Diana Jurik left home at 12. She was an alcoholic by 14 and a school dropout by 16. By 36 she had been in prison five times and convicted of nine felonies.

But age 37 has been different. Jurik is working and staying clean. She is going to school and learning there are people in the world who care about her. Report by LJWorld.com.

“I feel like somebody worth something,” she said, sitting between the two women she credits with much of her success.

The women are Dot Fernandez and Cindy Manske, co-founders of Freedom Foundation Ministries. Since last June, they have been holding life-skills classes for women in Topeka Correctional Facility and pairing them with mentors for when they are released. The group also offers optional religious services.

“It’s important for them to have that support from somebody who doesn’t want anything from them,” Fernandez said.

After Jurik was released from prison last April, Fernandez helped her get a job at a restaurant and enroll in cosmetology school in Topeka. She has also helped Jurik avoid her old way of life, which included alcohol abuse and bad relationships. She was convicted multiple times for forgery and drug possession.

Jurik said she has had one addiction relapse since being released from prison. In the past, that would have been the beginning of a downward spiral that likely would have ended in another prison cell. This time she called for help, and Fernandez spent an emotional hour in a cafe counseling Jurik.

Jurik said she has been clean since.

“I’ve used her to pick me up when I’ve fallen,” Jurik said.

Progress lost

Kansas was recently a model for helping people like Jurik.

In 2007, former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius signed legislation to grant up to 60 days in reduced sentences for inmates who attended offender re-entry programs and appropriated $4 million in grants for communities with plans to reduce recidivism.

Kansas was among the top three states with the largest improvement in its recidivism rate from 2004-2007, according to a 2011 Pew Study, and its inmate population fell 5 percent from fiscal year 2006 fiscal to year 2009, according to the Kansas Legislative Research Department.

Gov. Sam Brownback, then a U.S. senator, championed a bipartisan bill inspired by the Kansas law. It was later signed by President George W. Bush and became the Second Chance Act, which awarded grants to governments and organizations that helped offenders better return to society.

But Kansas’ fiscal woes have taken a toll on such programs, and the Kansas inmate population has been back on the rise. Every year since fiscal year 2009, there have been more people in Kansas prisons and jails than the year before. There were 9,186 prisoners in September 2011, the highest number in a decade.

It’s a trend the Department of Corrections worries will continue given current funding levels for offender programs. The Kansas Legislative Research Department included that concern in its 2012 legislators’ briefing book, a guide of issues provided to state lawmakers.

Fernandez believes her program is allowed access to the prison because of the state’s diminished ability to provide such services. But she praised Brownback, who has called for every Kansas inmate to have a mentor during the months before and after they are released.

“I know he (Brownback) isn’t always the most popular, but that’s something very positive he’s done,” Fernandez said.

As of December, 500 volunteers have been recruited for Brownback’s Mentoring 4 Success initiative.

Manske, the other Freedom Foundation co-founder, acknowledges the teaching and the mentoring is time intensive and affects relatively few. They have resources to help just 10 women each year. To her, it’s still progress.

“It’s one woman at a time,” Manske said.

Hope

Jurik has 12-year-old twins, a boy and a girl. They live in Louisiana, and she hasn’t seen them since they were 3.

A few weeks ago, their father unexpectedly emailed her a link to a Facebook page he had created. She opened it up and saw pictures of her twins, happy and doing well. She hopes she will get to see them again.

“It’s just one little step,” Jurik said. “Now I’m being reunited with my children slowly. It’s just a lot of good things.”

Tammy Community Programs, Female Inmates, Inmate Education, Kansas, Re-Entry, Recidivism

After waiting about two hours to appear before a Tulsa County special judge on his child support case, Jemal Rawlings spent less than 30 seconds at the bench.

“He’s in compliance,” said an attorney with the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. Report by Tulsa World.

Rawlings smiled in relief as he headed back to his new job.

“The less time you’re in there, the better things are going,” he said.

Rawlings spent two years in prison on a drug trafficking conviction, was released in 2009 and is completing his parole this month.

