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 Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) will use the PRI funds to increase public safety by reducing recidivism among the population of offenders who are being released to Douglas, Coos, Curry, Jackson, and Josephine County. The reentry project will allow DOC to create a support program that assesses and addresses an inmate's reentry needs, six months prior to release. The program will begin while the offender is incarcerated and continue in the community after release. All participating inmates will be housed at the Shutter Creek Correctional Institution located in North Bend, Oregon.
Award funds will be used to hire personnel as part of the multi-disciplinary case management team. The program analyst will be responsible for the overall tracking of program participants and services they receive. The transition coordinator will deliver the reentry curriculum and coordinate services. The curriculum will consist of the following components: life skills, employment, education, health, family reintegration, social support, anger management, housing, and cognitive skills. A contract will be subawarded for employment services such as: pre-employment workshops on resume writing, completing employment applications, interviewing techniques, and job search assistance.
CA/NCF