Ep. 256 — Nneka Jones Tapia

The Axe Files with David Axelrod

CNN

News

4.6 • 7.7K Ratings

🗓️ 2 July 2018

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia is a clinical psychologist who in 2015 became the Executive Director of the Cook County Jail, the largest jail in America. She was the first mental health professional to run a jail in the US. The Cook County Sheriff calls the jail the largest mental health institution in the country. Nneka joins David to discuss her own experience growing up with an incarcerated father, her time at the Cook County Jail, and her new role with Chicago Beyond, where she will focus on how to better support children with incarcerated parents.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	And now, from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN, the Axviles, with your
0:12.5	host, David Axelrod.
0:17.5	You know we're bombarded with a lot of grinding negative stories these days, and then you run
0:22.8	into someone like Nika Jones Tapia, who is a great American story.
0:28.2	He's a young person she faced at adversity, and that experienced helped prod her to become
0:33.5	an impactful force in helping others in need.
0:37.4	She made history as the warden of the Cook County jail, the country's largest jail.
0:41.8	What made that most noteworthy is that Nika is a clinical psychologist, not a corrections
0:46.7	officer, and she dealt with the very significant mental health needs of the population that
0:52.6	passed through that jail.
0:54.2	I sat down with her the other day to talk about these challenges in a country where incarceration
0:59.7	with all its collateral damages is a major social challenge.
1:05.8	Nika Jones Tapia, so good to see you again.
1:10.4	You were a splendid fellow at the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago this
1:16.9	spring, but we didn't get a chance to sit down and talk about your whole story, which
1:23.8	is an inspiring one.
1:25.8	But tell me about your upbringing in North Carolina.
1:31.3	What's the name of your town?
1:33.0	Gryfton, Gryfton, North Carolina.
1:35.0	So it's a pretty small town in eastern North Carolina population of about 2,500 individuals.
1:44.4	It's about one and a half square miles altogether.
1:48.9	So pretty small, one stoplight, one grocery store.
	...

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