Blue Ridge Court Services Case Study

Gideon and Sung (2011, p. 9) suggest that prisoners who have extensive criminal histories, abuse drugs and or alcohol, and who are unemployed are more likely to reoffend and have reentry problems. With that in mind, a successful reentry program should target for change those who are considered a high risk, should involve

“The Prison and Probation Service has two main goals: To contribute to the reduction of criminality, and to work to increase safety in society. To achieve these goals we work with sentenced persons in order to improve their possibilities of living a life without committing new crimes.” (Linstrom and Leijonram)

McLennan County Reintegration Program is formed around the idea of reducing the recidivism rate in the community. The agency program has two phases. Many of the agencies, consumers originate from the jail-based program at the McLennan County Jail. The consumers begin the first phase of the program by requesting to be a part of the program using a kiosk system, after the kiosk request is received the inmate is then placed on a waiting list. Once the inmate is selected from the wait list they are given an application to complete and return. When the inmate is selected to become a part of the program they begin the intake process. Lastly, the inmate begins the program that consists of group meetings and individual sessions that involves a treatment plan. After the client is released from the county jail or state prison the client then follows up with Reintegration and begins the community-based phase. Some clients apply and participate in the program while they are incarcerated in the McLennan County Jail. Once released the same clients are given encouragement to attend and often choose to

According to Jones, the most challenging aspect of ODRC’s goal of reducing recidivism is employment of individuals once they are released from their institution back into the community. This relates back to the views of the community in that, much of society does not want to associate with ex-offenders. This includes within employment. Individuals who have been incarcerated have a much harder time finding employment than do most others due to their record. However, according to Jones, ODRC is combating this by creating connections with area employers who are willing to employ ex-offenders. Connections such as these, along with other connections with churches and reentry coalitions, are extremely useful for ODRC and a crucial contributor to its efforts. They assist in providing support and care for individuals reentering the community.

Overall, the reintegration of prisoners has been a long standing problem in our justice system that has simply not been properly addressed. This issue poses a problem to the prison system, prisoners, and taxpayers in that the failure to rehabilitate inmate becomes a burden on all three. In order to combat this problem, we need to implement a national prisoner reintegration program that focuses heavily on equipping released prisoners with vocational assistance and support systems that are geared towards each individual’s success in transitioning back into society. From a feasibility standpoint, the costs of such program would be mild in comparison to its overwhelming benefits. For the most part, funding would come from reallocating money from the largely ineffective corrections department and would have little to no cost to the taxpayer and the resources such a labor can for be extended from preexisting programs already in place. Overall this issue influences every member of our society in one way, shape, or form, as citizens and taxpayers we need to advocate for this reintegration program because it ultimately reduces the societal burdens caused by recidivism

The Federal Bureau of Prisons contracts with Residential Re-entry Centers (RRCFs), also known as halfway houses, to provide assistance to inmates who are nearing release. Traditional RRCF’s provide a structured, supervised environment offering employment assistance and preparation, clinical counseling, mentoring and other services; ergo, each halfway house is unique in regards to the programs offered and the type of clients they serve. As a prisoner re-entry program, halfway houses help inmates to progressively repair their relationship to the community and expedite supervising the offenders' activities during this rehabilitation stage. This dissertation is dedicated to examining Dismas House of Kansas City Missouri (DHKC).

It would be our jail advantage to develop and address the re-entry program to help in the recidivism in the county jail. If these issues address it could help with the overcrowding of the jail population by implementing programs that will assist them in their criminal behavior. However, some state such as Nevada assist offender who is homeless by placing them in a reentry program to assist them with housing and another service that meets their criteria (Schmalleger, F. & Smykia, J., 2016). Therefore using these resource could possibly give this offender a sense security in a shelter environment and not on the street.

