Our Mission and Motivation

Our Mission
The John R. Hay House, Inc. is a non-profit corporation, founded on Christian principles, whose mission is to assist qualified convicted offenders in developing the skills and sense of responsibility needed to be productive members of society, while providing for a safe and secure community.It is the philosophy of Hay House Inc. that criminal behavior is a learned trait and therefore those individuals who want to change their lives can be helped to do so.It is our intent to provide cost efficient and effective treatment to our clients and to provide for a safe and secure community.

Our Motivation
In the late 1970's, two lawsuits were filed by Tennessee inmates challenging the constitutionality of the prison system. These lawsuits were finally resolved in 1982 with a Federal Court Order requiring Tennessee to reduce the population of the prisons. A further order in 1983 put a halt to intakes and admissions until the inmate population was reduced to 7,044 or fewer prisoners. As a result, local jails began to get backed up with state prisoners and they became overcrowded as well. In 1989 the county jails became involved in similar lawsuits and were ordered by the Eastern District Federal Court to remedy the situation.The governor of Tennessee initiated two specific actions to alleviate the problem of overcrowding. One was to allocate five million dollars to fund a number of demonstration projects in community alternative to incarceration and the other was to form the Corrections Overcrowding Commission to develop legislation on community alternatives to prisons.In December of 1985 the Tennessee Community Corrections Act was passed and a portion of the demonstration project money was designated for Sullivan County. The Hay House Program was designed to be a community-managed correction program and not just another community-based program, such as probation and parole. The main difference between the two programs is that community-managed programs are for offenders who would otherwise be in prison due to the fact that the nature of their offense or their numerous past convictions prohibited them from placement on probation. also Lauren (1998) relates that community-managed corrections includes human services to be offered in non-institutional settings.Even though the establishment of community corrections programs aided in relieving overcrowding conditions, the problem is far from being solved due to the escalating rise in crime. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics National Update (1993) the number of state prisoners across America was 778,569, a 3.4% increase from January 1992. The John R. Hay House, Inc. has endeavored to supervise offenders according to state and local policies as well as to provide treatment for whatever problems or difficulties they may be experiencing.Since the John R. Hay House acquired its first offender in January of 1981, there have been numerous changes, both in the referral population and the specialized treatment needs of the offenders.Due to the vast number of cuts in mental health funding, many more people with significant psychological problems are ending p in the correctional system and, ultimately, being referred to Hay House, in order to obtain mental health treatment. While Hay House staff had received adequate training regarding treatment issues, much of their time was spent supervising offenders and keeping up with the required paperwork. Case managers made appropriate referrals whenever necessary to local agencies such as mental health centers, substance abuse centers, and GED classes. Unfortunately, many times offenders were placed on long waiting lists at local mental health centers. In addition, offenders were reluctant to deal with yet another social service agency and often would get "lost" between the Hay House program and wherever they had been referred. It was obvious that adjustments in the program would be necessary if Hay House continued to divert people from prison on a long term basis. The intensive, in-house treatment offered by Hay House, and the four components of the Day Reporting Center continue to meet the needs of each individual offender and therefore reduce the probability of recidivism as well as help them lead healthier, happier lives.It is realistic to assume that many client needs out-weigh the ability of our staff to aid them, chronically disabled and chronically mentally ill clients are not appropriate candidates for this program due to the gravity of their special needs.