Each time she was released from jail, Nicole Courtney found herself struggling to transition back into motherhood and the workforce.
She repeatedly found herself homeless and using drugs, as she had for years beforehand. The 43-year-old woman felt little support immediately following release.
"You basically have to fend for yourself," she said.
Now, Courtney is getting guidance and a more structured schedule as she participates in programs offered by the Franklin County (Pa.) Day Reporting Center. She estimated her chances of success as 90 percent when addressing a newly formed reentry coalition focused on easing the transition out of incarceration.
The Franklin County Reentry Coalition is linking probation officers, human services organizations, health providers, county administrators, jail staff, churches and others in a quest to reduce rates of ex-offenders committing new crimes when returned to the community. The coalition aims to reduce barriers to successful outcomes.
"Don't dismiss that when we lock someone up, we add barriers at the back end," Pennsylvania Corrections Secretary John Wetzel said, saying the historical focus on retribution is shifting to efforts to rehabilitate criminals.
States across the nation, facing skyrocketing prison costs while battling an opioid epidemic that's claiming thousands of lives, have begun focusing on helping ex-offenders successfully reenter society.
The main reason why is because housing people in jail is costly. According to a 2013 study by the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit group focused on criminal and social justice issues, it cost taxpayers an average of $38,383 per year to house an inmate in Maryland in 2010, the most recent year available. That cost was $42,339 in Pennsylvania and $26,498 in West Virginia.
'Problems and challenges'
Wetzel provided opening remarks for a summit held last week by the reentry coalition. Dozens of attendees heard from a researcher, ex-offenders like Courtney and criminal justice leaders, and they participated in break-out sessions about substance abuse, employment, education, housing, behavioral and mental health, and the role of the faith community.
Discussions revealed a wide range of obstacles for ex-offenders on their way out of jail.
"There's no shortage of problems and challenges individuals face," researcher Myrinda Schweitzer Smith said in teaching principles of effectiveness.
In Franklin County, those who will be on probation must have a home plan with a commitment of where they'll stay for the next 90 days. One inmate who is already overdue for release is a migrant worker without a fixed address, while others are continually sending applications to shelters, ministries and the New Hope Ranch Recovery Center for rehabilitation.
An organization called 360 Transformation Center is sending vans to transport people to their new jobs, as many of them have suspended driver's licenses. The organization's founder, Don T. Houser Sr., faced the same issues with job placement and transportation after he was released from federal prison.
Houser tells clients to expect rejection, especially from potential employers leery of hiring someone with a felony conviction.
"You have to respect freedom to keep it," he said of the attitude he encourages.
Juanita Erdington-Grant started CRAM Inc. as a street ministry to provide opportunities for ex-offenders. The organization from Harrisburg, Pa., is starting to expand into Franklin County to address housing and keeping families together, which sometimes can be challenging when subsidized housing bans those with criminal records.
"Being an ex-offender myself, I've been there," she said. "I understand that."
Franklin County administers a medication-assistance program to help addicts reach sobriety. Some people, like Jacob Miller, take Suboxone to act as an opioid blocker.
Miller, of Greencastle, Pa., said he has steered clear of heroin and prescription pills for five months by turning away from former friends, taking Suboxone once daily and attending Narcotics Anonymous meetings. A new Narcotics Anonymous group is forming in Chambersburg to complement ones in Shippensburg, Pa., and Waynesboro, Pa.
"I still struggle with (wanting to use)," Miller said. "It's like the devil's hand. Once it gets a grasp on you, it's hard to get off."
Franklin County's medication-assistance program is offered through its day-reporting center, which allows offenders to serve less time in jail if they attend programs designed to curb criminal thinking.
The Pennsylvania county is a leader in the Tri-State. The Washington County Board of Commissioners in Maryland is applying for more than $540,000 in grant money to develop a day-report center. Championed by county Sheriff Douglas W. Mullendore, the proposed operation — opening as early as this fall — would be established in the county-owned former Phoenix Color building off Tandy Drive west of Hagerstown, just behind the sheriff's office and Washington County Detention Center.
Ronda Eddy, executive director of day report center operations in the Eastern Panhandle, said Friday that it is the quality service provider for adult drug court in the 23rd Judicial Circuit, which is comprised of Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan counties.
Formally known as the Jefferson Day Report Center, the center's community-based outpatient programs include substance use disorder treatment, peer recovery, individual, family and group counseling and psychological assessments. Day report center participants also are randomly screened for drugs. The center has offices in Ranson and Martinsburg, W.Va., Eddy said.
'It should be over'
The success of the Franklin County facility is based on structure.
"It's guidance. It's a routine, and it's something you have to do every day," Courtney said of the Franklin County Day Reporting Center.
Franklin County Court of Common Pleas President Judge Carol Van Horn said the day-reporting center has been important in reducing recidivism, but she said the county needs to take even greater steps.
"Through the past decade, we've talked about accountability with treatment, and it hasn't been enough," she said, saying the coalition needs to find additional, smart methods through its monthly meetings.
Society is terrible at the concept of redemption, including not yet embracing initiatives to expunge criminal records for work purposes, Wetzel said.
"At some point, when you did something wrong, it should be over," he said.
