Ohio Linking Individuals with New Chances

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 Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) will serve as the lead agency for a multi-disciplinary re-entry program that will serve as a model to address the needs of 200 non-violent offenders returning to Hamilton County within the next two years. The proposed Linking Individuals with New Chances (LINC) program will provide services during incarceration that include, but are not limited to: static/needs assessment, individualized transition plans, institutional programming, transitional educational programming, employment readiness classes, financial planning seminars, mental health and substance abuse assessments, family support services, and other supportive services. Upon release to the community, ODRC and its key state, local and community partners will provide the target population with employment referrals and services, housing, mentors, family supportive services, and substance abuse and mental health referrals and treatment to sustain an effective reentry process.

CA/NCF