A change in prisoners? lifestyles and attitudes is the thrust behind a state program to lower the recidivism rate in Maryland.
“We must do everything in our power to ensure that offenders leave prison as law-abiding citizens,” said Mary Livers, deputy secretary of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.
She spoke at the Seventh Annual Open House and Awards Ceremony to honor victims of crimes and victims advocates at the Public Safety Educational and Training Center in Sykesville on Tuesday.
Livers referred to her department?s rollout of RESTART ? Re-entry Enforcement Services Targeting Addiction, Rehabilitation and Treatment ? which provides comprehensive education and re-entry support services, such as trade skills and mental health services, for state inmates.
“Productive activities in prison are not a way to coddle inmates,” Livers said. Rather, this approach engages offenders in activities that will cut down on Maryland?s 50 percent recidivism rate, she said.
The program, which began in late 2003, only serves inmates in the Maryland Correctional Training Center, a men?s facility in Hagerstown and the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women in Jessup. The state has been slow to provide more comprehensive funding to cover all prisons, said Mark Vernarelli, DPSCS spokesman.
Statistics on RESTART are not yet available because recidivism rates are measured in three-year periods.
But other statistics from similar programs indicate that recidivism rates drop for participating prisoners.
Vernarelli said prisoners employed by Maryland Correctional Enterprises, which provides customers with goods and services made by inmates, have a recidivism rate of only 24 percent.
“If inmates are engaged and don?t have idle time, they won?t assault our correctional officers, and they will be less likely to create new victims once released,” he said.
“The majority of prisoners are going to be released, so every community has returning offenders,” said Tomi Hiers, a former director of the Baltimore-based Maryland Re-entry Partnership Initiative that provides support for recently released prisoners.
“From my experience, those offenders who participated in organized programs while incarcerated were much easier to serve once back in the community.”
Programs like RESTART have been gaining popularity across the country, and Maryland?s program “seems pretty sound,” said Edward Latessa, of the University of Cincinnati?s Division of Criminal Justice.
“If we can change prisoners? attitude and values about their lifestyles, we can have a strong effect on their future behavior.”
