Sheriff Hosts CARES Connections Event | News, Sports, Jobs

The Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office's CARES (Chautauqua Comprehensive Addiction Response and Evaluation System) program recently hosted a community connections meeting at the James Prendergast Library. The Community Connections portion of the meeting focused on the plethora of social service and support agencies available.

For individuals with substance use disorders, mental health conditions and their families, the Sheriff's CARES program provides a multi-sector network of law enforcement, behavioral health and other service agencies communities across the county, working together to further increase the accessibility, timeliness and effectiveness of assistance.

“It’s about connecting agencies and organizations with each other and with the public,” said Vito Randazzo, Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office CARES program coordinator. “Representatives from the Resource Center are here today; CHQ trolleys; Safe Point Lighthouse; Alliance for a Healthy Community; Goodwill Good skills; Monroe Plan; Hillside Children's Center; Prevention works; VA Outreach Services; UPMC Chautauqua and NY Matters.

The sheriff presented statistical data supporting the need for the program and collaborative efforts from the entire community.

Chautauqua County Sheriff James B. Quattrone presented various statistical data regarding recidivism, mental health, substance abuse and overdoses at the James Prendergast Library on Monday during a CARES Community Connections event. Pajama photo by Chirstopher Blakeslee

“For 50 years now, we've been waging the 'war on drugs,' and depending on who you ask, I can find arguments that we're either winning it or losing it,” he said. “We need to do something different; we need to change the way we think about things. They say that doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting a different result, is the definition of insanity. …Well, what we're seeing is that at the county jail, about 5,000 unique and different people were incarcerated last year. Of those 5,000 people, 1,300, or 27 percent, were indicted on drug-related charges. Of the 1,300 drug offenders, a total of 1,049 were repeat offenders.

Quattrone explained some statistics he pulled from the federal and state prison systems.

He spoke in 2023, statically, between the federal government and state prison systems:

– 600,000 prisoners were released from the penal system.

– 60% of people released from these systems will be rearrested and incarcerated within three years.

– Between 50 and 80% of people currently incarcerated suffer from serious mental health and substance abuse issues that go untreated and undiagnosed.

Quattrone then spoke about the unintended consequences of what he believes the bail reform changes have had for New York State prisoners.

“We are seeing more and more inmates coming to prison who have more serious illnesses – both physical and mental. Some are extremely thin. When we ask them at intake who their primary care doctor is, many state who that doctor is on behalf of the prison. When we ask who their mental health worker is, they say who our mental health worker is in prison,” he explained. “If you can believe it, many of these same incarcerated people report gaining weight and sleeping better. However, prison should not be the place to seek treatment and recovery. This is not how things are supposed to work.

Quattrone said following up on those released with appropriate services, medical appointments/treatment and housing are all critical to preventing recidivism rates from increasing.

“Statistically speaking, 75% of those who continue treatment after release will achieve recovery. Currently, inmates who fail to adhere to treatment are 129 percent more likely to die from a drug overdose, after release, within two weeks,” he said.

“It takes a village,” Randazzo said. “We are a community, and we are this village, and now is the time to act. »