Indiana works to improve offenders' move into community

As of March 15, the number of individuals occupying Indiana's prison facilities numbered 23,000, according to Indiana Department of Corrections statistics. This year alone, an estimated 5,703 people will be released from prison on parole. Failure to meet the requirements of parole means the individual will be returned into the correctional institution. \nDiane Mains, project administrator for Gov. Joe Kernan's initiative to restructure reintegration procedures, said the National Institute of Corrections provided the visionary model for the proposed systematic review and eventual policy adjustments. \n"This is a recognition that what we're currently doing isn't working," Mains said.\nThe Institute of Correction's Web site, www.nicic.org, asserts a lack of planning to reduce parole violations has led to minimal contact with the offenders after release from prison instead of actively promoting community contribution.\nGov. Kernan's initiative mirrors the Institute's model of reentry. In June, Indiana was selected by the Institute as one of the first six states to participate in the "Transition from Prison to Community" initiative. \nThe reintegration plan calls for individual assessment of the offender from the onset of a sentence term. These case studies are continuous throughout the entire sentence with repeated screenings and evaluations to assess the risks and needs of every individual. Upon release, each individual will be presented with a guide on what specific resources are best suited to support the individual during the period of community supervision. \nIndiana Corrections plans to reduce existing barriers of successful reintegration, including help in obtaining employment, medical insurance, education and housing. Mains said she hopes to encourage local businesses to extend their services to encompass previously incarcerated individuals and, therefore, promote community safety.\n"This change is not going to automatically transform the systems already in place," Mains said. "This is a long term project."\nIndiana currently has two prisons that cannot be funded to run at a capacity that can accommodate the increased frequency and duration of prison terms for convicts, said Mains. \nThe approximate annual budget of Indiana Corrections as reported by www.state.in.us for the 2004-05 year is just over $571 million. In Indiana, each individual requires roughly $56 a day to sustain their needs. The collective cost of supplying the necessities to incarcerated individuals amounts to approximately $1.3 million a year. \nThe funding for the initiative was supplied through N.I.C. and the U.S. Department of Justice. \n-- Contact staff writer Allison Ricket at aricket@indiana.edu.