http:\/\/twitter.com\/lensipes<\/a>.<\/p>\n[Audio Begins]<\/p>\n
Cedric Hendricks: This is Cedric Hendricks for DC Public Safety.\u00a0 With us today is Debra Rowe, Executive Director of Returning Citizens United.\u00a0 She\u2019s here today to talk with us about DC Safe Surrender.\u00a0 Miss Rowe, why is it important for you to be here today to speak about DC Safe Surrender?\u00a0 What does it mean for you?<\/p>\n
Debra Rowe:\u00a0 Well, first of all it\u2019s important to me because Returning Citizens United is an advocacy and support services program for those pre and post-incarcerated, but mostly, those who have returned home.\u00a0 And it\u2019s very important because we, Returning Citizens United, we work with them to move forward.\u00a0 And this program is critical because a lot of people can\u2019t move forward because they have outstanding warrants or they\u2019re not sure if they have warrants.\u00a0 So that\u2019s why I think this is very important.<\/p>\n
Cedric Hendricks:\u00a0 And you mentioned to me that you\u2019ve had some experience helping people with outstanding warrants come in, surrender and clear those matters up.\u00a0 How has that unfolded?<\/p>\n
Debra Rowe:\u00a0 Yes, myself and my partner, my colleague and my partner, Yango Sawer, we have returning citizens come year around and directly to us and turn theirself in because the word is out that you can go to Miss Rowe or you need to call Yango Sawyer.\u00a0 And what we do, they call us, they tell us what the situation is and we escort them down to the courthouse and downstairs and we inform the person at the desk that this person believes they have a warrant.\u00a0 They look them up in the system.\u00a0 They say yes, you do.\u00a0 And we have had a couple of guys get down there and they didn\u2019t have one.\u00a0 But just like Safe Surrender, your dignity is intact.\u00a0 You know, there\u2019s no grabbing you, throwing you against the wall, you know, handcuffing you and all that.\u00a0 Our experience has been they just tell them kindly to have a seat.\u00a0 They process a little paperwork and then they say yes, you have it and they call one of the marshals out after they do some processing.\u00a0 And they say can you walk them back for them to go on and deal with it.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve had calls or follow up with the attorneys to ask will we write a letter on their behalf because they\u2019re going before the judge and they may be released.\u00a0 The situation\u2019s very dependent on the person and what the charges are.\u00a0 But it is very critical for Returning Citizens to move forward.\u00a0 And if you think you have an outstanding warrant, CSOSA and the Safe Surrender program is very important and can help you to just move on.<\/p>\n
Cedric Hendricks:\u00a0 Now back in 2007 when this took place the first time, there were 530 individuals that turned themselves in and in fact, 98 percent of them walked out that very same day and were able to start putting their lives back together.\u00a0 And one of the other important things was that at that site that was at Bible Way Church there were resource and service providers on site.\u00a0 So if an individual needed to make a connection for treatment or for employment,<\/p>\n
Debra Rowe:\u00a0 Child support.<\/p>\n
Cedric Hendricks:\u00a0 all of that, APRA was there, DOES was there and we\u2019re looking to have those same kind of providers there today.\u00a0 Now last time it was at a church.\u00a0 This time it\u2019s at a courthouse.\u00a0 Does that make any difference?<\/p>\n
Debra Rowe:\u00a0 I think it makes a big difference because you\u2019re right there.\u00a0 It\u2019s like one stop.\u00a0 You\u2019re right there.\u00a0 You\u2019re at the court.\u00a0 I\u2019ve read that there\u2019s going to be attorneys available to assist you.\u00a0 I mean you can\u2019t get any better than that.\u00a0 It\u2019s one stop.<\/p>\n
Cedric Hendricks: And that\u2019s a good point.\u00a0 The Public Defender Service which was a great partner the last time, is certainly going to be there the day so that anybody who is going to then appear before a judge or a United States parole commissioner, will have the opportunity to have representation to assist them.<\/p>\n
Debra Rowe:\u00a0 That\u2019s right, yes.<\/p>\n
Cedric Hendricks:\u00a0 Alright, well we just want to close by having you reiterate the value of this if you would.<\/p>\n
Debra Rowe:\u00a0 Yes, it\u2019s very valuable because when you come home, you come home and sometimes we slip and we make mistakes.\u00a0 But that doesn\u2019t mean to just go all the way down into a pit.\u00a0 Just go ahead and face it.\u00a0 Come out if you know you have a warrant, come out and let us assist you to just get it taken care of and move forward with your life.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the step right there.\u00a0 That\u2019s a step in moving forward, that you come down and you surrender.\u00a0 And you\u2019re surrendering safely.\u00a0 You\u2019re going to be in good hands.<\/p>\n
Cedric Hendricks:\u00a0 We\u2019ve been talking with Debra Rowe, the Executive Director of Returning Citizens United about DC Safe Surrender.\u00a0 Thank you Miss Rowe.<\/p>\n
Debra Rowe:\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n
[Audio Ends]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
See http:\/\/media.csosa.gov for our television shows, blog and transcripts. Radio Program available at http:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/audio\/2011\/07\/dc-safe-surrender-an-interview-with-debra-rowe-executive-director-of-returning-citizens-united\/ We welcome your comments or suggestions at leonard.sipes@csosa.gov or at Twitter at http:\/\/twitter.com\/lensipes. [Audio Begins] Cedric Hendricks: This is Cedric Hendricks for DC Public Safety.\u00a0 With us today is Debra Rowe, Executive Director of Returning Citizens United.\u00a0 She\u2019s here today to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,12,21],"tags":[86,91],"class_list":["post-708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audiopodcast","category-fugitivesafesurrender","category-whatworks","tag-dc-safe-surrender","tag-debra-rowe","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pBoKk-bq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=708"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":710,"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708\/revisions\/710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}