A 12-month study conducted by the Washington, D.C.-based Urban Institute cited programs at the Allegheny County Jail have reduced recidivism by 24 percent.
The report, Evaluation of the Allegheny County Jail Collaborative Reentry Programs, was released at a press event Oct. 6 attended by Warden Orlando Harper, Jail Collaborative Advisory Chair Fred Thieman, Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Manning, U.S. Attorney David Hickton and County Executive Rich Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald called the 24-percent figure “astounding.”
That’s a 90 percent improvement over 34 percent of inmates not participating in the county programs, which start working with participants well before release and helps them find housing, jobs, and continue their educations.
“Addressing that during the period of custody helps provide a foundation for return to the community,” said the report’s lead author Janeen Buck Willison. “These are solid findings.”
They certainly are when compared to the 70-percent recidivism rate the jail experienced 15 years ago, and which prompted the founding of the Jail Collaborative, a cooperative effort among the jail, the county Department of Human Services and Common Pleas Court.
The reentry programs serve roughly 400 medium- to high-risk inmates serving a minimum of five months.
West Deer Twp. native James Dunn, 32, who had been in and out of jail since he was 18—mostly for drug offenses—also attended the press announcement to praise the program. He said it is helping to give him the options needed to succeed. He is currently in transitional housing in Knoxville and hopes to return to school for HVAC training.
He said part of the difference now is how he thinks, which—because the program uses cognitive behavioral therapy, and in his case, drug and alcohol treatment programming—is part of the idea.
According to the Department of Human Services, the reentry programs cost about $2 million annually, and are funded largely by the U.S. Department of Justice with the county and foundation community contributing also. The $110,000 Urban Institute study was also funded by local foundations.
Erin Dalton, DHS deputy director, said the collaborative is already working on recommendations made in the study—namely providing more job training programs. Last year the collaborative began an energy-industry training program funded with a $614,000 federal grant.
The jail currently houses more than 2,000 men and women in 35 pods. It also has a distinct psychiatric pod and medical facilities.
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