Sandusky County Juvenile Offender Reentry Program

The Second Chance Act provides a comprehensive response to the increasing number of incarcerated adults and juveniles who are released from prison, jail, and juvenile residential facilities and are returning to their communities. The FY 2013 Second Chance Act Juvenile Reentry Program helps ensure that the transition the youth make from secure confinement facilities to the community is successful and promotes public safety. A secure confinement facility may include a juvenile detention center, juvenile correctional facility, or staff-secure facility. Eligible juveniles must have been confined under juvenile court jurisdiction. CATEGORY 2: Implementation Projects must include specific strategies for implementing the ten Mandatory Requirements of a Comprehensive Reentry Program.

The Sundusky County Juvenile Offender Reentry Initiative will target 125 juvenile offenders who are assessed and classified as high risk, court involved or housed within a juvenile detention center. The target population may live in poverty, have little interaction with their family, have experienced violence, substance abuse and/or attained low levels of education. This program encompasses the "Transition from Jail to Community" evidenced based model developed by the National Institute of Corrections and the Urban Institute. This model advances systems level change and local re-entry efforts. The program will incorporate the following: a transition plan, GED preparation and testing, the Identity Program, substance abuse and mental health counseling, Thinking for Change Cognitive Behavior Program, Career Assessment and Exploration, Life Skills Training, Civic Justice Corp, college readiness training, Moral Recognition Therapy, personal and occupational development, work ethics and anger management. The impact and outcomes are as follows: to reduce rates of reoffending, to prevent victimization, to save money by reducing the number of youth committed, to increase public safety, to reduce the number of offenders needing public assistance and to teach offenders to take care of themselves and their families.

CA/NCF