Pre-Release Support Increases Success Rate Upon Reentry
The United States incarcerates more people than any other country. Colorado incarcerates more people than 35 other states and every other country, and Colorado has one of the worst records for people returning to prison after release. Colorado’s recidivism rate is around 50 % whereas the national rate is 37%.
In 2017, a total of 219,000 women were incarcerated nationally. 63,700 women were incarcerated by state prisons for non-violent crimes like property damage, drug offenses, theft/burglary/fraud and another 78,000 women were incarcerated in local jails for non-violent crimes. There are over 1000 women each of Colorado’s two women’s prisons – one in Aurora at the Denver Women’s Corrections Facility (DWCF) and the other in La Vista near Pueblo, Colorado. Annually, there are 285 man and women a released to Boulder County.
Reducing recidivism for these women coming out of DWCF begins with TRI’s 6-month pre-release program. Every six months we interview women at DWCF to select 12-13 participants. In just three years the number of women interviewed for the program has grown from 25 to 40 candidates Those selected attend training four hours per week. The curriculum is based on The University of Cincinnati Research Institute…(UCRI) and delivered by Reentry Initiative trainers and staff, certified by (UCCI-CBI).
