A Utah nonprofit is using a crucial tool to keep people out of jail and prison

Murray • It’s early March and Channae Haller is embarking on her third car ride of the day. As she backs out of a parking lot, she glances in her rearview mirror, where several air fresheners hang: a mushroom, Harry Styles, and one that reads “Good Vibes.”

Haller’s black Hyundai Sante Fe — akin to Mary Poppins’ bag — has a trunk stocked with just about everything someone might need: hand warmers for the chilly almost-spring air, ponchos for the inevitable almost-spring rain, and books, snacks, dog food and knitted hats for anyone who needs them.

“[I] always run into someone who needs something,” Haller explains as she begins to cruise along Interstate 15 in Murray. Recognizing the needs of others has become the backbone of the nonprofit Haller founded in 2021 called Justice by Objectives.

The organization supports formerly incarcerated people through peer support. A lot of that work looks like driving clients to different places, which is why Haller’s already completed two trips before this, where she took clients to court appearances in Ogden.

“I started this because I saw a lot of the imperfections within the criminal justice system,” said Haller, who has served time in jail herself.

While serving her sentence, Haller said, she taught fellow inmates to read. After she was released, she went back weekly to visit the women she became friends with. One thing she noticed: People in jail didn’t realize that there are “actual resources out there for them” when they got out.

“No one was advocating for these individuals,” Haller said, “so now I want to advocate with them, use their voice [and] my voice together.”

The power of peer support

On a typical day, Haller does five to six drives with clients.

On this early March drive, she’s heading to pick up 66-year-old Bonnie Garcia, who is disabled, and has been volunteering with the nonprofit for a year. Haller has given Garcia choices on what she can do today: make crafts or help Utahns experiencing homelessness.

Garcia chose the latter because she was homeless for three years.

“It took that long for me to find out how to get a place,” Garcia said. “I’m passionate about my friends that are on the streets suffering.”

Haller makes a quick pit stop at Walmart, where she buys $322 worth of supplies that the pair will hand out to people at Liberty Park. Bags of socks, underwear, water and protein bars are put into the trunk like Tetris blocks.

By the time they get to Liberty Park, the sun is peeking through clouds and illuminating the tall trees as they set up a table with their supplies.

“I see people that were in the same spot that I was in,” Garcia said, resting against her walker. She hopes that the people they interact with that day will pay it forward.

Justice By Objectives currently serves 55 clients across Salt Lake, Weber and Cache counties. The nonprofit engages in peer support by creating care packages for “justice-involved individuals” leaving incarceration — either jail or prison — and through individualized case management.

For Garcia, who has a history with substance abuse, that looks like volunteering once a week with Haller.

For others, it may look like getting assistance to find housing, employment or insurance. It may mean being driven to court appearances or attorney visits. Each client’s plan looks different, but the ultimate goal is to help prevent recidivism and keep people out of trouble.

Partnering with state prisons

Utah Department of Corrections Lt. James Demkov, who supervises the team that helps inmates re-enter society, said prison officials have looked at how they can better serve inmates who leave their facilities.

One of those ways, he said, is by offering more peer support.

Demkov said the department has worked with Haller and her organization, particularly when it comes to some individual clients, and that he’s seen the difference the nonprofit’s strategies can make.

Though Demkov and his colleagues can give people leaving prison advice and pathways, he said someone with lived experience can connect with them more directly. In short, they have credibility.

“[A peer support specialist] can speak from a point of actual experience and understanding that I can’t speak from,” he said. “I can’t speak from an actual experience of being incarcerated or having an addiction, or any of those kind of things.”

The hardest part of getting people on the right path, Demkov said, is getting them to buy in.

“I could have the best plan in the world, but if they don’t see me as credible, or see me as someone that doesn’t understand what they’re going through, or what they’ve been through,” he said, “then it makes that message a lot harder to deliver.”

Haller has certifications for family peer support and as a general peer support specialist through the Department of Health of Human Services, she said. Her training was completed through Utah State University.

“When someone has lived experience, whether it be through mental health condition, substance use disorder or criminal justice involvement, that rapport gets built up so quickly,” Haller said, “because you have that common factor right there and immediately they feel that trust, and you can advocate with that individual and help them through different struggles.”

Tools and phone calls

In her years running the nonprofit, Haller said the wins for her clients all look different. For one, it’s simply taking their medication consistently. For another, it’s helping them picture their dreams of becoming a public speaker by taking them to a county council meeting.

“The most rewarding is when someone actually finds their purpose,” she said, “and then all of a sudden you see this beam of light come back into them.”

Justice by Objectives also hosts training sessions for clients. This spring, there was a financial empowerment luncheon, where speakers from the Utah Department of Corrections and Community Development Corp. of Utah gave presentations on budget management and other financial tools.

Clients filled out worksheets about financial goals. One person shared that their goal was to pay off all their credit cards, while others, like Bree Wiggins, had goals closer to their hearts.

She wants to save up to accomplish a “lifelong dream.”

“I want to move to a new apartment that allows pets, and then I want to get an Abyssinian cat,” said Wiggins, who met Haller when she was looking for financial and mental health resources.

Sometimes, peer support looks like answering the phone. Or just talking things out.

Adrian Gordon, who insists he was wrongfully incarcerated, served 23 ½ years and was released last year. Haller has helped him adjust to regular life.

“When you have somebody that goes through that type of mental and spiritual stripping, it’s very hard to go from that to out here, where the entire culture is different,” he said. “So if you don’t have somebody you could vibe with and they just get you, everything’s going to be uncomfortable.”

Gordon said Haller has helped him find new employment opportunities, as well as listened to him as he adjusts back to life outside prison.

Through running Justice by Objectives, Haller said she’s found her life’s purpose.

“We need to help these individuals. Or how are they ever going to be successful if we are not gearing them up for success?” she said. “I just want everyone to know [that] these people are just like you. We’re all human.”

Note to readers • This story is available to Salt Lake Tribune subscribers only. Thank you for supporting local journalism.