BJA FY 2008 Prisoner Reentry Inititive Demonstration Grant - Alabama 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 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.

In FY 2008, BJA will again coordinate the PRI Program with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The design of the FY 2008 PRI Program is structured to work in conjunction with a DOL-selected faith ' or community-based organization (FBCO).

Under the FY 2008 PRI award, the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) will fund the Alabama Prisoner Reentry Initiative (APRI) demonstration project. The focus will be on Jefferson County as the single, high need urban area. The target population will include male and female adult offenders housed in medium and minimum security prisons who meet specific classification criteria and plan on returning to Jefferson County after their release.

The project will provide offenders with a continuum of transitional reentry services beginning in the final months of incarceration and will continue through post-release by a designated FBCO. To facilitate the selection process, the ADOC has developed a screening criterion that includes the nature of the current offense (non-violent), the number and nature of previous offenses, and the length of the imposed sentence.

Two APRI social workers will be hired to conduct transitional case management services. APRI will provide 10 weeks of pre-release services, followed by post-release case management and supervision by a FBCO. The first eight weeks of the pre-release curriculum will be dedicated to a substance abuse program. The ADOC will hire two drug treatment counselors to conduct the substance abuse program.

Offenders successfully completing the pre-release component of the project will be transferred to either the ADOC-contracted FBCO or the DOL-funded FBCO. They will continue to be monitored by the APRI Correctional Sergeant. ADOC will provide 30 percent of its grant funds to an FBCO contracted by the ADOC to provide post-release services to eligible offenders. The ADOC will partner with and refer at least 50 percent of APRI offenders to the DOL-funded FBCO.

CA/NCF