IN Panel Discusses Re-entry and Transition Courts
Assistance to help offenders re-enter the community is crucial in lowering repeat crime rates, and preliminary discussions have begun in establishing a transition court for Lake County, a panel indicated on Tuesday. Story in the Post Tribune.
Lake County Criminal Court Judge Salvador Vasquez said the court is in the idea stage, but he plans to study similar courts in Grant and Marion counties to see if one would be beneficial to Lake County.
“What we need through that transition is great supervision,” Vasquez told those gathered at the Lake County Government Center for the panel that included Indiana Department of Correction Commissioner Edwin Buss, Lake County Community Corrections Executive Director Kellie Bittorf and state Rep. Linda Lawson, D-Hammond.
Lawson, a former police officer, is leading a summer study session on public safety issues and community corrections is a topic.
“Our job is not just to put people in jail but to give second opportunities in life,” Lawson said. “We don’t need to keep people in jail that shouldn’t be there.”
About 70 percent of those enrolled in the county’s work-release program are employed and a greater number of offenders are seeking higher education opportunities, Bittorf said.
“They are working to become better people,” she said.
But a main obstacle Bittorf faces is the public perception of the criminal justice system and community corrections. Most of the time she’s working with individuals who committed low-level felonies or are short-term offenders. Lake County also has a Fugitive Recovery Team that tracks down offenders who didn’t return to the program after work instead of merely issuing a warrant for their arrest.
While the jury is still out on how to combat recidivism, the relationship between employment and repeat offenders is key, Buss said.
“The most important thing in re-entry is getting them a job when they get out,” Buss said.
He also spoke about his department’s relationship with Ivy Tech Community College that allows offenders to take college courses while incarcerated and continue with their studies when they are released. Buss said the department is focusing on working with not-for-profits that specialize in getting ex-offenders rehired and is also formulating work opportunities within the Indiana department of Correction.
The department is beginning a program that will employ up to 50 ex-offenders to work in a warehouse responsible for delivering commissary items to jails throughout the state.
“If we know that ex-offenders can make productive citizens, we want to definitely lead in that example,” Buss said. “We want taxpayers. We don’t want tax burdens.”
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