherine Shoulders, who with friend and colleague Kathy Rateliff previously taught re-entry classes at ADC's Wrightsville Hawkins Women's Unit, today volunteer to teach three classes weekly with the CSI program.
Shoulders said they lead two-hour sessions on "Healing Movements" each Thursday at two male and one female barracks.
"The class I teach is a gentle exercise promoting a peaceful mind. The overall program is called CSI, which stands for Community-focused, Safety-driven and Integrity-based. My class is part of a 12-week comprehensive curriculum which includes dealing with addiction. Many men and women we work with are recovering addicts.
"Those I have met over the past eight months, are not 'bad people.' They need help. Addiction is rampant, and it is the reason most of these people commit crimes. The jail has partnered with UAMS where these men and women are learning about trauma and being tested for PTSD.
"I'm fully invested in the CSI program," Shoulders said, "and I believe people need to know about it. Our issues with crime and escalating violence are deeply rooted and complex. We can build more prisons and expand the jails, but until we deal with the reasons why crime happens, it will continue to grow.
"We have to help people find another way to live. In rehabilitation we focus on the root of the problem. Hurt people hurt people. Healed people do not."
It seems clear to me from the remarkable successes the sheriff and his CSI team have had in such a relatively short time that his dream of building a win-win for everyone involved is indeed benefiting jail inmates and the community alike.
Hopefully the concept will take root and continue to spread across our state and the nation. I'm sure he'd enjoy telling other sheriffs more about it, and there's no question every community needs the positive results it produces.
Now go out into the world and treat everyone you meet exactly like you want them to treat you.
Mike Masterson is a longtime Arkansas journalist, was editor of three Arkansas dailies and headed the master's journalism program at Ohio State University. Email him at [email protected].