To meet these challenges Unlimited Second Chances has developed a comprehensive system navigation and linkage program in effort to increase access to needed public health, behavioral health, and/or social services. Working in collaboration with various community- based organizations, healthcare services, and local social services etc. Unlimited Second Chance will provide individuals formerly incarcerated with access to much needed resources in order to appropriately reintegrate back into their communities. However, although Suffolk, Franklin, Southhampton County and Isle of Wight offers a variety of programs that assist ex-offenders with reintegration many are simply inundated with the connecting process. Therefore, the comprehensive system

Taking place in the State of New York in 2005, the Greenlight project an 8-week, prison based reentry program concentrating on key issues of housing, employment, and drug treatment. Program participants were transported to the Queensboro Correctional facility between 60 to 90 days before their slated release. The program counselors relied heavily on cognitive-behavioral treatment to change anti-social thinking. Job readiness training was utilized as well as lessons in budgeting, using public transportation, and finding housing (Wilson and Davis 2006). This program was seemingly attractive to the public and lawmakers due to its intended goal and its relatively small

Second Chance Program is incredible, and I have learned a lot from this organization. The strengths and resources that Second Chance Program offers is life-changing; also, this organization gave me a voice to help inmates who lose hope after being released from prison. Hope should not be lost, because there are programs out there. The community research paper was agitating because of many issues involving with prisons and the prison system being the second largest profit of this nation. The prison system enlightens me, but made me love the Second Chance Program even more because it’s truly help inmates to conquer life obstacles. I have learned more about myself from this program, and the possibility to strive to become a correctional counselor.

In our prison system today, they want to ensure the safety of the community by keeping the offenders incarcerated while some are in rehabilitation. The prison administration are devoted to help to improve the opportunities for offenders such

As a citizen, a member of my community, and a taxpayer, I greatly admire the work that probation officers and other members of our corrections system do for our society. However, I do not believe enough is being done. Recidivism is “a person 's relapse into criminal behavior, often after the person receives sanctions or undergoes intervention for a previous crime” (National Institute of Justice, 2014). Recidivism is an important measure of program success. The entire purpose of the corrections system is to prevent further crime by providing a punishment for past crimes and rehabilitation for criminal ways of living. If the corrections system does not meet these goals, the recidivism rate will increase. Thus, probation must be highly efficient in order to battle the recidivism rate.

The researches conducted face-to-face interviews with 41 people, 16 of whom were inmates. The first round of interviews was in 2012. The researcher asked participants for their views about the program more specifically, what their thoughts were on the strengths and weakness of the program. The second round of research began in 2013 but had a different approach, more of a narrative approach. Several months after the first rounds of evaluation, the staff decided that the institution should be closed and that only inmates deemed ready for the experience should be invited to participate. After deciding this they ran screening interviews with potential participants, many of whom had attended the initial group. Based on the interviews the staff chose a group of inmates who were read to accept responsibility for what they had done and to learn more about the effects of their crimes. All of the participants chosen were by

Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy announced a series of initiatives which aim to reintegrate ex-offenders into society. The Second Chance Society initiative combines legislative changes to sentencing and parole procedures with a program to help ex-offenders obtain employment upon release and programs to divert individuals away from the criminal justice system prior to receiving a prison sentence. The employment program is modeled off of Washington’s I-Best program, which combines employment training with intensive basic education for adults. The initiative will also include a school-based diversion program, which seeks to reduce suspensions, expulsions and arrests in the K-12 system, and a housing program for frequent users of substance abuse,

It is a late summer morning and without air conditioning the environment at the not-for-profit law center, Northern County Legal Services (NCLS), is reminiscent of an overcrowded Department of Motor Vehicle office. The center does not have a variety of comfortable places to sit as chairs were donated or purchased. The aesthetics of the center, the lack of efficiency, and the frustration of the volunteers surely sets a negative tone for the customers who are already frustrated due to their legal woes. Customers are there to receive assistance with domestic violence, employment, family or housing law. Tempers flare among surly but needy customers who often are forced to wait past their