Charlottesville and Albemarle County will receive state funding to expand the area's prisoner re-entry initiatives, local officials announced Monday.
Some of the funding, which will come from the Second Chance Act, will go toward hiring a case manager who will work out of Offender Aid and Restoration.
"At OAR, the re-entry program has been around for 40 years," Re-Entry Program Manager Jason Ness said. "It was originally founded as a mentoring program for inmates. We do educational classes at prisons and jails, but most of our work is post-release. We are helping them obtain certification, identification, job skills, interview skills. We want to teach them how to find jobs and keep them."
The case manager will work on a more individual level with ex-offenders who are at a higher risk of relapsing into crime. Factors putting ex-offenders at a higher risk for returning to prison include substance abuse, unemployment, a lower level of education or estrangement from family members.
The program reflects an evolving approach to correctional systems, Ness said, one that steers away from an out-of-date, cookie-cutter system applied to every ex-offender.
The Second Chance Act is a $1.5 million effort implemented by Gov. Bob McDonnell's administration in September to strengthen Virginia's prisoner re-entry programs.
"An effective prisoner re-entry program can effectively reduce recidivism, improve public safety and improve integration by offenders into their communities," McDonnell stated in a Sept. 15 press release.
The funding received bipartisan support.
"Our criminal justice system is in a self-perpetuating crisis," Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., stated in the September release. "This funding made available for re-entry programs will help break the cycle and provide critical assistance to individuals transitioning back into our communities."
Grant money was awarded to the State Department of Social Services and divided among six regions of Virginia. Although the specific allotment of money has not been finalized, Charlottesville and Albemarle County likely will receive more than $260,000 during a three-year span, Ness said.
The grant is guaranteed for one year, with the possibility of being renewed for two more.
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