Vermont: Developing a System-Wide Approach to Re-entry

The Second Chance Act (Pub. L. 110-199) provides a comprehensive response to the increasing number of incarcerated adults and juveniles who are released from prison, jail, and juvenile residential facilities and returning to communities. The Second Chance Act Programs are designed to help communities develop and implement comprehensive and collaborative strategies that address the challenges posed by offender reentry and recidivism reduction.

Section 101 of the Second Chance Act authorizes federal awards to states that may be used for demonstration projects to promote the safe and successful reintegration into the community of individuals who have been incarcerated or detained and reduce overall recidivism rates. The goal of Section 101 of the Second Chance Act is to provide support to eligible applicants, in this case state departments of corrections, for the development and implementation of comprehensive and collaborative strategies that address the challenges posed by reentry to increase public safety and reduce recidivism. The objectives of the Comprehensive Statewide Adult Recidivism Reduction Planning Program are to fund, at the state level, effective strategies for reducing recidivism and enhancing public safety which incorporate the following principles: (1) focus on the people most likely to commit more crimes; (2) use evidenced-based programs proven to work and ensure the delivery of services is high quality; (3) deploy supervision policies and practices that balance sanctions and treatment; and (4) target places where crime and recidivism rates are the highest.

The grant recipient will use the funds to create a system-wide approach to reentry that is unified and collaborative. The current planning process will be expanded to include a Task Force and all stakeholders in the reentry effort with an overall long-term result of a statewide system that responds to an offender at the start of incarceration and ends with successful community reintegration. The objectives of the work plan are to: (a) develop a shared vision; (b) develop a plan for data collection and sharing; (c) review statutory environment, policies, and practices across the system and establish a plan to coordinate and align practices; (d) conduct an analysis of the currently incarcerated, reentering and supervised population; (e) review risks and needs assessments; (f) assess the use of evidence based practices; and (g) complete the Implementation Plan an establish the recidivism reduction goal.

CA/NCF