By David Hench
Portland Press Herald
PORTLAND — Cumberland County Jail has received a $572,524 grant to help inmates transition from jail to life on the outside and reduce the risk that they will re-offend.
The Bureau of Justice Assistance awarded the grant to the county and its partners for the Prisoner Re-entry Initiative, the sheriff’s office said in an announcement Thursday.
The goal of the grant is to create linkages between community organizations and the jail using case managers.
The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office is partnering with members of the Co-Occurring Collaborative Serving Maine, Family Crisis Services, Catholic Charities of Maine, Maine Pretrial Services, Department of Corrections Probation and Parole, University of New England, My Sister’s Keeper and Goodwill Industries of Northern
New England, according to the release.
Those groups will provide services and counseling to selected inmates, planning for their eventual release and then following them as they work to resume normal life.
“With this team approach that involves many key stakeholders in our community, we believe that we are increasing an offender’s chance of success and ensuring at the same time that the community remains safe,” said Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce.