gr . OF THE CONTROLLER ng-ehlgh county Mark Pinsley, MBA Thomas (Brogan, CPA counrv CONTROLLER DEPUTY CONTROLLER tin-Lung: March 5, 2020 Phillps Lehigh County Executive 17 S. 7'th Street Allentown, PA 18101 Dear County Executive tehigh County provides telephone service to inmates by arranging an exclusive agreement with a third-party provider. Using a third party reduces the burden to Lehigh County by having an - expert organization that understands the requirements of the department of corrections to operate the phones so that inmates can make calls. in December of 2019, Lehigh County entered into a new Agreement. Through successful negotiations, the administration was able to increase the amount of the guaranteed commission paid to the county by the third-party provider. The terms of the Agreement are covered by a confidentiality clause, which Law has advised precludes the discussion of specifics. While i disagree with the application of the confidentiality clause here, i wouid like to recognize that the amount of the increase negotiated by the Director of Corrections provide additionai revenue to the jail in excess of $225,000. This revenue was not anticipated in the 2020 budget. The research on the subject of inmate caiis is clear, that contact with families during incarceration is closely associated with a more successful reentry and a reduction in reoffending. Moreover, sociologicai research has shown that incarceration has a particularly devastating impact on the children of those imprisoned. The ability of children to remain in contact with their loved ones is paramount to them navigating the detention of their current.5 The men and women jailed already faced enormous social and economic chaiienges resuiting from their time behind bars. They?ll enter the workforce with limited employment opportunities and the perpetuai stigma of being formally jaiied. We should be committed to strengthening the process of not complicating it further through cost prohibitive practices that threaten to isolate prisoners from their loved ones when they need them most. {6.10} 782-3932 FAX: (st-e} 371-239? Lehigh County Government Center. Soath Seventh Street. Aiientown. PA 181014490 . OFFICE OF THE CONTROLLER canny Mark Pinsley, MBA Thomas Grogan, CPA COUNTY CONTROLLER DEPUTY CONTROLLER l?rn calling on the county to direct this additional unbudgeted revenue back into efforts to aid those held in the county jaii. it?s imperative that the county use these funds to either reduce the cost of coils to inmates or provide additional assistance. We should under no circumstances become reliant on this money as a source of general revenue. The county could also consider using these funds to invest in preventative measures that reduce the likelihood of incarceration and violence in our communities. The scourge of violence, particularly which afflicts our inner~city communities has had a devastating impact on families and neighborhoods. it undermines faith in local institutions and imperils the safety of neighborhoods. Fortunately, a wealth of academic literature has risen to justify treating violence and crime within the community as an epidemic rather than as random events. The Cure Violence model which calls on intercepting the likelihood of violence through intervention is highly successful. it has reduced incidents of violence in the community and therefore reduced the number of people coming through the criminai justice system. We are just now as a society beginning to rectify our history of mass incarceration and acknowledge the many difficulties faced by our formerly incarcerated community. Let us take this moment to acknowledge that in matters of rehabilitation the incentive should never be the pursuit of greater revenue, but rather a more holistic and compassionate process of restoration of those who find themselves behind bars. We have a unique opportunity among the counties of to set a precedent for investing in our incarcerated communities. Maia-?T?? Sin Mark Pinsley Lehigh County Controller CC: Lehigh County Board of Commissioners Edward Hozza, in, Director of Administration {610) means: . sex: ism) 371?2392 tehigh County Government Center. 17 South Seventh Street. Aiientown. PA salute/ion OFFICE OF THE CONTROLLER eigh canny Mark Pinslev, MBA Thomas (Brogan, CPA upenneylvania COUNTY DEPUTY CONTROLLER MThe opinions expressed are my own and the comments are not a result of an audit performed by the of?ce of the controller under the generally accepted Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS) Murphey, David, and Mae Couper. ?Parents Behind Bars: What Happens to Their Children?? Child?l?rendsorg, October 20 5, l?22. content! uploads/20 5/ :3 -42Parents Behind Gifford Ell, Eldrecl Kopeck L, Glinka M, et 21!. Association of Parental Incarceration with and Functional Outcomes of?t?oung Adults. JAMA Newt Open. e19 0005. doi: 10. Ryan Shahan Sandra Villalobos Aludel 20l l.2 The Family and Recidivism. Report Vern lnstitute of lustice, 5. Accessed Januazy om/scans/vem/the larnily~and- l* Roman, Caterina. QuasisExperimeutal Designs for Community-Level Public Health Violence Reduction interventions: A Case Study in the Challenges of Selecting the Counterfectual. Journal of Experimental Criminolog 2017, pp. Quasi?Experimental Designs for Community~Level Public Health Violence Reduction Interventions: A Case Study in the Challenges ofSelecting the Countei?fuctual. (510) 782.3032 erg Lehigh County Government Cent-er. 1? South Seventh Street. Allentown PA 181914400