Thousands of in-kind donations of time from volunteers, jail residents, and friends are what sustain VHJR's programs, as well as contributions of $1 to $200 from generous individuals, churches, organizations, and businesses.
One Ellsworth, ME business, The Maine Grind www.mainegrind.com donates a free meal certificate for each Post-Release Packet provided by VHJR to newly released jail residents, ensuring an early morning snack and coffee.
VHJR also works closely with other service organizations in the Ellsworth-area community. VHJR gratefully accepts donations and grants to assist with program enhancement, post-release services, VHJR's volunteer-mentoring program, and relationship and new leadership building in greater Hancock County.
Other grants have been received from Maine Initiatives Foundation and a grant from the Self-Education Foundation, the Maine Coalition on Smoking and Health (that allowed us to begin group chemical addiction counseling for the jail residents). Since that beginning we have received assistance from Maine Community Foundation, St. Francis Church Community Fund, Coastal Hancock Healthy Communities, St. Saviour's Church, Union River Healthy Communities, Catholic Campaign for Human Development, Sparkplug Grant, and a generous array of caring groups and individuals.
This early introduction of rehabilitation services by VHJR the services at Hancock County Jail have grown into a full-service program. Open Door Recovery Center of Ellsworth, Maine started providing the first in-jail rehab in the state of Maine. We are grateful to Open Door, the Hancock County Jail administrators, and to the Jail Residents for making this possible.
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An article from Bangor Metro Magazine,
"Help Behind Bars." (Small corrections: There is mention here that VHJR has been paid for our work -- we haven't -- and that staff is needed to protect us. While this is correct in theory, since 2001 we've never had a single safety incident with a jail resident).
Hope Magazine featured our volunteer work -- how we started and how we all
benefit from our jail programs -- in "Bridging the Gap."
Working Waterfront summarized VHJR's goals and programs
in "Downeast Volunteers Keep Jail Residents Connected."
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A few Radio Interviews about VHJR Programs:
Click HERE for RadioActive about Jail Residents' Art Show, Bo Lozoff and VHJR programs.
WERU-FM Community Radio, 89.9 Blue Hill, ME
Click HERE for other stories about VHJR on RadioActive - WERU FM
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If you are interested in finding out more about Volunteers for Hancock Jail Residents
please contact us at -- bluehillme@roadrunner.com
or call 207-374-3608
but first, please read through our website to find out more about what we do.
Volunteers for Hancock Jail Residents (VHJR)
and
The Landing Post-Release Project
The residents of Hancock County Jail have unique talents and resources, as well as the courage to improve their lives. They are our friends, neighbors, and relatives who will rejoin us on the "outside" after their sentences. Many of the jail residents are young and many have chemical addiction illnesses. Others are there because they owe fines and cannot bail themselves out.
Regardless of the reasons for incarceration, VHJR volunteers are interested in incorporating our incarcerated citizens into positive roles in the community by providing restorative assistance. But rather than entering the jail with the idea of "changing" anyone, we are simply there to share community support, friendship, and a greater feeling of belonging.
Hancock County Jail is located in Ellsworth, Maine. As Volunteers for Hancock Jail Residents (VHJR), we are dedicated to building a communication bridge between jail residents and the larger outside community. We are a nonsectarian, nonprofit, all-volunteer organization under the fiscal sponsorship of HOME, Inc., a 501c3 charitable organization.
Post Release Re-Entry News
VHJR volunteers, in conjunction with others in Hancock County, have been involved for several years
with Re-Entry and Post Release needs -- "The Landing Post-Release Project."
Funding for strategic planning and grassroots community outreach has been received from
Maine Community Foundation, Maine Initiatives, Catholic Campaign for Human Development,
St. Francis Church Community Fund and other groups and individuals.
If you would like to offer suggestions or assist with ongoing re-entry mentoring and networking, please contact us.
Call 207-374-3608 or email
"Incarceration in Maine -- What Can We Change?
Building Community from the 'Inside' Out"
"Local Drifters Fall through the Safety Net" -- Working Waterfront
Bangor Daily News article about post-release planning.
Listen to an Interview on WERU Radioactive News: VHJR 4-6-06
Art lovers enjoy the unique artwork at The Grand. The “Inside Art” exhibit featured a variety of artwork by current and former residents of Hancock County Jail.
Staff Photo by Cathy Shane, The Ellsworth American
Welcome!
Announcements. . . Maine News (VHJR / Hancock County/VHJR news follows this section)
Maine LD1611 (Humane Treatment for Mentally Ill Prisoners in Solitary Confinement) passed as a "Resolve," which requires a review of solitary confinement at Maine State Prison's "SMU."
Lance Tapley's "A 'Moral Victory' Against Supermax Torture"
A Christian Perspective on [Maine] Prisons - IndyBay.com Interview with Stan Moody [One of the best overall explanation of what is going on in Maine prisons]
Historic floor discussion about solitary confinement and human rights of prisoners took place for 3 hours:
Much was inspirational; some shameful. Listen to excerpts on WERU's Voices and to a Voices interview
Listen to Maine legislature's full historic debate: Part 1 --- Pt. 2 --- Pt. 3 --- Pt. 4 --- Pt. 5 --- Pt. 6 --- Pt. 7 --- Pt. 8
"...in this great country, in this great society have we not evolved in our treatment of human beings well beyond the use of solitary confinement? Have we not found better ways to control people? Don't we have more appropriate ways of enforcing our laws and rehabilitating our inmates?" - Rep. Sean Flaherty, D-Scarborough
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Watch Video: "Maine prisoners describe the "SMU" Solitary Confinement unit"
"Are Doctors Complicit with Prison Torture?" by Lance Tapley
Myth#1: Prisoners Want to Go to Solitary by Stan Moody
"Is it time to ban solitary confinement?" by Julia Dahl.
"Locking Down the Mentally Ill" by Jim Ridgeway and Jean Casella
Watch Video: Trapped: Mental Illness in America's Prisons
Mental Health Issues in Long Term Solitary and "SuperMax" Confinement
Hellhole - must read piece by Dr. Atul Gawande / Harvard Law School News: Dr. Gawande discusses solitary
-- MAINE VOICES: Solitary confinement cruel to prisoners
-- Prisoner Advocates rally against solitary confinement - News - WCSH TV-6
Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition's The Call Newsletter--
“How sad it is that we give up on people who are just like us.”
-- Fred Rogers, Mr. Rogers Neighborhood
"Our lives begin to end
the day we become silent about things that matter."
--Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Not Nameless Inmates, but Our Neighbors" -- Stan Moody
" Mandala with Eye" by George Taylor IV
News from VHJR / The Landing Project
"No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens but its lowest ones."
-- Nelson Mandela