Even though he swore off drugs and his once wild lifestyle, he was at risk of more incarceration because he was not paying child support.

“When you come out of prison, you are facing a lot of issues like housing and transportation,” he said. “Plus, you’re a felon, and it’s hard to find work. And you’ve got to pay child support and the court fees you owe.”

Rawlings found minimum-wage work at labor jobs but kept falling behind and missing payments. He has four children with different mothers.

“It’s hard, but it’s the bed we made so we’re lying in it,” he said. “It felt bad when I didn’t have a job and couldn’t provide for them. It was really bad.”

After spending a weekend in jail in January 2010 for contempt, the judge referred Rawlings to a DHS court liaison. Rawlings owes thousands in back support.

DHS started adding court liaisons to its child support enforcement divisions about four years ago to help clients with community resources for landing a job. The liaison can also review the case for possible modification recommendations. There are 17 liaisons statewide.

Tulsa County’s liaison also serves as the case manager for the Prison Re-entry Initiative, which is offered to inmates who are being released in the county. The federal grant is $100,000 a year for three years, set to expire next year.

In Tulsa County, 14 former inmates are participating in the prison re-entry program.

Rawlings qualified for the re-entry initiative and completed a job training program with Goodwill Industries. He went from earning about $8 an hour to $12 an hour in a billing department for a law firm.

“It’s the best job I’ve ever had,” he said. “Without this program, without a doubt I’d be in jail for not paying child support. I always felt like DHS was about taking anything we get. But with the court liaison, I feel like I have a friend in the courtroom. I like knowing there is someone on the inside who is helping me out.”

DHS managing attorney John M. Sharp said child support has undergone a transformation in the past few years, moving to a customer service model and creating partnerships with judges and other state agencies.

“This is not your grandfather’s child support,” Sharp said. “The approach and attitude has changed to help the parties. We don’t represent the custodial or noncustodial parent. We represent the child.”

An emphasis on child support collections began in the mid-1990s as part of welfare reform – more collections means less reliance on government benefits. Until 2009, the state steadily increased collections, setting a record each year.

With a slight dip in fiscal year 2010, collections hit an all-time high last fiscal year, which ended in June, with $318 million – up from $96 million in 1998.

Oklahoma ranks third in the nation in child-support collections growth in the past decade.

But with this stepped-up enforcement came some fear and push-back from people owing support.

Robyn Tollefson, Tulsa County’s court liaison, said noncustodial parents are skeptical when they first hear of the prisoner re-entry and court liaison programs.

“So many think it’s a trap, and we have to explain we really are here to help,” Tollefson said.

The DHS role is to arrange for the establishment of paternity, find parents who owe support and serve as a clearinghouse for payments, which provides a record. The agency can revoke state licenses and intercept money from sources such as income tax refunds and worker’s compensation.

Judges issue orders setting the amounts and can order jail time.

By adding more social work, noncustodial parents can find resources at DHS when they fall on hard economic times.

“We don’t want to put anyone in jail or use the enforcement tools at our disposal,” Sharp said.

By taking care of the money disagreements, more focus can be placed on building parent-child relationships.

“I’d love to see more reunification with kids,” Sharp said. “We have too many kids out there without a father and mother in their lives. We want them to re-establish contact with their children.”

Rawlings said he was close to his family, went into the military after graduating from high school and attended nearly two years of college on the GI bill.

But, at age 33, he had his first child and got into the party life.

“I had some wild years there,” he said. “But this is my responsibility, I understand that. ”

He is looking at buying a house through a military assistance program and is planning to start his own business.

Rawlings said money has been a wedge in relationships with his former girlfriends.

“Child support can be bad on relationships. It’s not about having issues with the children, it’s about having issues with the mothers,” he said. “We all love our children, that’s why we show up to court. And when I look at my paycheck now, I think ‘Hey, it’s done. The payment’s made.’ I love that.”

He wants his children to learn from the lessons he is living.

“My kids are young, but I’ll be open and honest with them and be an example,” he said. “Some things I did great, and some things I did wrong. But I want them understand there are repercussions and consequences behind our actions.”

