West Virginia Second Chance Act Recidivism Reduction Planning Grant

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 enhance statewide capacity to address the needs of individuals released from the custody as they reenter society. The goal of the project is to reduce recidivism and generate documentable savings in the cost of incarceration and reincarceration. To meet the goal the services will address treatment, supervison, employment, and educational needs of reentry clients by facilitating partnerships with existing community based resources, namely, day report centers (DRC). A reentry task force will be formed to investigate factors which contribute to recidivism and will be tasked with the development of a strategic plan designed to reduce recidivism by enhancing statewide capacity to deliver coordinated, effective and evidence-based programming using the DRC's and their networks of affiliates.

CA/NCF