Overview Reentry Initiatives
Approximately 15,000 state offenders are released each year from Louisiana prisons to Louisiana communities-usually the communities where they were living when they committed their crimes. Many offenders release with only a bus ticket and ten dollars. Once in the community, they are expected to get a job, earn a living, contribute to the well being of a family, follow the law, and generally get along with their law-abiding neighbors. Within five years, half will be back in prison, either for violating conditions of their release or committing new crimes. That translates into more dollars, more victims, more frustration and diminished success when the offender is released the next time.
People are spending years, sometimes decades, cycling in and out of probation and parole offices and prisons, seemingly unable to disengage from the criminal justice system. In Louisiana, the recidivism (return to prison) rate is approximately fifty percent after five years. Reducing the return-to-prison rate by even ten percent, would result in significant dollar savings for the state and its citizens and, hopefully, an enhanced quality of life in communities across the state. The question of what happens to men and women when they leave prison has never been as urgent as it is today.
Louisiana's Response
In 2002, the Department organized and standardized programs and services to deal with these issues and to better prepare offenders for a successful reintegration into their communities. Offenders are provided the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational, vocational, faith-based and therapeutic programming to aid their reentry efforts. Louisiana's response will improve public safety, reduce recidivism, decrease victimization, and reduce the financial burden of its correctional system.
Click here for a PBS story on Louisiana's Reentry program.
Key elements contributing to reducing the return to prison rate are:
- basic education
- job skills training
- substance abuse treatment
- values development
- community involvement
A soon-to-be released inmate secures his driver's license/identification. OMV's Mobile Unit routinely sets up services at state prisons to ensure inmates have identification prior to releasing back to their communities. Part of the Department's Reentry programming calls for inmates to have identification, social security cards and birth certificates upon release – all of which increase their chances of being ready for employment right away.
