Pubdate: Mon, 12 Sep 2005
Source: Oklahoman, The (OK)
Copyright: 2005 The Oklahoma Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.oklahoman.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/318
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)

TURNAROUND: PRISON PROGRAMS HELP CONVICTS REFORM

It's difficult not to be skeptical when we hear of convicts who have 
"found" religion and turned their lives around. But it does happen.

An Oklahoma City program around since 1994 is helping felons kick their 
addictions, find work and establish stable lives outside prison walls. Hand 
Up Ministries, recently profiled by The Oklahoman's Dawn Marks, is a 
privately funded residential program that requires former inmates to be 
Christian.

They must attend Bible studies twice a week and church once a week. Many 
enter the program straight out of prison and stay for a year or more. That 
time gives them an opportunity to get treatment for substance abuse, find a 
job and get their lives on a path different from the one that landed them 
in prison.

The uncertainty of life after prison is what leads many inmates to lapse. 
Programs -- private and public -- that give current and former prisoners a 
chance to turn their lives around lessen that risk. A Department of 
Corrections study earlier this year found that prison substance-abuse 
programs drastically lessen recidivism for male and female prisoners. Drug 
court programs for first-time offenders also have proven successful.

The state's Career Tech system recently obtained a $1 million federal grant 
to expand occupational training in three prisons. The money will aid in 
finding jobs for inmates. Current training varies from construction to 
manufacturing to computers. System officials said their work may include 
relocating released inmates to take them out of crime-infested neighborhoods.

The answers to cutting recidivism are as varied as the felons' backgrounds 
and upbringings. There's no magic bullet or single program that's 
guaranteed to succeed. But it's important that private and public programs 
continue to find ideas that work in turning felons into productive members 
of society. Such programs make us all safer.
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman