Butler County Prison officials are pleased with a program that moved inmate treatment from the Gaiser Center almost a year ago to a former pod at the prison on South Washington Street.

Jen Passarelli, deputy warden of security and treatment at the prison, said 14 classes dealing with issues like addiction, anger management, trauma, GED training, various drug and alcohol classes and other offerings are held for inmates.

Five prison counselors run most of the classes, with the Center for Community Resources and Butler County Community College teaching some as well.

“It's all psychosocial education,” Passarelli said.

She said a former work-release unit was transformed into a large open space with no cells and four classrooms. The bunks in the space must remain in case the prison population increases and beds are needed.

About 75 percent of the inmates at the prison who are labeled medium- or high-risk for returning to prison use the treatment center, Passarelli said.

There are 317 total inmates at the prison. About 15 inmates participate in each class.

She said inmates are given an initial risk screening with 12 questions to determine if they are at a low, medium or high risk to return to the prison in the future.

Medium- and high-risk inmates are targeted for classes, Passarelli said, but low-risk inmates can also take classes.

“We want everyone to know they can partake of this,” she said.

When an inmate says they are interested in classes, the counselor performs an assessment to determine what services would be best, and then the counselor recommends the classes they think would benefit the inmate.

“They can accept or refuse,” Passarelli said.

The counselors keep a record of each inmate using services to ensure their classes are current and relevant to their issues, and to determine whether the classes were successful.

When creating a class list, the counselors must ensure the classroom would be safe for everyone involved.

“Sometimes there are guys on different units that can't be in a room together,” Passarelli said.

She said four inmates have earned their GED certificates in the past 10 months due to the class run by BC3.

“We have guys thinking college now,” Passarelli said. “They learned they can do it.”

She said inmates are also guided on what profession they would be eligible for once they are released from prison.

“They help them find a path, because they are precluded from some (vocations) because of their (criminal) record,” Passarelli said.

Visits from children

The treatment center also has a gymnasium with a color block floor and an area where a baseball diamond was painted so children can comfortably visit with a parent under the supervision of a county Children and Youth professional.

Passarelli said one inmate at a time uses the facility to visit with his or her offspring under the supervision of the CYS employee, who brings the child or children to the jail for the one-hour visit.

“We've had five children in with one inmate before,” she said.

Passarelli said the child-oriented floor and other features make the visits easier for everyone.

“It keeps the kids' minds off the incarceration and makes it a little less traumatic while they try to build that relationship,” Passarelli said.

Charlie Johns, the county CYS director, said the new family visitation center at the jail makes visitation much more comfortable for the children visiting.

“It went from extremely rare, no-contact visits in a room with attorneys and officers to a more child-friendly and family-friendly environment in the prison,” Johns said.

He said about eight or 10 children under CYS supervision are involved in the prison visitation program at any given time.

“The children benefit from seeing their parents when typically they could go for months because they're incarcerated,” Johns said. “It benefits the inmate because they get to have a reason to rehabilitate and get out and do what they need to do to be reunified with their child.”

He said in the new family visitation area, children from infancy to age 17 go right in and interact with their parent instead of viewing them from the other side of a slab of safety glass.

Right now, a few of the inmates are mothers.

“It's not just dad (receiving visits),” Johns said.

He said about six inmates are now receiving visits from their children. The number of inmates receiving visits hovers around six to eight most of the time, Johns said.

The CYS worker who brings the child or children to the prison once per moth facilitates the visit and interacts as much as appropriate, he said.

The ages of children who visit a parent at the prison fluctuates, Johns said.

“It goes in cycles, but right now a lot of the kids aged 2 and younger are going,” he said. “For some of these inmates, it's the first interaction they are having with their child.”

He said some of the children live with relatives and others are in foster care.

Passarelli said the new treatment center at the prison is a success because of services offered to inmates, but also because it saves the county more than $100,000 per year.

But her first priority is treating inmates in an attempt to prevent them from returning to prison.

“We're trying to better serve the people we're responsible for,” Passarelli said. “I want to know I presented someone with the best possibility I could.”