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Study: Jail re-entry program working
By Tasha Kates
Published: October 19, 2009The eight-week re-entry program for inmates at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail has had a positive impact on the recidivism rate, according to a University of Virginia study.
Ann B. Loper, a professor with UVa’s Curry School of Education, said of those who underwent the intensive program, 14.5 percent were rebooked into the jail within six months compared with 31 percent of those who received no treatment. Of the inmates who had a short meeting with Offender Aid and Restoration about transitioning into the community, 20 percent were rebooked into the jail six months later.
“It’s a very hopeful and terrific sign,” Loper said. “Your eight-week program and the initial interview make an impressive difference.”
Loper presented the results of the 170-person study Friday to jail and OAR staff. Attendees said the results have reinforced their belief that the re-entry program cuts the recidivism rate while reminding them what else needs to be done for former inmates who served local sentences.
Col. Ronald Matthews, the jail’s superintendent, said everyone who is at the jail long enough is required to go through the re-entry program. Inmates enrolled in the program, which was started in 2005, attend classes on social and vocational topics designed to prepare them for the transition back into a regular life.
Matthews said the jail is working on a larger community re-education movement about felons.
“We continue to punish them because we don’t welcome them back,” Matthews said.“We set them up for failure because we ostracize them and don’t give them employment.”
The lack of jobs for convicted felons was part of Friday’s discussion. Attendees mentioned that many businesses don’t want to hire felons despite a federal tax credit, and how a bad experience with one felon can cause an employer to stop hiring them altogether.
Employment isn’t the only place where inmates need help. Of the inmates who said they had a role model or mentor, about 52 percent said it was a female family member and about 21 percent said it was a male family member.
“That tells us that there is a disconnect between the male inmate and the male role model, which goes back to [whether] the father is in the home,” Matthews said.
The jail has been working on a mentoring component to the re-entry program that matches community members with people getting out of jail for up to two years. Matthews said there is a correlation between the amount of assistance a former inmate receives and how successful that person is in the world.
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