Guest Article: Can We Break the Cycle? A New Approach to Rural Jail Services

Carol Mills Executive Director of Newaygo County Mental Health

By Carol Mills

Over the last several years, there has been growing debate around the best approach to public safety. Should we hire more police officers? Or replace them with social workers? The truth is, we need both. A balanced public safety strategy combines compassion, support, and treatment.

To truly break the cycles of poverty, addiction, mental illness, and crime, we must begin where these struggles often converge: in the county jail and court system.

Poverty is frequently generational, passed down like an invisible inheritance. Research shows that a family's likelihood of experiencing poverty increases by 40% if the father is incarcerated. But the damage doesn’t stop there. Upon release, formerly incarcerated individuals face barriers to housing, employment, loans, and transportation. Meanwhile, their children often suffer emotionally, academically, and socially—continuing the cycle.

Many inmates are not violent criminals but individuals struggling with untreated trauma, mental illness, and substance use disorders. Unfortunately, these conditions often go unaddressed in the traditional jail system.

A Model for Reform in Newaygo County
Newaygo County is a small rural county in Western Michigan, with a population around 50,000 people.   It is rural in nature, and draws summer vacationers to its rivers and lakes.   The Newaygo County Jail is also an authorized site to hold federal prisoners, which normally comprise more than 50 percent of the inmate population.
Newaygo County is proving that change is possible. A strong partnership between Newaygo County Mental Health and the Newaygo County Sheriff’s Office is paving the way for a new, more effective approach—one that prioritizes both public safety and human dignity.

Newaygo County Mental Health has long provided crisis intervention, therapy and suicide prevention services inside the jail. But recent expansions, with the goal of reducing relapse and recidivism into the jail are showing great promise.  Additional staff have been dedicated to the services offered in the jail, including:

• Two full-time therapists, providing individual therapy to inmates suffering from trauma, anxiety, depression, and addiction.
• A full-time social worker embedded within the Sheriff’s Department, available to respond to community crises, conduct follow-up welfare visits, and support individuals and families struggling with mental health or substance use in real time.
• Neurofeedback to treat inmates with a history of addiction
• Substance Use Recovery coaching prior to discharge, including community services post-incarceration.

Bringing Innovation Behind Bars: Neurofeedback Therapy
Newaygo County is at the forefront of innovation in their incorporation of neurofeedback into jail-based treatment. Neurofeedback is a science-backed, non-invasive brain training therapy that helps individuals regulate brain activity, reduce emotional dysregulation, and improve decision-making skills. For those with PTSD, ADHD, anxiety, or substance use disorders, neurofeedback can be life-changing.
When integrated into serving individuals who are incarcerated, neurofeedback helps inmates manage stress and trauma, improve self-regulation, and help prepare them for more effective engagement in therapy, recovery, and reintegration into the community.

Historically, over the last five years, nearly 80 percent of inmates that completed the neurofeedback program while in jail have not been re-arrested for drug related offenses.  

Recovery Coaching: Lived Experience, Real Support
Another key piece of the puzzle is recovery coaching. Recovery coaches are people who have walked the path of addiction and come out the other side. Their lived experience provides powerful, authentic support for individuals just beginning their own recovery journey.

Recovery coaches start working with individuals while they are still incarcerated—building trust and motivation early—and then continue supporting them through reentry into the community. This continuity of care is crucial for reducing recidivism and improving long-term outcomes.

Positive Outcomes Through Healing, Not Just Punishment
Public safety isn't only about responding to crime—it's about preventing it by addressing the root causes and social issues.  This requires investments in law enforcement and in the mental health professionals who can help break these cycles before they lead to another arrest or probation violation.

Newaygo County is showing what’s possible when we work together—law enforcement, therapists, recovery coaches, and social workers—to support individuals, families, and the community as a whole.

Can we break the cycle? Yes.
But it requires vision, courage, and commitment from everyone involved.
The good news? It’s already happening in Newaygo County.

Ms. Mills is the Executive Director of Newaygo County Mental Health

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