Wisconsin Prisoner Reentry Initiative

The Prisoner Reentry Initiative (PRI) is designed to provide funding to state units of government to develop and implement institutional and community corrections-based offender reentry programs. The PRI strengthens urban communities characterized by large numbers of returning, nonviolent prisoners. PRI is designed to reduce recidivism by helping returning inmates find work and assess other critical services in their communities. The PRI supports strategies to deliver pre-release assessments and services, and to develop transition plans in collaboration with other justice and community-based agencies and providers for supervised and non-supervised, nonviolent offenders.

The Wisconsin Department of Corrections (WI DOC), in collaboration with the Word of Hope Ministries (WOH) and in partnership with the Milwaukee County House of Corrections (HOC) and Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division (BHD), proposes to implement prisoner reentry project as a collaborative adjunct to the recently awarded Department of Labor (DOL-PRI) grant designed to provide community-based employment services to improve the employability of offenders entering Milwaukee County. The purpose of the project is to perform reach-in services to conduct comprehensive risk and needs assessments, individualized transition plans, pre-and post-release services and supervision to non-violent offenders who are being released from the WI DOC and the HOC to Milwaukee County. The principle goal is to improve transition planning, continuity of programming and systems coordination between confinement and the community to ensure public safety through offender success and reduced criminal behavior.

CA/NCF