Former inmate fears for future as mental health association announces end of reintegration program

Following the news that a program aimed at keeping former inmates out of prison is ending, the former executive director of the provincial chapter of the Canadian Mental Health Association and a current member of the justice program saythey don'taccept the reasons given.

A former inmate and small business owner, whose identity CBC News has agreed to withhold, says the program has helpedkeep him out of prison.

"I remember being released in the past. I'm out in the parking lot of [Her Majesty's Penitentiary], standing up, looking around in circles, wondering where do I go from here, you know?" he said.

"Ifit wasn't for the justice program, I'm 99 per cent sure I'd have to go commit crime."

The 53-year-old St. John's man said his life has changed dramatically since his release 15 months ago,andhe credits the program for his success. But now he fears for his future, and warns of dire consequences for other men who will not be able to avail of the program, He wonders how the association can justify cutting a program with a 67 per cent success rate.

"Everything is supposed to be based on statistics, you know, likeI don't know what they're looking at or what's their justification for cutting the program," he said in an interview Tuesday.

• For years, this program kept men out of prison. Here's why the agency that runs it is giving it up

Catherina Kennedy, interim CEOof the Canadian Mental Health Association, saidMondaythe organization is winding down thejustice program in an attempt to get back to its core mandate amid external funding challenges.

Kennedy said the program, which isfinished as of Jan. 12, did not fit into the association'smandateand was in deficit year over year, despite having consistent funding from the provincial government.

In an email, a spokesperson from the Department of Justice said it provides the program with $195,000 annually, and following a request for additional funds, providedan additional $101,649 through the Department of Health and Community Services.

"The Canadian Mental Health Association communicated to the department that the conclusion of this program was not an issue of government funding," said the spokesperson.

'Deficits can be overcome'

George Skinner, the executive director of the Canadian Mental Health Association Newfoundland and Labrador from 2009 until 2015, says the program not onlyfits the CMHA's mandate butwas envied by other chapters across Canada.

"It's not a program that should be jeopardized," Skinner said Wednesday.

During a 10th-anniversary celebration in 2019, the association touted the program's success. At the time, the program hadsupported 112 members 67 per cent of whom have not reoffended or been reincarcerated.

The program provides services to inmates with mental illness at Her Majesty's Penitentiary, and case management and community support after release forup to 18 months. Case managers meet inmates at the gate of the penitentiary and begin work to find them stable employment, housing and food. The program arose from the2008 Decades of Darkness report.

Kennedy said she is working to ensure the current 10 clients will not have a break in their services and support. The provincial government said it is looking for an organization to take over the CHMA's justice program funding.

However, Skinner said ending a program so quickly is a risk, especially given the population of the client base, all of whom have complex mental illness challenges.

"I would think it would take a much longer period of time of planning to move the program, to decide where it's best fit because there is a fit involved in this," Skinner said.

"No doubt they'll get service, which is fine, but this is a very specific group with a very sophisticated, complex needs."

Skinner also does not accept finances as a key reason for ceasing operations.

"I'm sure there can be deficits, I mean deficits can be overcome, you know. I just don't knowwhy this is not good enough reason in my view to transfer this or put this program in jeopardy, which what I'm fearful it is right now."

'I am going to be lost'

Despite assurances from Kennedy that current clients will be taken care of come January, the member of the program who spoke to CBC Newssaid he has not heard of any concrete plan.

"I don't know, I just get anxiety thinking about not having [my worker] around, right?" he said.

"Hopefully he can place me with another agency or somebody who can help me out or some other resources in the community that's going to be available to me now."

Upon being released during the summer of 2021, he said his worker connected him with housing, purchased him clothes and met him at the gates of the penitentiary.

"I'm able to secure a two-bedroom house they got me with a grant from housing so I'm not living in the skids. I'm not living in a rooming house where addictionsare rampant, where criminal activity is," he said.

"I'm in a nice house, suitable to have my daughter."

He also disputes Kennedy's comment that there is plenty of help available in the community for people who need it. He said it took two years to get a call to get into the Grace Centre for treatment for his addictions, and that housing support inside Her Majesty's Penitentiary is non-existent.

However, hesaid he does havefaith he will continue to thrive but worries for those who will meet a similar fate: leaving HMP penniless and without a roadmap to a healthy future.

"This is not bright. Unless they have family or something they can lean on ...but for the average male that's getting released from HMP, nine chances of 10 they'llprobably going to be back within 30 days, 60 days," he said.

"It's gonna be sad when they close it. It's gonna be sad. It's gonna affect a lot of people. Not only the clients, but you know their families as well."

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