Perry County Program Reducing Recidivism
Reducing recidivism can reduce crime and the cost of prisons according to prison experts. The prison revolving door which has led to copious numbers of repeat offenders has prompted policy makers in Alabama and across the nation to dig more deeply into the factors that impact rates of return to prison, and into effective strategies for reducing them.
Central to the revolving door is how former prisoners are viewed. Many people still use the pejorative term of "ex con" to describe people who have completed their sentence. That view also makes it difficult for those reentering society to find jobs, housing, friends outside the criminal community and treatment for mental and behavioral health issues.
Alabama has a recidivism rate of 29% according to the Council of State Governments Justice Center. That places the state in the middle of national recidivism statistics, but it is down by 14% and that has garnered attention.
The recidivism drop in Alabama and other states can partially be credited to Congress passing the Second Chance Act in 2008, which has provided $1.2 billion to state and local efforts to reduce recidivism.
Much of that money has gone to provide substance abuse and mental health treatment but there is much more to the success story in West Alabama.
The Perry County Probation and Parole Reentry Education Program Center, or PREP, is a short-term residential center founded in 2022 by the state in a closed private jail near Uniontown. The three-month program focuses on rehabilitation and education. Alabama is one of five states that have joined a program called Reentry 2030.
Alabama entered into an agreement with Ingram State Technical College to establish a training center at PREP. It offers job training and education. The state also got businesses involved, offering a job placement program for parolees who successfully complete the program at PREP.
Instead of wearing prison uniforms on their last day of incarceration, inmates don caps and gowns as graduates of the program. It enables them to reenter society not just having completed their prison time but as a person who has achieved progress in their life.
In a press release, Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles director Cam Ward said the facility could become a model for future facilities in the state, including one for women.
Some critics point to Alabama's nationally low pardons and paroles rate for fewer repeat offenders. They say it is hard to repeat if you can't get out to begin with.
The Alabama Commission on Reentry, chaired by Ward, met yesterday to encourage continued development of programs to help former inmates with a successful reentry into a world they have been separated from. "95% of the inmates in our prison system will get out at some point", Ward told Townsquare Media Tuscaloosa. "It is imperative for us to help make their return successful and keep them from going back."
Ward emphasized the commission's goal is to reduce reoffending and reincarceration by 50% in the next six years. If the state achieves that goal, it will become one of the five states with the lowest recidivism rate.
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