Halfway house closes in Charlotte, leaving questions for residents, officials

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Frank DeSimone can't believe that the halfway house at Charlotte's McLeod Center is closing.

“You can't ask someone to pay their debt to society and then when they pay, continue to kick them,” DeSimone said. “It's a problem.”

DeSimone said the McLeod Center's Residential Reentry Program helped him and many others re-assimilate into society and connect to resources.

He served four years in prison for conspiracy to commit securities fraud.

Officials at the center said they can't get any straight answers as to why it’s closing.

Executive Director Mary Ward said last fall, the Federal Bureau of Prisons abruptly stopped referring people to the center even after her team expanded. They also invested in a new building that can house 130 people.

“I began reaching out not only to our state BOP officials but also began talking and trying to get hold of people further up the BOP chain of command,” Ward said. “By April, we were not getting returned phone calls. I was not getting returned emails.”

“I'm really, really upset ... that this did not happen with the federal government,” she said. “There is something deeper there that we don't know.”

The agency can no longer financially sustain this part of its operation.

“This is not a decision that we made lightly,” Ward said. “I struggled with it. Our board struggled with (it.) We didn't want to do this. We didn't want to step away from this work.

DeSimone said what McLeod Center offered wasn't broken. He believes the goal should be to somehow try to revive it and not change it.

“If we just keep the existing system in place and use it, it would be quicker, faster, easier, less expensive for the taxpayer and for the individuals coming home,” DeSimone said.

He is now back on his feet working on projects to help former inmates find housing, jobs and transportation to fill the gap.

Without that support, he said some will feel forced to go the wrong way.

“They end up making substandard choices and hasty decisions because they are in survival mode and possibly recidivate and commit more crimes,” DeSimone said.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons denied Channel 9’s request for an interview, but officials said they are looking for a replacement agency to provide re-entry services in Charlotte.

Facilities in Michigan, South Carolina and Tennessee have seen drop-in referrals too.

A Salvation Army in Asheville is also closing its halfway house.

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