By JASON BROWN
The Advocate
LAFAYETTE, La. — Inmates who enroll in diversion programs at Lafayette Parish Correctional Center are about 20 percent less likely to re-enter the system than those in the general inmate population, according to a study released Thursday.
The study compared recidivism rates between three of the jail’s diversion programs - work release, home monitoring and day reporting - with a comparable random sample of inmates from the general population.
The study showed 35.4 percent of the inmates from diversion programming were rearrested, compared to 55.7 percent of inmates from the general population who had no diversion programming were rearrested.
The jail’s general population recidivism rate also was lower than the national average of 67 percent, a figure cited in a 2004 U.S. Department of Justice study.
The data was collected by Capt. Colby Barbier, who runs LPCC’s Work Release program, and was analyzed by an independent group of statisticians.
LPCC Director Rob Reardon said the reason for the study was to “demonstrate that we’re actually doing something that’s proactive and productive for the inmate population.”
Reardon said the nation is spending upward of $62 billion a year on prisons alone and that one out of every 100 people now are in jail.
“We just can’t continue incarcerating people and just leaving them there,” Reardon said. “Placing people in jail and hoping they’re going to change their behavior just because they’re in jail just doesn’t work.”
Reardon said diversion programs ultimately help to create linkages back into society for inmates, making it possible for them to re-enter society with the training, education and rehabilitation that can help keep them there.
Mike Hoffpauir, district manager for the Lafayette Probation and Parole Office, spoke highly of LPCC’s programs, referring to them as “very progressive and on the cutting edge.”
He also said LPCC’s efforts fall in line with Louisiana Department of Correction’s re-entry initiative.
About 15,000 inmates are released from Louisiana prisons each year and within five years about half typically return, according to the DOC Web site.
To help reduce those numbers the state has begun to work with inmates prior to release to help ensure they have a place to live and work, which can enhance their chances on the outside.
This represents a critical shift in the state’s previous efforts, which many times consisted of nothing more than giving an inmate $10 and a bus ticket home.
Pam Laborde, spokeswoman for DOC, said the department is in the process of breaking the state into regions and organizing resources by region, which includes everything from Probation and Parole districts, treatment services and faith-based organizations to employers, the labor department and Louisiana Department of Health and Hospital services and offices.
She said part of this revamping will include local facilities.
“With nearly half of DOC’s population in local facilities, it is essential that local facilities start providing certain programming for offenders before release in order to help reduce our recidivism numbers.
“Some local facilities already have good programs and we’re trying to identify those throughout the state and bring them on board with what’s going on in our institutions in terms of re-entry programming.”
Reardon said he hopes the study will help better position LPCC for possible consideration as one of those regional re-entry sites. Jail diversion programs represent about 12 to 15 percent of the sheriff’s office’s corrections budget.
Laborde said no decisions have yet been made toward where those reentry locations will be.
“We’re still a little early in the process,” Laborde said.
LPCC’s study analyzed four years of data and looked at the percentage of those who re-offend along with the length of time between release and rearrest. It also examined age, race, sex, education and conviction types.
Barbier said one of the most surprising details was that most of those who re-offended did so within the first six months to a year.
Reardon said this means that recently released inmates likely need more supervision and help during those first six months.
Other significant findings include:
* Race, sex and type of conviction had no relation to a program’s effectiveness.
* Recidivism rates within the three diversion programs were: 37.4 percent for work release; 38.5 percent for day reporting; and 32.8 percent for home monitoring.
* The average number of days until an inmate returned to incarceration was 169 days for those in the jail and 355 days for those within the diversion programs.
Reardon said the study has affirmed the need for the jail’s programs and will be used to expand and enhance future efforts.
Otherwise, “it’s just endless,” Reardon said. “They’re just going to come back and back and back.”
Copyright 2008 Capital City Press