Reentry Success for High Risk Juveniles

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 1: Planning Projects are targeted for jurisdictions that have demonstrated a commitment to establishing a juvenile reentry program and have made progress on the ten Mandatory Requirements of a Comprehensive Reentry Program but have not yet fully completed each step.

Under the Second Chance Act Reentry Program, the Minnesota Department of Corrections (MDC) Reentry for High Risk Juveniles initiative will seek to develop a strategic plan to support success for juveniles released from the secure, long-term treatment facility at Red Wing, Minnesota. Challenges for the target population include educational gaps, poverty, family chaos, mental health and substance use issues, and high rates of gang involvement. Challenges for the state department of corrections include releasing a population that has doubled in two years while transition staff positions have decreased. Reentry support needs for juveniles with co-occurring disorders and promoting visitation alternatives in response to geographic challenges will be addressed. The target population is juveniles assessed as high-risk at the Minnesota Correctional Facility-Red Wing and returning to communities with disproportionate numbers of returning offenders. Challenges for the State of Minnesota as a whole include how to involve families and community organizations more effectively in reintegration of juveniles, and how to pool resources for successful interventions and support. The MDC through specific partnerships, including the Governor's Juvenile Justice Advisory Council, will focus its goals on (1) implementing client-centered transition planning, (2) reducing barriers to collaborating with government agency and community partners on behalf of juveniles and public safety, (3) addressing systematic hurdles to success, and (4) integrating support for juveniles with mental health and chemical dependency needs in transition.

CA/NCF