Even though child support takes about 60 percent of his paycheck, Rawlings said it’s worth it.

“My life is less stressful because there is a way to help get a better job,” he said. “There might not be much left after I get paid, but I’m taking care of my kids now. I feel good about being able to do that.”

Tammy Community Programs, Oklahoma, Re-Entry

Judge William Sessions, who was nominated Monday to be chairman of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, hopes to continue reforming federal sentencing guidelines to address prison overcrowding.  From the Rutland Herald:

“We’re at a particular point in history where prisons are incredibly overcrowded,” Sessions said. “We’re also at a particular point in time in which there’s a potential for real change.”

Sessions is the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for Vermont and has been a federal judge in Vermont since 1995. He was nominated by President Barack Obama, but will still need to be confirmed by the Senate, a process that he said can be highly political.   Sessions, who made national headlines in 2002 when he declared the death penalty unconstitutional, is currently a vice chairman of the commission, which sets sentencing policy for the United States and advises Congress and the executive branch on crime policy.

Options other than standard incarceration should be used more to address prison overcrowding, Sessions said. That includes drug treatment courts, placement in home confinement or community confinement, and split sentences in which part of a sentence is served in prison and part is served in the community.

Sessions also hopes to make rehabilitation a higher priority in federal sentences.   “For the last 15 years there’s been little interest in rehabilitation,” Sessions said.   Instead, punishment has been the priority.   “A person commits a crime, and they get X,” he said. “We’re going back to, ‘How do we get these people rehabilitated so when they get out of prison, they’re not a danger?’”

There is a great deal more background in the full article.

vericatrajkova Drug Treatment & Diversion, Overcrowding, Re-Entry, Sentencing

Indianapolis officials on Monday unveiled their plans for spending $6.4 million in stimulus money earmarked for law enforcement activities, according to the Indianapolis Star.

About $2.7 million would be spent on improvements to the criminal justice system, including $1.3 million to upgrade the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department’s automated fingerprinting system.  Another $1.5 million would go to employment and prisoner re-entry programs, including $904,000 to place 200 ex-convicts into temporary jobs at the Indianapolis Department of Public Works …

Marion County is proposing to spend $1.2 million on juvenile justice programs, including building two new juvenile reception centers to beef up the services and supervision for young offenders. The county plans to spend $580,000 on a nurse and substance abuse services for Community Corrections inmates; $118,000 on training programs for the Indianapolis Fire Department and Community Corrections staff; and $319,000 to contract with a grant manager.

vericatrajkova Economic Issues, IN Marion County, Indiana, Juvenile Justice, Re-Entry

New Hampshire’s newest correctional facility is a three-story brick walk-up that looks like any other along Manchester’s upper Elm Street. But step inside Hampshire House and enter the highly structured and supervised world of a federal prison inmate.  This report from the Manchester Union-Leader.

The newly renovated townhouse … is a locked facility laced with surveillance cameras. Here federal offenders serve out the final two to six months of their sentences. Inmates must submit to random and routine drug testing, thrice nightly head counts, spot room checks, pat downs and, once employed, rigorous staff oversight.   “Everything they do is structured,” Hampshire House Director John L. Sullivan explained during a tour of the building yesterday.   “They are still technically inmates. If they fail our program, they go back to prison,” he said.

The first inmate arrives tomorrow. By June, there should be a waiting list to get one of the 30 beds — 20 for men and 10 for women, Sullivan said … Up until now, the only halfway houses available to federal inmates convicted of New Hampshire offenses were in Boston …

Inmates first undergo a skills assessment and training for employment readiness, money management, parenting and other life skills, Sullivan said. They then must get full-time work and connect with counseling or other social service programs. Inmates gradually earn more freedoms — such as a pass to briefly visit with family or go out to dinner — as they prove they can handle them, Sullivan said.   “When they leave here, they will have a pretty good chance of making it in a community,” he explained …

There aren’t enough halfway houses to accommodate every returning inmate, Sullivan said. But every inmate isn’t suitable for a halfway house …”The Bureau of Prisons does not send out serious, violent criminals and serious sex offenders,” he said.

vericatrajkova Federal Systems, New Hampshire, Re-Entry

South Dakota must reduce the number of released inmates who get in trouble and wind up returning to prison, state Corrections Secretary Tim Reisch said Thursday.  This report from the Mitchell Daily Republic.

Nearly half of all inmates released from the state prison system are back behind bars within three years because they violate parole or commit new crimes, Reisch said.  The state, city and county agencies and other organizations must provide the services that released inmates need to succeed, Reisch said at the first meeting of the Governor’s Re-entry Council, a panel appointed by Gov. Mike Rounds to cut the number of inmates who return to prison … The council’s first task is to coordinate the application for a federal grant that would finance a demonstration project aimed at providing services to released inmates in the Sioux Falls and Rapid City areas …

In South Dakota, about 30 percent of inmates released wind up returning to prison within a year, 39 percent within two years, and 45 percent within three years, according to Corrections Department records.  Reisch said South Dakota’s average daily adult prison population has risen from 2,267 in 1998 to a projected 3,451 this year, an increase of nearly 1,200 in 11 years.  “That’s a lot of beds. That’s a lot of mouths to feed,” the corrections secretary said. “Many of these people have been in prison before” …

Inmates must begin working on their release plans soon after they arrive in prison, Feiler said. Those parole plans must include where they will live, where they will work and how they will get treatment for problems involving drugs, alcohol, medical, mental health and sexual behavior.  The state now has about 2,800 people on parole, with 36 parole agents to supervise them, Feiler said.

There is a great deal more detail in the full article.

vericatrajkova Community Corrections, Probation and Parole, Re-Entry, South Dakota

The Randall County TX Sheriff’s Department want to reduce the cost of running their jail.  They have a bare bones Prisoner Re-Entry Education program in place, and this week they applied for a Federal grant to expand and improve the program.  Report (including video) by KFDA-TV.

It costs taxpayers $58 a day per inmate at the Randall County Jail. The Sheriff’s Department’s Prisoner Re-Entry Program is aimed at saving money. Sheriff Joel Richardson says, ”If we only affect [recidivism] by only half a percent or one percent we have made a big, big difference” …

Jail Administrator Captain Debbie Unruh says the program has specific goals. “First [they'll] be employed. That’s a requirement. They’ll learn to budget their money. They will start a savings account. They buy groceries. They cook, they clean, they do their own laundry” … Richardson warns this program is no walk in the park, but says it’s worth it. “This is not a fuzzy, feel good program. It will be a harder program than just sitting in jail.”

vericatrajkova Economic Issues, Re-Entry, TX Randall County

The Kansas House has passed a budget that would essentially cut all department budgets by 10% to counter a $680 million deficit.  A large amount of Federal stimulus money has been taken to scale back even deeper cuts.   For the Kansas Department of Corrections:

Public safety spending trimmed by 9 percent. Funding for community corrections programs, re-entry programs for parolees and juvenile detention facilities is sharply cut …

Rep. Pat Colloton, a Leawood Republican, urged lawmakers to return $5 million to the state’s prison system to avoid reduced funding for community corrections programs and initiatives helping parolees overcome addiction and mental health issues.   Lawmakers credit such programs with reducing recidivism and eliminating the need for new prisons. Now, with funding cut, “crime will increase,” Colloton warned. “Our prisoner population will go up.” Lawmakers agreed to restore about $1.2 million of the funds.

