TAPP gets cut - Albany (GA) Herald

ALBANY — A statewide program developed in Albany to help mentally ill parolees make the transition from prison to community is the latest casualty of Department of Human Resources budget cuts.

“I understand that there’s a shortfall, and we’ve got to have some cuts. But it doesn’t seem right — one of the few programs that actually pays for itself, they’re going to cut out,” said Ron Braswell, Director of Transition and Aftercare for Probationers and Parolees, or TAPP, for Albany Advocacy Resource Center.

The No. 23 priority on a budget reduction plan for DHR’s Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Addictive Diseases is to eliminate state funding for TAPP, approximately $1.01 million, effective Sept. 30.

The Department of Corrections paid for a 14-county TAPP pilot program in the early 2000s, with services provided under the auspices of AARC.

Within a couple of years, the agency’s demonstrated success at keeping probationers and parolees from re-offending saw it expanded to communities all around the state, Braswell said.

Just this year, AARC’s TAPP program has served 532 men and 268 women with disorders ranging from depression to schizophrenia and intermittent explosive disorder, in a region that spans more than 60 counties, according to a TAPP report. A partner organization serves clients elsewhere in the state.

“When these guys are released, they have $25, prison-made underwear, a prison-made hat, a prison-made T-shirt, and if it’s cold, a prison-made jacket,” Braswell said.

“They have 30 days’ worth of mental health medication. That, and a bus ticket to the closest town where there’s a bus station.”

With a Department of Corrections referral, the parolees also have the phone number of a TAPP case manager, he said.

TAPP staffers make sure parolees have their medications, identification and other critical items, and make appointments with doctors if they need to, Braswell said.

“If I suspect drug use, I’m going to tell the probation or parole officer,” he said. “Or I might say ‘hey, everything’s going really well.’ It’s like having another set of eyes on these guys.”

Fortunately, Albany ARC has found funding to sustain TAPP for a 14-county Southwest Georgia region through December, but work by 18-20 TAPP staffers elsewhere around the state ceases Sept. 30.

TAPP is the first of multiple human services programs under AARC’s umbrella to take a direct hit from DHR budget cuts, AARC Executive Director Annette Bowling said.

“You’re taking away a cost-effective program in this state, and putting them in the most costly service, which is prisons,” Bowling said.

TAPP will hang on with AARC funding in Albany until the General Assembly convenes and hopefully, with Bowling’s urging, finds a way to restore funding for TAPP.