Mecklenburg County jail expands Spanish-language classes to address substance abuse, trauma

Inside a classroom at the Mecklenburg County Detention Center, a group of Latino men sits behind rows of tables discussing the choices that brought them there.

Leading the discussion is Mateo Flores of the Center for Prevention Services, a Charlotte nonprofit that provides substance use prevention and behavioral health programs designed for Latino communities. In partnership with that group, the detention center launched a Spanish-language program earlier this year to help Latino inmates address substance use, trauma and family relationships while incarcerated.

Flores has led the classes four days a week since January.

"For them, it's a really huge opportunity,” Flores said. “Not just to learn something new, but also to navigate the process of — I call them the healing process — because somehow they feel like they don't have the right, or they don't have the support, just because they don't have the language."

The program includes classes on behavioral change, parenting and trauma recovery.

"We talk about trauma, difficult experiences, the reasons or the factors that they had when they did something, like a little mistake, or a huge mistake,” Flores said. “And what is going to be the process to just recognize that, and what you're going to do after that incident in your life."

One participant, who has been in custody for six months, told WFAE the classes have helped him understand how childhood experiences continue to affect him today. WFAE agreed not to identify inmates interviewed for this story to protect their privacy and avoid affecting their cases.

He said the program has helped him recognize emotions he never learned how to manage.

"I didn't know how to control my anger," he said. "Little by little, they're teaching us how to control ourselves, how to look at the problems we carry inside our hearts, how to express ourselves in a positive way and become better people."

More than 200 Latinos are currently housed at the Mecklenburg County Detention Center, accounting for about 10% of the facility's population.

While the detention center already offered some services for Spanish-speaking inmates, officials said there were no such programs specifically focused on substance use prevention, trauma education and family relationships.

"We do recognize that there are needs with the Spanish-speaking population that we have not been able to fulfill," said Evelyn McGill, assistant director of detention programs. "We thought it was important that we have a partner that could assist with that, being able to teach the classes, maybe even educating us sometimes on how best to interact."

Flores said teaching entirely in Spanish creates a level of trust that is difficult to replicate through translation.

"They really appreciate the time, and with someone that can express some ideas, some methodologies in their own language," Flores said. "It's basically like the space where they say, 'I can be and I can feel myself in here.'"

The classes also create a sense of community among participants.

"Everyone shares their own experiences, and from those experiences each person learns a little more," the inmate interviewed by WFAE said. "We learn not to make the same mistakes again and to support one another."

Detention Program Manager Arvis Williams said the goal is to give participants tools they can use long after they’re released.

"The vast majority of individuals in this facility will be released again back into the community," Williams said. "So it's a question of what do you want released back to the community? Someone who was marginalized and ignored, or someone who was actually programmed, and with various programs in various languages to address the needs of our society.”