Posted by Scott Packard on Tue, Jan 05, 2010 @ 03:17 PM
Cory Booker, the Mayor of Newark, NJ, recently released a blog post about breaking the cycle of re-arrest and re-imprisonment in Newark. He acknowledges the need to not only reduce violence and criminal activity in Newark, but to also lessen the taxpayers money when it comes to arresting and detaining these offenders.
Mayor Booker highlights several programs (both bi-partisan by the way) that are helping fight recidivism in Newark and the state of New Jersey. One of the biggest programs is the Newark Prisoner Reentry Initiative (NPRI), which was made possible by the likes of the Manhattan Institute, New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, Nicholson Foundation, and Public/Private Ventures. This program also receives funding from the Labor Department.
NPRI assists qualified offenders with job searches and mentoring and training programs. The program has helped over 600 former offenders and pushed the one year recidivism rate to below 10%, a staggering feat.
Of course, it helps to have vested community partners to make programs such as NPRI work. For example, Newark's local Essex County College hosts a program called Opportunity Reconnect. Opportunity Reconnect is a one-stop reentry center for former offenders by providing government agencies located together on-site to provide access to services such as welfare, Medicaid, housing, health services and family reunification. Also on-site are education, workforce preparation and job placement workshops. Another community partner is ReLeSe, a pro bono group of lawyers that assist former convicts in regaining their driver's licenses.
All these programs are aimed at lowering recidivism and eliminating the cycle of criminality. The NPRI program is still in its incubation stages, but the early results look promising. It will be interesting to review the recidivism rates in five to ten years.
So another question to the readers. What programs exist in your facility to help combat recidivism? Does your community provide something similar to NPRI or anything else that helps former offenders reenter their daily lives?
Do you have any ideas that could help your or other facilities?
Leave a comment below and share your ideas and plans with the corrections community!
Posted by Scott Packard on Wed, Dec 02, 2009 @ 02:47 PM
When does a tax become an illegal tax? Well, that's a loaded question, because if you were to ask 100 people, you would most likely get 100 different responses. In 2004, the Center for Constitutional Rights and prisoners' families sued the New York Department of Correctional Services over what they felt were excessive calling rates for inmates. (According to this NY Times article, the telephone vendor charged $.16/minute plus a $3 surcharge).
In January of 2007, newly elected governor Eliot Spitzer enacted legislation that made it illegal for the NYDOCS to accept correctional telephone commissions, thus reducing the rates charged to inmates and their families. However, the CCR and inmates' families were also asking that they be refunded for the commissions paid to the prisons through high rates, or what they called an illegal tax.
Opponents of telephone commissions say that these rates hinder communication between an inmate and his/her family. By taxing these families, it not only hurts the chances of a successful reintegration in society, but also sets the family back financially substantially.
Proponents of this issue will point out that correctional facilities and entities already operate on a shoestring budget and these commissions help hire and train employees and pay for overtime. In a lot of counties and states, the commissions received can only be used towards an Inmate Welfare Fund (IWF), which helps pay for amenities the inmates use and for educational programs (i.e. GED completion programs, vocational training) that will give an inmate a head start when he/she leaves.
So, I think it's high time for a little social experiment. Let's pretend for a second that I am the Governor of your state (yes, your imagination section of your brain would need to be quite large to comprehend that). Are you for or against commissions? Do you think there is enough middle ground for a consensus compromise that would appease both parties? Leave your comments and thoughts below. I'd like to come back to this issue in a few weeks or months and follow up with everyone's thoughts. Or, if you don't want publicly voice your opinion (or you're shy), email me at spackard@dsiiti.com. I'll promise to keep all info confidential.
Posted by Scott Packard on Wed, Sep 16, 2009 @ 02:52 PM
In my ongoing quest to bring the good news of self sufficiency, I found an article the other day about 1,150 acre farm in Tulare County, California that is able to feed all 1,700 inmates housed in the county.
According to the article, over 3,500 pounds of pork and beef are culled from the farm, as well as 50,000 pounds of vegetables. This entire program is managed by the Tulare County Sheriff's Department.
I, for one, applaud the efforts by the Sheriff's Department to be self-sufficient. There are several positive outcomes for such an endeavor. The biggest benefit is that the County saves money by reducing their dependence on outsourced foods. In today's economic environment, anything that can save cash (big or small) always adds to the bottom line. Taxpayers are happy to see that their taxes can be spent on other items such as funding for police and fire services. Another positive aspect is that this is a valuable learning tool for inmates. Many inmates, unfortunately, are from urbanized areas that don't create an opportunity to realize the many benefits for farming and self-sufficiency. If this experience can teach an inmate about a hard days work and lessen the impact to the taxpayers, then I would call it a win-win.
I think if California, or any other state, wants to cut down on recidivism, then I think it might be valuable to offer a co-op or extension program to help these inmates after they get out. When inmates return home, there are ways to start a small individual or community garden that they can be taught.
The big picture is that to reduce crime, the biggest factors are education and engagement. If we could start a cycle of educating communities about buying locally produced food and engaging them with proper tools to keep the cycle going, then I think we could reduce the incidence of crime in young individuals.
So do you agree, or disagree? Any other ideas we could share with the rest of the corrections industry? If so, please leave a comment at the bottom!
Posted by Scott Packard on Mon, Aug 03, 2009 @ 04:00 PM
It's the time of the year again where two sides square off and theatrically dance around until both sides come to agreement. No, it's not a revival of "West Side Story", it's the arrival of the budgetary blues. Yep, your elected representatives are digging down deep in their respective trenches and going to battle.
Of course, corrections and law enforcement are almost always caught in the middle. Many stories over the past few months within the corrections industry are tied in with ways jails and prisons are coming up with ideas to save money. The Washington state DOC is looking to release seriously ill inmates to save on incarceration and health costs. Some states, like Illinois, are considering cutting back their already depleted DOC staff.
Unfortunately, it seems more budget cuts like these will continue until the national (and global for that matter) economy starts to get better.
In the mean time, corrections staff and administration have to come up with creative ways to reduce cost. Some of the most common ways that I've seen to cut costs are reducing the number of CO's and executive staff, arranging group transportation of inmates to court and other places and lowering health and food costs.
In other creative examples, Broward County is looking for a volunteer entity to run a jail, Los Angeles County was considering freeing 4,000 inmates and some state DOC's are looking into relaxing some of their prison policies.
As I reported before, there are other jails and prisons across the country looking for ways to cut costs. So, to ask my readers again, what ways are you looking to cut costs?
Maybe you found something that has worked and want to share with other readers?
Let your ideas flow in the comments section below.