Newport News Jail program focuses on morality

Daily Press - 8/4/2017

Aug. 04--Darrell Tonkins spent the afternoon of his 45th birthday this week thinking about morality.

For an hour and a half, he and eight other Newport News City Jail inmates gathered in a small cinder block room to talk about the choices they've made and the people they'd like to be.

They do it twice a week. The nine inmates are enrolled in the jail's Moral Reconation Therapy class, a voluntary 12-step program that encourages conscious decision making. The cognitive-behavioral approach first was introduced at the Federal Correctional Institute in Memphis in 1985. Now, it's taught in different settings around the country, from hospital and outpatient programs to prison.

At the Newport News jail, the program is nearly a year old.

The 12 steps of MRT include reflecting on betraying others, effects of behavior on their own lives and lack of honesty in life. To move on to the next step, the student has to provide testimony to the class and get a vote of approval from his or her peers.

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The inmates in the class live in the same block at the jail, so the conversations that start in class often continue much later.

"They can get really deep sometimes," said Peggy Howard, executive director of community outreach and programs for the sheriff's office.

She and re-entry specialist Virginia Morgan teach the class, which is so popular it has a waiting list. They try to add only one student a week. Both know it's hard to pass all 12 steps -- they had to complete the program before teaching it.

The entire program, they said, takes about three months, and 12 people have graduated at the Newport News jail. The curriculum includes homework assignments.

There are more than 20 pink plastic bins lining the office space of the Virginia Black Leadership Organization Collaborative in Hampton.

The bins contain more than 2,800 books, which were donated from May 1 to June 17. The books soon will be distributed to Hampton City Jail and the Newport News...

There are more than 20 pink plastic bins lining the office space of the Virginia Black Leadership Organization Collaborative in Hampton.

The bins contain more than 2,800 books, which were donated from May 1 to June 17. The books soon will be distributed to Hampton City Jail and the Newport News...

It's tough, but the lessons and life changes are well worth it, the inmates said.

"Why turn it down?" said 49-year-old student Norman Williams.

The program's especially successful among people who've made impulsive, or "pleasure-driven," decisions, said Steve Swan, vice president of Correctional Counseling Incorporated (CCI), the provider of MRT training and materials.

"What we're trying to do is have people make decisions from higher levels of moral reasoning," he said.

They have the data to prove it. The program's been studied over the past three decades, often showing lower recidivism rates in different groups of people. A 2006 study shows incarcerated felons treated with MRT had 11 percent recidivism over a year, as opposed to 37 percent of felons not treated with MRT. Re-incarceration and re-arrest rates of MRT clients are up to 65 percent lower than expected, according to CCI.

Swan credits its success to its "open-ended" model. The class has rolling enrollment, which means people don't have to wait for an entirely new class to join. The inmates in Newport News are all going at their own pace and are on different steps. Half of the nine are between steps one and six.

On a recent afternoon, all nine inmates met for class, clad in blue scrubs and bright orange shoes, workbooks open in front of them. Maps of the United States and the world lined the room's white walls.

Tyrone Jones, 49, said he was thinking of his five grandchildren. Most of his entries and testimonies are about them.

"You're constantly looking at yourself and making a positive change. Knowing where I don't want to be again," he said.

Rasool Swift, 48, wants to be a good role model for his 12-year-old son, he said. The most poignant thing, he said, "is how selfish I used to be."

"This is the first time I'll be in the paper for something positive," he said, grinning.

Because the participants are always-changing, there's no one type of student, said Dottie Wikan, a spokeswoman for the Newport NewsSheriff's Office. The students could have been charged with anything, from manslaughter to shoplifting.

The men said they're learning from one another. It's one of the benefits of meeting three hours a week and living together on the same block.

"Being in jail, the people who come are some of the smartest," said 18-year-old Naheem Hillard, the youngest in the class. "They just weren't thinking."

The class fits in well with Sheriff Gabe Morgan's emphasis on re-entry, Howard said. The goal is to provide inmates with the tools, resources and morality to successfully re-enter society and avoid recidivism.

"The minute they come to jail, their re-entry starts," she said.

Tonkins, a convicted felon, said he's worried about how he'll look on a job application or in an interview when he re-enters society. He's on the 10th step.

"I don't feel like you'd look at me the same way as a nonviolent felon," he said. "This program helps with employment, housing, mental health."

The class has equipped Tonkins with skills he'll use on the outside, he said. He feels ready.

Maybe, on his 46th birthday, he'll celebrate outside.

Mishkin can be reached by phone at 757-641-6669.

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