By Jeff Kolkey
Rockford Register Star, Ill.
ROCKFORD, Ill. — A prisoner re-entry program that is equal parts stern warning, tough love talk and sincere offer of help finding work, addiction treatment or mental health services is getting new life.
A pilot program worked with 87 men and women returning from prison in 2018 and 2019 who were considered violent offenders and at high risk of reoffending or becoming victims of violent crime themselves. But although the program showed promise, it was discontinued when grant funding ran out.
Now it could be making a comeback.
Of the more than 65 who accepted assistance from the program, the majority did not commit a serious crime and avoided going back to prison, Mayor Tom McNamara said.
“Very few people want to commit crimes,” McNamara said. “I think often they lack belonging, often they lack hope, and often they lack the resources or the knowledge of those resources. And I think effective re-entry programs that provide navigation assistance can have an impact, not just on crime reduction, which it will and has, but on actually improving that person’s life.”
City Council on Tuesday night approved an agreement partnering with Winnebago County to bring the $800,000 program back for four years.
Rockford would tap $400,000 worth of cannabis taxes to pay for half of the program. Winnebago County would use $400,000 from its $55 million share of in American Rescue Plan funding to cover the other half.
The program teams parole, probation, police, city and county officials and prosecutors who deliver a unified message at what is termed a “call in” that is both supportive and promises “swift, certain and fair sanctions” if they again commit crimes or violence.
It couples that tough love message with a sincere offer of assistance. And it would assign a prosecutor to the program who would be expected to seek swift, but fair prosecution for anyone in the program that turns back to criminal activity.
With the funds, the Winnebago County State’s Attorney’s Office will hire an assistant state’s attorney designated to work on the program. And the county would hire a “navigator” who would work for County Board Chairman Joe Chiarelli’s Office of Criminal Justice Initiatives. The navigator would work with the returning residents to help them find a jobs, obtain needed documents or locate services.
Interim Rockford Police Chief Randy Berke said that he is hopeful the program can be effective, helping to prevent those reintegrating back to the Rockford region from prison from committing crimes.
“Anytime we can offer assistance to people who are reintegrating back into our community, I think it’s a positive thing,” Berke said. “Will it have an effect on the violent crime situation? It could, but I think just as importantly it is helping those individuals with some of the needs they have to be able to successfully integrate back into our community.”
(c)2021 Rockford Register Star, Ill.