Problems in Halfway houses

According to a report by Florida’s Tampa Bay Times in 2012, it looks like halfway houses in that state also have many problems, which also include failure to properly screen those who operate re-entry facilities. One such operator, Troy Anthony Charles, had a massive criminal record before he went into the halfway house business. He said he was there to offer addicts and alcoholics a safe, sober environment to stay in while helping them find jobs and get counseling.

However, a former resident, John Lees, stated that the program was “a scam” and Charles was “using the money he gets from funding to buy drugs,” according to a St. Petersburg police report in February 2012. Shortly after that, Charles shot one of his halfway house residents, killing him, and returned to jail to face murder charges. The incident unveiled that just about anyone could open a halfway house in Florida as there is hardly any regulation; the sheer number of people being released from prisons and jails every day makes a huge market opportunity for unscrupulous halfway house operators.

Transitional housing offers the promise of meals, a bed, job placement assistance, and an opportunity for substance abuse therapy. According to the Tampa Bay Times, a lot of halfway houses “are large, professionally managed facilities that normally deliver what they promise. But a lot of others are a little more than flophouses that cram residents into two or three per room in dingy quarters with no job assistance, no trained employees, and no support.”

A lot of the latter halfway houses are operated by people “with serious criminal records, which include robbery, sexual assault, and drug trafficking. One operator was barred permanently from a federal housing program due to improper billing, yet was able to start a fresh halfway house that is getting thousands of dollars from the same program,” the Times reported. Drug abuse is spread widely, with residents being taken to the hospital or some even dying from overdoses.

Astoundingly, state officials do not need halfway houses to be licensed, because of which it is impossible to keep track of such incidents. As a matter of fact, without licensing, there is no way to find out how many halfway houses are really being operated in Florida.

“We’ve been informed that there are several thousands of those around the state at any one time,” said Darran Duchene, who oversaw federally-funded halfway houses when he was working for the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF). “They should be regulated from a business standpoint and then from a social service standpoint.”

A lot of halfway houses are ordinary-looking homes on quiet suburban streets. According to the Times, “There are halfway house programs in apartment complexes, old motels and buildings once used as assisted living facilities for the elderly. Few of which have signs out front.”

“[Halfway houses] keep popping up,” stated Ramona Schaefer, a Pinellas County sheriff’s supervisor who is a helper in finding houses for released prisoners. “My concern is, what are their intentions? There are many people who truly want to help. But then there are others whose intentions are not very pure.”

The amount of money that is available for transitional housing has fueled issues with halfway houses in Florida, and so has the increase in addictions caused by prescription drug abuse. Real estate investors stung in the housing market bust have figured out that they could make larger profits by running such facilities, noting that with two individuals per room, a three-bedroom house could produce a cash flow of up to $3,000 per month – all of which would be paid for by the government.

Starting in 2003, a good-intentioned federal program known as Access to Recovery (ATR) invested $150 million into treatment for addicts that were recovering. This helped drive the trend. As noted by the Times, “$30 million in federal funds has gone to Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and several other Florida counties, a lot of it for transitional housing. Almost 300 halfway houses qualified for the money initially.”

William Garrison, a former drug user, opened New Birth Abundant Life Ministry and made more than $300,000 in ATR funds before being banned from the program. According to residents, Garrison made them pay $50 a week for food although he received federal funding for meals. They also claimed that Garrison cursed and touched them non-consensually with “strong sexual overtones,” a state report found.

The House of Hope in St. Petersburg, another program that qualified for ATR funds, was run by Patrick Jay Banks, an ex-offender that served eight years in Texas for forgery and robbery. When he was investigated, it was found that Banks was a part of the “most egregious case of fraud, waste, and abuse” among Florida halfway houses, submitting bills for residents even before they had arrived at the houses he managed. He made over $110,000 before being booted out of the federal ATR program.

However, Banks spoke to the Times, telling them that he had opened a new reentry facility, Agape House, which had received $55,000 in federal funds. Banks’ name, however, did not appear on Agape’s ATR application.

DCF, which oversees the federal ATR program, said it was not aware of Banks’ involvement in Agape House and was going to investigate. Halfway house owners and employees need to undergo criminal background checks and the houses must meet certain codes in order to qualify for federal funding. Most of the re-entry facilities in Florida do not receive federal funds, due to which they are poorly regulated.

