Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2006, $450,000)
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 Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC), in partnership with Opportunities Industrialization Center of Broward County, Inc. (OIC) and other key community agencies, proposes a pilot project to develop a comprehensive model for non-violent prisoner reentry to communities in Broward County, Florida. This initiative is designed to reduce recidivism by identifying individual offender needs, providing targeted services and coordinating intense pre-release and post-release services that will assist offenders with their transition from prison to their communities. This proposed project will focus on pre-release planning and services that are individualized and comprehensive. The pre-release services will begin with individual needs assessments then focus the delivery of reentry services based on identified needs. These services include thorough reentry planning, GED preparation, vocational training, cognitive-based skills training, and coordination of offenders to the community-based post-release services coordinators. This coordinated and seamless delivery of both pre- and post-release services is essential to the success of this program.
CA/NCF