THE 3-MINUTE INTERVIEW – Stefan LoBuglio

The Montgomery County Department of Correction and Rehabilitation was chosen as one of two sites in the country for the Close to Home pilot, a federal grant program that seeks to enhance re-entry services for offenders by building on family and social supports. Stefan LoBuglio is the chief of pre-release and re-entry services. How does Close to Home project build on family support? The underlying premise is that families can provide the support and motivation to change behavior for these individuals, and by working with the individuals and their families in a variety of ways, we can utilize the strength of families to challenge directly some of the misguided thinking and poor attitudes that lead to reoccurrence of criminal activity. What about dysfunctional families? The project will also identify cases where families are part of the problem. Then the goal might be to develop support systems that can provide offenders with alternative resources, and the insight to recognize who can really help them or lead them astray. How important are families to keeping people out of trouble? We have countless examples where family members have worked heroically to keep their loved ones on the straight and narrow. Family members contact us regularly and share their concerns, and then work with us to confront and change this behavior. Our case managers remind family members that their loved ones are adults who should be assuming adult responsibilities, and that their 30- or 40-year-old son or daughter does not need to be given money or meals, but needs to find a job How was Montgomery County chosen? The Vera Institute chose the DOCR in a competitive process out of a pool of agencies from jurisdictions from around the country. We were told that our demonstrated commitment to involving family members in re-entry in addition to our national reputation for running good and solid corrections were factors in our selection. — Scott McCabe