Emily Rifkin was one of a minimum of three people who have overdosed and died in Tampa Bay halfway houses. In November 2010, Rifkin, 25, was a struggling addict which had her sent to prison for eight months. A judge gave her permission to go to a halfway house while she waited for a residential treatment program to have an opening.

Rifkin was found to be violating the rules at the first facility which had her move to a house on Okaloosa Street, where she supposedly was to be supervised more. But a police report on the Times said, “that obvious signs of trouble were ignored the day she died.” A roommate thought Rifkin seemed a little crazy, but did not do anything to help. After six hours the house manager, who herself is an addict, saw Rifkin on the bathroom floor sitting, yet did not intervene. It was not until Rifkin had stopped breathing later that a roommate called 911, but by that time it was too late. An accidental overdose of oxycodone had killed Rifkin.

Shelton Jones, the house’s owner, had turned it into a re-entry facility with the help of Linda Walker, who is in charge of the nonprofit Hillsborough House of Hope, a transitional program for women. Walker is also in charge of a profitable business to help individuals in forming halfway houses. Walker and Jones claimed that they were not responsible for Rifkin’s death. “I feel upset she died,” Walker stated, “but a lot of individuals die in recovery.”

There were no trained employees at the Okaloosa Street house and no routine tests for drugs and alcohol. A year before Rifkin’s death, two residents that were male overdosed on methadone and died in another unregulated halfway house.

Following an attempted suicide and a short stay at a private mental health facility, Leisha Simpson needed a safe environment. She took the decision to go to Still Standing in St. Petersburg, as the website of the program said it provided a “safe haven” with counseling and 12-step meetings.

Instead of what she expected, Simpson paid $500 a month for a bed in a roach-infested house with about four other women, one of whom did drugs there and had sex with men in the shared bedroom. She filed police reports after her credit cards, TV, and medications were stolen. Another resident also assaulted her.

Rev. Edward Leftwich, who was the founder of Still Standing, said he could not maintain a sober living program because of his old age and federal funds started to run out. He admitted he shouldn’t have left his website out there to the world with inaccurate information.

Another halfway house operator, Pamela Dixon, visited detox facilities and public agencies in Pinellas for the promotion of her program called ‘A New Direction for Women and Men.’ Public defender Bob Dillinger started to send clients with alcohol issues to Dixon’s facility, unaware that a requirement was to have residents with filled prescriptions from a pharmacy that also sells wine and beer. The same Tampa-based group owned the pharmacy and the New Direction house.

“I do find it questionable,” Dillinger said when informed about the connection. He said Dixon had agreed to not deal with the pharmacy.

Florida officials have found that it is tough to overlook the thousands of halfway houses in the state given the present law and lax regulations. “We regulate thousands of child care facilities across the state with no issues” noted DCF spokeswoman Erin Gillespie. “We are certainly up to the task if the law were to change.”

However, there hasn’t been much political will to monitor halfway houses and make sure they deliver the programs and services they promise. A bill introduced by Florida State Senator Jeff Clemens to regulate halfway houses and sober houses, SB 582, died in committee in April 2014; a similar bill introduced the year before had also failed to pass.

Thus, it is easy for individuals like Troy Anthony Charles, a convicted felon, to get into the business of halfway houses. Charles moved to Florida after serving three years for aggravated assault in Arizona and started Back to Life Outreach Recovery Services over there. He rented a house, put bunk beds in the living room, and charged $125 a week.

A resident by the name of John Lees had served jail time for drug-related offenses. “At first it was presented to me, like, if you need a place to stay and recover from addiction, you could stay there,” he stated. “Then he attempted to get me to sell drugs to him.” Lees also said Charles abused cocaine and talked about getting girls on drugs so he could change them into prostitutes.

Lees moved out but afterward came back to pick up some personal property. Charles accused Lees and a resident at the house, Samuel Harper, of burglary. Prosecutors rejected filing charges against the men and, while a subsequent confrontation in April 2012 was ongoing, Charles shot Harper in the head, killing him. Charles, who was known to have had an interest in Harper’s girlfriend which might have contributed to the shooting, was convicted of first-degree murder in July 2014. He was given a life sentence without parole.