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.

This grant will be used to facilitate three main objectives. The first is to help identify the target population (non violent inmates returning to Suffolk County) for SPAN Inc. These inmates may be releasing on parole, completing their sentence with no supervision or completing a sentence to a from and after term of probation. SPAN is the Faith Based/Community Based Organization (FB/CBO) that received the U.S. Department of Labor's FY 2005 Prisoner Reentry Initiative grant. This group will include inmates on parole and completing their sentence. Approximately 23.9% of the inmates in the DOC system are from communities in Suffolk County. Included in this identification process will be an academic and vocational needs assessment. In addition to identifying the target population, a system to track progress inside and outside of prison will be developed. The second objective will be to provide instruction in an intensive three month series of workshops, to develop a resume, to review the inmates criminal record (CORI) and to compile a portfolio of skills so the inmate will be better prepared to take advantage of the FB/CBO services. Three months prior to release the third objective will be to assist SPAN counselors and mentors in establishing a relationship with their potential clients. The key is to establish a relationship of trust that bridges the gap between incarceration and release.

CA/NCF