Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2008, $540,000)
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.
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 Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC) will utilize the FY 2008 Reentry funds to provide pre- and post-release assessment, programming and services, transition planning, and post-release supervision in the Las Vegas area. NDOC faces significant challenges in the return of adult offenders to the Southern Nevada area, especially in the Las Vegas valley. NDOC, the Las Vegas/Clark County Urban League (LVCCUL), and the City of Las Vegas EVOLVE Program will combine their resources to provide a strong source of community services for ex-offenders in southern Nevada. This combination of local, state, and community agencies will result in leveraged resources and the development of community partnerships designed to help lower recidivism rates and defuse prison overcrowding. Participants must be 18 years and older (excluding sex offenders) and be six months away from reentry via release or parole.
The NDOC will implement this project in two phases. The first phase, assessment and planning will develop a multi-disciplinary Advisory Council; establish offender screening and assessment processes; analyze and develop an implementation plan for pre- and post-release; develop and implement individualized transition plans; and hire a correctional caseworker specialist. The second phase, implementation, will develop an advisory council; identify and enroll at least 300 offenders to receive pre- and post-release programming; continue monitoring participant outcome; screen all potential candidates; conduct regular team meetings among NDOC, the DOL-funded FBCO, and other providers; and conduct bi-monthly meetings with the advisory council, law enforcement, and community corrections.
CA/NCF