WILKES-BARRE (WOLF) -- "Their success is their own. We're the tour guide. We give them the roadmap," said Stacey Velez.
Last fall, 36-year-old Matthew Grohol was sitting on a judge's bench.
"Police entered my house, they found a couple bags of heroin and a marijuana grow operation," he shared.
Part of his bail terms included going through the Luzerne County reentry program.
"I didn't want to do it at first, but I had to go so I kept going," he said.
As of Tuesday morning, he has a certificate to prove he finished the rigorous, three-phase, several-months-long program.
"I had to look at a lot of things I did wrong in my life, and that was really hard. I mean who wants to do that and own up to their own mistakes?"
The father of an 11-year-old even got on stage as a keynote speaker - a representative his summer class of 37.
"I feel my thinking has changed a lot. It gave me confidence, helped me with my self-responsibility," said Grohol.
Stacey Velez manages GEO Reentry Services Program in Luzerne County.
She says since the program is mandated by the judicial system, so most people do not want to be there.
"We roll with resistance, we find what motivates them to want to change and we build on that," she said.
Program leaders say that graduates are on average 40-50% less likely to commit crimes after completion than when they started.
"There are a percentage of people who committed crimes that do belong in jail. But there are a high percentage of people who in two years are going to get out. And they're sons and daughters and fathers and mothers, and they have children... and they want the same things that you and I want," said Velez.
Matthew says it would have been a very different story if he hadn't gone through the reentry program.
"I'd probably be dead right now from a drug overdose or back in jail."
Program leaders say they graduate about 100 students each year.
