A Community Criminal Justice Webinar scheduled for Tuesday at 7 p.m. will bring together government stakeholders, criminal justice experts, advocates, justice-involved persons and their families to address community concerns about the proposed expansion to the Middle River Regional Jail.
This event will offer you the opportunity to hear about issues that contribute to overcrowding at Middle River Regional Jail so that our communities can begin a collaborative process to develop a strategic criminal justice plan that serves all our citizens.
Click here to register for the free Zoom webinar.
Officials within our local criminal justice system will speak to the current state of affairs within their departments, what issues they believe are contributing to overcrowding at the jail, and what obstacles we must overcome in order to reduce incarceration and recidivism.
Advocates, mostly non-profit groups, will speak to why they believe that an expansion is not in the best interest of our community and/or alternatives to incarceration that they believe will help mitigate the problem of mass incarceration.
Justice-involved persons and their family members will share their lived experiences having to navigate the criminal justice system and what they found to be helpful or harmful.
Advocate groups include Blue Ridge Bail Fund, Communities Against the MRRJ Expansion, The Institute for Reform & Solutions, and RISE.