Frederick Recupido, 35, recently arrived in San Diego after spending much of the last decade serving two terms in Tahachapi State Prison, located near Bakersfield.

“I had no place to go,” he said. “My family’s support is there, it’s just not as it used to be because this is the second time.”

Recupido was one of the almost 70 percent of state parolees who don’t make it on the outside, and end up back in prison. His first prison term was from 2003 to 2009.

“It was a violence under the influence,” he said. “I got out in June of 2009 and started to do pretty well. But not following through with what I was taught on how to stay clean off drugs. I fell back again into my addiction and got in trouble for possession of a controlled substance.”

When he got out of prison the second time, Recupido was determined to make a go of it.

“It’s come to the point in my life where I’m tired,” he said. “I’m physically, mentally and spiritually tired.”

When Recupido heard about a program in San Diego that works with ex-offenders, he wrote to them from prison and was accepted. Upon release, he was given $200 “gate” money — just enough to buy a set of clothes and toiletries, and get himself to San Diego.

via San Diego Tackles Prisoner Recidivism Rates | KPBS.org.