Prisoner Reentry Initiative - Reentry Services for Offenders Returning to the City of Los Angeles

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).

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) will use its FY 2008 Prisoner Reentry Initiative grant funds to offer reentry services to 200 ex-offenders returning to the City of Los Angeles. The CDCR will expand its assessment and case management services to offenders, expand assessment and reentry services to underserved non-violent, non-serious inmates, and provide a coordinated, multi-disciplinary incarceration-to-community service delivery system in the Los Angeles area. Adult males and females will be offered in-custody programs, including substance abuse treatment, education, vocational training, and employment services. In addition, the CDCR will consolidate multiple assessment tools into a service planning assessment package, and develop, field test, and implement a personalized transitional case plan for use by clients.

The grantee will contract with a Faith-Based and/or Community Organization to provide a variety of post-release services, such as community-based treatment, housing needs, educational and vocational skills, and other services. The CDCR will integrate PRI service providers into the existing inmate-parolee service delivery system, and will establish a multi-disciplinary Technical Advisory Group to plan and implement the project. A multi-disciplinary project coordinating committee with regional and subject area subcommittees will be established in order to address ongoing implementation issues and aid in continous improvement efforts. The CDCR will assess the grant's progress through data collection of recidivism rates, the increase in the percentage of offenders in the target population who are assessed for risk and needs while incarcerated, and through the increase in the percentage and type of pre- and post-release services offered.

CA/NCF