Indiana Department of Correction-Allen County Collaborative Reentry Project

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 Indiana Department of Correction will utilize fiscal year 2008 Prisoner Reentry Initiative grant funding to support the Allen County Collaborative Re-entry Project in an effort to reduce recidivism and increase success rates of adult parolees by providing enhanced pre- and post-release services to offenders returning to the county. Project goals will be accomplished through three inter-related components: 1) the establishment of services offered by faith-based and community organizations; 2) the establishment of a grant funded community resource coordinator, who will be responsible for facilitating linkages between community organizations, criminal justice agencies, and offenders reentering the community; and 3) the development and implementation of a two-part intensive community-based pre-release reentry program. It is anticipated that offenders who meet established criteria will be eligible to participate in this program no sooner than twelve months prior to their release date.

Services offered will include transition planning, employment skills, community support and mentoring, mental health services, cognitive behavioral programs, family and parenting skills, and substance abuse treatment. Following this initial phase, and no sooner than six months prior to release, participants will complete an enhanced residential work release program that will enable access to eligibility screenings for necessary post-release benefits and motor vehicle license reinstatement assistance. Post-release services will be made available through a faith based organization that is expected to help the formerly incarcerated function in a pro-social environment through services that include anger management, budgeting, budgeting and personal finance, and educational and vocational training.

Elements of this program will be monitored by a project advisory board, comprised of members of state and local corrections, parole and probation, community corrections, local law enforcement, pre- and post-release and faith- or community-based organization service and treatment providers. It is hoped that this initiative will become a model program replicable throughout the state.

CA/NCF