Excerpted from a much longer article on the budget at the Kansas City Star.

vericatrajkova Community Corrections, Economic Issues, Juvenile Justice, Kansas, Re-Entry

Random home visits that catch misdemeanor probationers in their underwear and socks, along with surprise tests for drugs and alcohol, are ways the Washoe County NV  Department of Alternative Sentencing curbs recidivism and annually saves the county millions of dollars in jail fees, officials said.  This report from the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Program chief Joe Ingraham’s reputation among probationers is tough love and a genuine desire to have them succeed. Offenders say the program gives them a reason to stay crime free while random tests and visits make them think twice about relapsing.”Being random is where it’s at,” Ingraham said. “Misdemeanor offenders used to languish in the system with no one watching them and were able to commit more crimes and not follow conditions of their probation. But this intense supervision really stops the revolving door” …

He said his program saved nearly $12 million in Washoe County Jail costs last year. The program spares a daily incarceration fee of $84 for 300 to 400 local offenders each day. Participants also pay $40 a month for the supervision. The county’s house arrest program is now a part of DAS, where up to $30,000 in monthly fees are collected from participants.

But the cost savings to the community are even more, said program coordinator Wendy Keller.   “They lose their job when they go to jail,” she said. “When they get out, they’ll be relying on social services and the medical community. Now, they maintain a job and a home and are less likely rely on social services.”  The program also has a low recidivism rate, 5 percent to 10 percent, because offenders are afraid if they violate their probation, such as by using drugs or alcohol, they will get caught in a surprise sting and be sent to jail, Ingraham said. Most of the participants are ex-felons, he said, who don’t want additional incarceration. “This program holds them accountable,” Ingraham said. “We are the teeth of the court order and make sure there is truth in sentencing. The goal is to make them stop criminal activities and be productive citizens. In turn, they become taxpaying citizens who give back to their communities.”

There is a lot more interesting material in the full article at the Reno Gazette-Journal.

vericatrajkova Community Corrections, NV Washoe County, Nevada, Re-Entry, Recidivism, Sentencing

There are more than 100,000 inmates in Florida prisons and 25,000 more expected in the next five years. Now, lawmakers are considering plans to further cut the programs that promise the best chance for long-term savings — specifically, education and substance abuse programs, according to this report from the South Florida Herald Tribune.

The cuts have heightened concerns that Florida’s tough-on-crime laws — including a mandate that inmates spend 85 percent of their sentence behind bars — have become too costly and ineffective.   Even the head of the state’s prison system says so.    “If you can’t read, if you don’t have any employable skills, if you have a substance abuse problem and you’ve spent three years in prison and you come out and you still have those issues, what the heck are you going to do?” said Department of Corrections Secretary Walt McNeil. “You’re going to hit my mom or someone else’s mom or somebody’s child over the head breaking into someone’s house. It is too costly to continue this uninformed way of trying to fight crime.”

But efforts to provide alternatives to prison are finding little support in a Legislature where being called “soft on crime” is seen as a devastating insult … Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, is sponsoring a bill that would provide funding for mental health courts, pre-arrest diversion programs, crisis intervention police teams and other means to treat drug addicts and the mentally ill instead of putting them in jails and prisons.   “It’s the moral thing to do, it’s the humane thing to do,” Fasano said. “And it will save money in the long run. Law enforcement supports this.”   But Fasano admits his bill, which has yet to find a sponsor in the House, has little chance of passing this year …

Sen. Frederica Wilson and other Democrats say they have a study showing that hundreds of millions of dollars could be saved by allowing early release of inmates who are first-time offenders with less than two years remaining in their sentence who have had no disciplinary problems in prison.  But Sen. Victor Crist, R-Temple Terrace, the chairman of the Senate criminal justice appropriations committee, said the 85 percent mandate is likely going to stay. “I am confident that will not change, at least not in my lifetime,” said Crist …

Without the funding to increase re-entry preparation for inmates, McNeil is relying on more than 10,000 volunteers statewide to teach inmates. He has created two facilities, Baker Correctional Institute in northwest Florida and Demilly C.I. in Polk City, that focus on inmates who will live in those areas by preparing them with work skills and intense education.  Fran Barber, the DOC’s deputy assistant secretary of institutions, said the volunteer-based programs draw from retirees, teachers and programs with sheriff’s offices and community colleges. The agency’s goal is to reduce recidivism, the rate of prisoners that return, from nearly 33 percent to 20 percent.

There is a lot more background in this report from the South Florida Herald Tribune.

vericatrajkova Economic Issues, Florida, Inmate Programs, Re-Entry, Recidivism