Madison Women's Family and Community Reintegration Project

The Second Chance Act (Pub. L. 110-199) provides a comprehensive response to the increasing number of parents who are incarcerated as well as their families. Research has shown that children may benefit from maintaining healthy relationships with their incarcerated parents. Section 113 of the Second Chance Act authorizes grants to states, units of local government, and Indian tribes to improve the provision of substance abuse treatment within prison and jails and after reentry for inmates who have minor children and also includes outreach to families and provision of treatment and other services to children and other family members of participant inmates. The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) will fund eligible applicants to plan, implement, or expand such treatment programs.

The Family-Based Prisoner Substance Abuse Treatment Program enhances the capability of states and tribes to provide substance abuse treatment for incarcerated parents; prepares offenders for their reintegration into the communities from which they came by incorporating reentry planning activities into treatment programs; and assists offenders and their communities through the reentry process through the delivery of community-based treatment and other broad-based aftercare services. Projects will provide prison-based substance abuse treatment and parenting programs for incarcerated parents of minor children, as well as treatment and other services to the participating offenders minor children and family members. Programming must be targeted to inmates with minor children and include services for these inmates, their minor children, and other family members. By law, no less that 5 percent of the funds available for the Family-Based Substance Abuse Treatment Program will be used for grants to Indian Tribes.

The Madison Women's Family and Community Reintegration Project will provide family and marriage strengthening programming to adult female offender incarcerated at Madison Correctional Facility, and offer marriage and family programming workshops for family members to participate in with offenders. The project will also provide special sessions for offender mothers and their minor children to spend quality time through play and guided interactions.

The goals of the project are to: (1) Expand participants' positive social support network by strengthening their families through education, guided interactions, and increased quality time during incarceration; and (2) to ensure that all available linkages are made to community-based recovery and support services, including linkages to post-release substance abuse treatment and relapse prevention. In order to accomplish this, the project will: (a) hire a substance abuse Family and Community Reintegration Specialist placed in the Madison Correctional Facility Modified Therapeutic Community; (b) train the FCRS on the Access to Recovery policies, procedures and programs, and on the referral process; and (c) conduct one family workshop seminar every four to six weeks using evidence-based curriculum to promote family and interpersonal relationships, communication, regaining trust, peer and family relationships and relapse/recovery.

CA/NCF