Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2007, $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 offenders. The PRI is designed to reduce recidivism by helping returning offenders find work and assess other critical services in their communities. The PRI supports strategies to deliver pre- and post-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 offenders.
The State of Hawaii Department of Public Safety (DPS) will use its Reentry award to partner with Maui Economic Opportunity, Inc. (MEO) to manage the Prisoner Reentry Initiative (PRI). The PSD and MEO currently partner to implement the State's response to the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI). The 2007 Reentry award will allow the expansion of services to those presently ineligible under SVORI and enhance opportunities for gender responsive services for female offenders at the Maui Community Correctional Center (MCCC).
The PRI will serve at least 200 convicted offenders 18 years and older, which will allow DPS to serve a broader incarcerated population, including sentenced jail and prison inmates, parolees, and probation and parole violators. In a collaborative effort, DPS will serve as the lead agency in monitoring PRI, and as a co-partner, MEO will be responsible for the overall administration including financial responsibility, reporting, and compliance of the PRI.
Utilizing an integrated case management approach, MEO will provide both pre- and post- release services designed to address recidivism by targeting substance abuse, mental illness, under-employment, lack of vocational training, housing, and additional needs related to reintegration. These services will include: 1) Employment; 2) Cognitive Skills Restructuring; 3) Family Reunification; 4) Cultural Renewal Life Skills and 5) Substance Abuse. Participants also will create an individual service plan that outlines their transition plan into the community.
A consultant will provide a third party evaluation examining the Prisoner Reentry Initiative (PRI) grant's implementation. The final report will provide data on clients and describe intermediate outcomes for the program in the critical areas of housing, employment, and issues related to recidivism; an executive summary; conclusions; and recommendations for areas of improvement.
CA/NCF