According to the New York City Department of Corrections, nearly half of the 16- and 17-year-olds released from Riker’s Island come back in less than a year. In some studies, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has proven effective in keeping teens from returning to prison. For instance, the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies released research …
May 27, 2013 Tags: news
Category: Community, Reform, Youth No Comments 
… And that’s why many nonprofit community organizations around California have been lobbying hard to be included in the pot of money counties are receiving under the state’s criminal justice realignment plan, which includes keeping more felons at county lockups instead of shipping them to state prisons.
But how that funding is spent varies by county. …
Branden Metzo grew up eating with his family at the dinner table seven days a week.
His parents, Theresa and Mark, were there at every turn in his life. Theresa said they did “all the things parents are supposed to do.”
Despite his upbringing, Branden, like so many others, fell prey to a danger that exists in …
December 5, 2011 Tags: news, PA
Category: Addiction, Community No Comments
Ali Garland doesn’t consider herself an alcoholic.
Rather, the 38-year-old Menasha woman believes she made a “bad decision” in February when she decided to drink and then drive; a decision that resulted in her getting in an accident and receiving her third drunken driving conviction.
“I know I was wrong,” she said. “I know it was a …
On Jan. 3, the Kentucky Department of Corrections (DOC) will parole more than 1,100 inmates and as many as 300 more each month, after sweeping penal code reform earlier this year.
That’s a statewide figure, and Rowan and surrounding counties probably won’t see many of that number here, initially.
House Bill 463 was enacted on June 8 …
[Slate Book Review] Last year, residents in Chicago’s Washington Park neighborhood asked for my advice about a local gang problem. Their leader and block club president, Marla McCoy—a teacher’s aide, homeowner, and mother of three—noticed that drug dealing in the local park was starting up after a yearlong hiatus. Her opponent, an18-year-old upstart named Filly, …
In East Baltimore, not far from rows of abandoned homes and empty warehouses, there’s a space-age high rise housing an unusual methadone clinic.
“People come here and participate in studies, and in return they get treatment,” Dr. Kenzie Preston tells Laura Sullivan, host of weekends on All Things Considered.
The lab is part of the National Institutes …
Madison County Coroner Steve Nonn said his office began tracking non-fatal overdoses this year from hospitals that will cooperate, compiling 30 so far. On his way to the forum, he got a call about an 18-year-old overdosing, who survived. There was another non-fatal case Tuesday night.
“These people sound as if they are going to be …
November 18, 2011 Tags: IL, news
Category: Addiction, Community No Comments
[Article on Australian Prison policy reform gives a strong nod to U.S. Justice Reinvestment Efforts, especially with their cross-ideological support.]
“… The most dramatic change in direction has been in the US. No country has a stronger imprisonment culture, with one in 100 behind bars in 2008, six times the Australian rate. In a climate where …
November 17, 2011 Tags: news, reinvestment
Category: Community, Policy No Comments
Michigan Lets Prisoners Go—and Saves a Bundle
In a small, drab office at the Charles Egeler correctional facility in Jackson, Mich., Corey Russell, a 34-year-old stickup man, is taking a test that will determine whether he is ready to be let out of prison. “In the three to six months prior to this incarceration, how often were you bored in your spare …
December 1, 2011 Tags: commentary, news
Category: Community, Parole, Policy, Reform No Comments