by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
The program is based on the idea that the course of a single life doesn’t have to be determined by a single misdeed, that redemption should be available to those who will seize it.
And that the State shouldn’t warehouse 14-year-olds in prison because there are no easy alternatives.
“Once people meet our young men, they just fall in love with them,” said Johnnie Fisher, house manager of Inside/Outside. “They see they’re just young men that have a troubled past, that they have the same needs as all other young men.
“And our young men have been victims one way or another, too.”
“Many times,” Cathy Goldman added.
“Many times,” Fisher continued. “Sexual abuse, physical abuse, neglect.
“Having said all that, I tell them, ‘Yes, you have been victims. But because of your actions, there’s a victim on the streets now. You need to get back to society, get your life on track and improve yourself.’”
Cathy Goldman worked for 17 years with the State Attorney’s Office, the last 10 of them with young people being held in the Duval County Jail. It was a formidable task, what with 202 young offenders being held in the jail in 1993.
It was also a frustrating task because of the lack of one-to-one mentors, “which is what I try to do with each one of them,” said Goldman.
She and about 60 others attended a local meeting of Church Without Walls, whose members talked about the work they were doing at a juvenile facility in Ocala.
The initial group of 60 eventually shrunk to 13 who agreed to work with juveniles who had been tried as adults and were held in the Duval County Jail. The average sentence was seven months. Some had been sentenced to one year. Some were serving two consecutive one-year terms.
Fisher at that time was a correctional officer, the jail’s juvenile program manager.
“You could say we had a captive audience we could work with and have a more positive impact than you have in the juvenile facility,” said Goldman.
At the outset, in 1996, the 13 mentors-in-training met every Sunday and Monday with Goldman and Fisher, who helped prepare them for what they would find in jail.
“These people had no experience working with teenagers, let alone teenagers who had such complications and challenges in their lives,” said Goldman. “The volunteers had to get fingerprinted, processed and learn what you can and cannot bring in.
“That’s a lot to ask a volunteer to do.”
The local group’s name reflects the importance of working with young offenders after they’re released.
“We understood that’s when the greatest need is,” said Goldman. “They need support when they get outside. That’s the challenge.”
The two women searched in vain for a place in the Springfield area that would serve as a halfway house. The City found one to donate.
“It was a pit,” said Goldman, who formerly was at Kesler Mentoring and ran against Lad Daniels, the City Council vice president, in the 2002 election. “Dirt everywhere, holes in the bathroom. But it looked great. This was free.”
The ramshackle building was completely refurbished by Youth Build. The house got wired for air conditioning and a washer and drier. Anheuser-Busch donated sod. Florida Rock put in a concrete porch. Furniture was donated. Appliances were bought.
And it is now the home for five young men finishing their educations, working at jobs, paying off whatever debts they owe — away from the influences that helped them make bad choices.
The number of residents is determined by the Department of Children and Family Services, but Fisher wouldn’t change it if she could:
“My experience is, and I will stand by this, if there are more than that, because their needs are so massive, you would be warehousing them.
“There’s a lot of advocacy that goes on for jobs, education, for everything they’re involved in, every step of their lives.”
Inside/Outside’s “bare bones” budget is about $150,000 a year. The biggest costs are insurance and personnel to provide 24-hour awake supervision.
The board, made up of volunteers, would like to have more volunteers join them — to act as an advisory board, to mentor young inmates and to increase their fund-raising efforts.
“We never want to see this close,” said Goldman. “Our goal is to reach out to every juvenile in facilities that are around here. We think we have a winner here.”
For additional information about Inside/Outside, call Johnnie Fisher at 923-5292 or Keto Porter, administrator of the Juvenile Justice Division in the State Attorney’s Office, at 630-2444.