There’s already a sort of community inside the Hamilton County Justice Center, but it sure doesn’t feel like that to most of its 1,500 or so inmates.
“Jail’s the worst time you’ll ever do,” former inmate Tracy Brumfield says. “It’s the hardest time you’ll ever do. County jail, everything is loud because everything’s cement. Every seat, every bench is stainless steel. There’s little tiny windows. You get no fresh air. You don’t get to go outside. You’re stuck in a housing unit, typically with 40 other people. There’s no privacy.”
Brumfield describes an alienating, isolating experience. There is little friendship or guidance to be found. It’s only topped by the day you’re released, often with just the clothes on your back and without a social network to help you rebuild your life.
Brumfield has decided to do something about this. After getting back on her feet, she began volunteering at the jail and realized that starting a newspaper for inmates would be a way she could help her peers and find a higher purpose in her own life.
The result is RISE — Re-enter Into Society Empowered — a newspaper for the inmates at the Justice Center. It’s starting off small, with just four pages in the initial issue, but packed with listings of who to call when you get out and want to make a new way in your life.
There are stories of people who did — and are — doing just that. Brumfield describes the experience of most prisoners as being like a fish that has been caught and released: They go right back into the same river they started in. Resource listings will include health care, treatment for addictions, employment and housing assistance. Brumfield was awarded a grant by the local nonprofit People’s Liberty that covers the production of six issues of RISE, to be released about once a month. The Justice Center is allowing the publication in on a trial basis.
“They want to see if people are taping it up over their windows or throwing it out or gobbling it up and reading it, which is my hope,” Brumfield says.
She describes two types of scenarios for those inside the Justice Center: people who had nothing going in and people who might have lost a job or apartment because of their time served. Either way, they’re walking back out the door and having to start over.
“It’s for both of those populations that I made this paper,” Brumfield says. “To let them know they can get through this process.”
RISE is an effort to combat the feelings of hopelessness and isolation that incarceration brings.
“There is hope,” Brumfield says. “We are resource-rich in Cincinnati. There are resources here that want to help you, but you have to know who to reach out to and you have to be willing to reach out. I think there are people in there who are ready, who are sick and tired of being sick and tired.”
Thirty-year-old Anna is a former resident of the Justice Center (she asked that only her first name be used in this article for privacy reasons). Anna says she’s been clean since May when she was sentenced to serve time for violating her probation by using heroin.
Anna met Brumfield in the Justice Center while Brumfield was volunteering, working with inmates and offering guidance. She says Brumfield’s counsel was a positive influence that gave her a lot of hope. Since then, Anna has been released, stayed clean and landed a job. She is working on a series of articles that document her recovery, which are ready to be published in RISE. She says she wants people to know who she is as a mother, a writer and as a functional part of society, not as just an addict.
“No one grows up wanting to be an addict,” Anna says. “All the negative things I did — I have 'receiving stolen property,' 'theft' on my record, and that’s not me. I’m not my record. Those are symptoms of my disease. Who I am in active addiction is not who I am when I’m not using. People do the things they do to get the next high. When you’re using you’re just a different person.”
Anna says she is excited to be part of the project and believes the resource listings will help people find the support they need.
“The list of resources that (Brumfield’s) getting, oh gosh, it’s going to be so helpful,” Anna says. “Because some people walk out of the Justice Center with nothing. When you don’t have a plan, it can be so overwhelming that it’s real easy to go right back to what you were doing. So having a list of resources to help you get a job, help you with treatment, get medicine, it’s going to be very, very helpful.”
Each edition of RISE has to be reviewed by officials at the Justice Center before it is released. RISE lead designer Chelsie Walter says she does not expect any problems with censorship. Walter started working for People’s Liberty about a year ago and got involved in RISE after meeting Brumfield in the spring. She recently toured the Justice Center with Brumfield to get a first-hand look at what life is like behind the walls and says that visit and Brumfield’s longterm experience as a former inmate inform the design and content of the publication.
“You can’t serve a community well unless you understand what they’re going through and what their needs are,” Walter says. “I think it was really eye-opening for me to see and it influences how I approach RISE. I keep that lens in mind — what it was like that day I was there.”
Brumfield says she intends for the newspaper to be just one aspect of RISE. She hopes to develop a street team of mentors to assist those newly released. Another goal is to program and distribute cellphones that would be loaded with numbers and contacts of rehabilitation services.
“Why can’t we do a publication about hope and resources?” Brumfield says. “Maybe that will spark something bigger.”
RISE launches with a 6-9 p.m. celebration Aug. 31 at People's Liberty, 1805 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine. More info: peoplesliberty.org.
