CCDC program aims to help with inmates’ reintegration

The 33-year-old inmate says she’s cycled in and out of the Clark County Detention her entire adult life, which she described as being hampered by drug abuse.

But after KaeLoni Robinett walks out of the jail next month, she is determined to not return, she said Wednesday.

“It’s time,” Robinett said about improving her life as a free woman. “I’ve been screwing up for too long.”

To smooth the reintegration process for Robinett and 113 other incarcerated people, the Metropolitan Police Department’s Detention Services Division organized a resource fair in an empty, fourth-floor housing unit occupied by representatives from various social services organizations, corrections officer Todd Laird said. Additional resources were available for 27 veterans, he added.

The inmates received guidance on how to obtain housing, health care, education, job training, food resources, as well as basic needs the population outside the jail might not think about, such as identification documents.

Shuffling the pamphlets Robinett had collected, she said she was going to apply for housing and health care programs, as well as petition to receive identification and social security cards as well as her birth certificate.

“I’ve never been offered this before,” she said. “This is new.”

Laird would have much appreciated Robinett’s comments, which she gave to reporters.

“I just found my passion here. It’s what I enjoy doing,” he said about his 15 years as a corrections officer and the nearly five years he served in civilian roles at the jail before he signed up for the police academy. “I get overwhelmed with individuals that go, ‘I now have hope when i’m getting out of jail.’”

This was the eighth resource fair organized by the jail’s services division since 2019, and the fourth this year. The division plans on hosting another event before Christmas, Laird said.

The events are planned through the “Cares” program, which is short for “Connecting Access to Resources for Entering Society.”

Some of the participating providers have assisted since the beginning, said Laird, touting the community-centric effort.

“It’s amazing the amount of services that are in our community that people don’t know about,” he said. “And this provides them an opportunity to sit in front of somebody.”

Robinett relocated to the valley from Michigan as a 17-year-old girl, she said. From age 18 on, she has always been in trouble with the law.

“It’s always been drugs,” she said. “Drugs always brought me here.”

But she is looking forward to a new, drug-free life, she said. “I’m just tired of that, tired of having to deal with that.”

Robinett, whose latest arrest came in July, said she imagines a pleasant Thanksgiving Day dinner with her children - ages 9, 11 and 14 - and her boyfriend.

What would she tell her other incarcerated people about the available resources?

“It’s amazing,” she said.

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @rickytwrites.