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Evidence-based reentry resources key for sicker incarcerated population, researchers say

Elizabeth Thompson

November 08, 2021 |

North Carolina Health News |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, North Carolina

Community health workers with North Carolina Formerly Incarcerated Transition Program (NC FIT) counsel people recently released from jails and prisons to help them get the care they need for mental and physical health problems. The program closes some but not all of the gaps left by the state's inadequate Medicaid coverage and prison health services. Banking on the trust that comes with shared experiences, the formerly incarcerated health workers can connect people with medication-assisted treatment for substance use, covid-related treatments, and mental health care, all common ailments post-incarceration.

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Home was a nightmare, then home was prison. Finally home is now a refuge.

Marisa Endicott

October 21, 2021 |

Mother Jones |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

Home Free is a small, transitional-housing program for women who served long prison sentences for crimes against or on behalf of their abusers. A population long neglected, the women are part of a community recovering from the trauma of prison and the trauma that put them there. Giving them autonomy, in ways typical re-entry programs do not, is key to their recovery. “Home Free is the culmination of a decades-long struggle by women to be seen and supported by a system that has condemned and ignored them.”

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In Venezuela, a Rum Maker Offers Gangsters a Life Outside of Crime

Isayen Herrera Anatoly Kurmanaev

October 16, 2021 |

The New York Times |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Venezuela, Sabaneta

Rather than fleeing or fighting the twin threats to its business from criminal gangs and an aggressively anti-business government, the managers of Venezuelan rum-maker Ron Santa Teresa chose to make peace with both through social programs that have calmed what once was one of the violent country's most troubled towns. The company's Proyecto Alcatraz creates economic opportunity for gang members, providing them with job training and psychological counseling. It also courted favor with the socialist government with a housing initiative for the poor. Both programs have proved a boon for business.

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The Radical Shift in Drug Treatment Happening Inside California Prisons

Juan Moreno Haines

October 15, 2021 |

Next City |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, San Quentin, California

To combat opioid overdose deaths among incarcerated people, the California prison system in January 2020 launched a treatment program that combines medication-assisted treatment with professional and peer counseling. The program uses the three most effective medications to reduce opioid dependency. The one-year program features intense counseling, individual and group, based on a workbook that takes gender and trauma-related causes for drug abuse into account. Preliminary data show a decrease in deaths at San Quentin prison. More than 15,000 people have enrolled in the program.

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From Felon to Fighter: The Redemption of Jose Santana

Tyler Hayden

October 14, 2021 |

Santa Barbara Independent |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Santa Barbara, California

When California adopted a new law in 2020 allowing formerly incarcerated firefighters to petition to have their criminal records expunged and parole waived, the law excluded people with the most serious, violent offenses. But it left others with violent offenses in a gray area, subject to objections that could deny them a chance to become professional firefighters, using the skills they learned at one of the state's 43 prison fire camps. This story profiles the first man from Santa Barbara County to win this right, and the obstacles he faced in the process.

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He befriended his brother's murderer. In each other, they found healing

Leila Miller

October 11, 2021 |

Los Angeles Times |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, California

Since the 1990s, California prisons' victim-aid office has arranged for crime victims to meet with the incarcerated people who harmed them or their family members. These victim-offender dialogues, a restorative-justice method offering alternative forms of accountability, have helped survivors heal by providing information they could not glean from the traditional justice process. Some have also experienced reconciliation and forgiveness. Only victims can initiate the process, and most incarcerated people are deemed ineligible after screening and preparation for the face-to-face dialogues.

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Prison reform curbs some solitary confinement, but how much?

Rachel Riley

October 10, 2021 |

The Everett Daily Herald (HeraldNet) |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Washington

Washington state prison officials say they have tried for years to reduce their use of solitary confinement. They made some progress toward that goal until the pandemic. Despite that complication, hundreds still live for months or even years in near-total isolation, which critics liken to torture and blame for psychological damage to incarcerated people. Advocates for strict limits or abolishing the practice say the state has maintained the use of solitary under a variety of euphemisms. Pending legislation would impose stricter limits, which prison officials oppose on safety grounds.

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Planting a Life—and a Future—After Prison at Benevolence Farm

Stephanie Parker

September 30, 2021 |

Civil Eats |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Graham, North Carolina

Benevolence Farm hosts a small number of formerly incarcerated women as live-in laborers growing herbs that end up in body-care products. The farming experience teaches marketable skills, as the women learn the finer points of horticulture. It also provides outdoor, hands-on experiences that are therapeutic to women after they spent months or years locked up in a sterile prison. The rural location poses some challenges, but the dozens of women who have spent 12-18 months living and working there have shown much lower-than-average rates of recidivism.

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Reducing Recidivism and Building Green Industry Skills in Detroit

Nina Ignaczak

September 10, 2021 |

Belt Magazine |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Michigan

Between 2012 and 2017, the rate of recidivism, the number of people who return to prison after being released, was 71 percent across 34 states. An industrial recycling program called Greenworks is aimed at job training, access to resources, and jobs to formerly incarcerated people. Part of the green economy, these programs offer jobs to people most impacted by climate change, and Greenworks could be a model for other similar programs. The recidivism rate of Greenworks hovers around four and ten percent each year.

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Eagle County problem-solving courts offer new hope to repeat offenders battling substance abuse

Kelli Duncan

September 09, 2021 |

Vail Daily |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Eagle, Colorado

Eagle County's two problem-solving courts put treatment ahead of punishment when addressing crimes committed by people with substance abuse problems. Originally set up as one court, they now function separately to address drunken driving and drugs and serve people "teetering on the edge of serious prison time" for repeat offenses. More than 90 percent of participants in 2020 maintained sobriety and more than 80 percent avoided new legal troubles. While the threat of punishment is used to win compliance with rules, prosecutors say they're more interested in permanently curing the underlying disease.

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