For the second year in a row, Contra Costa County was chosen to receive a $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to reduce recidivism among former inmates.
Called the Second Chance Grant, the funds are intended to help the county develop a support system to reduce the likelihood of inmates returning to prison or jail. The grant funding is the largest amount awarded by the DOJ.
“Getting the DOJ grant shows that the federal government is aware of the work we are trying to do in Contra Costa,” said Supervisor Federal D. Glover.
“When I approached justice department officials two years ago, they were looking for a California county to assist because they knew that the state was under court orders to reduce it’s prison population by tens of thousands,” said Glover.
“They want a program that can be replicated in other counties.”
With the help of the county’s state congressional representatives, especially Sen. Barbara Boxer, who monitored the application, Contra Costa was awarded the Second Chance Grant in 2012.
The first year’s grant was used to develop a pilot program and measure its effectiveness. The DOJ realizes that a year is not enough time to properly put in place and evaluate the program.
The second year’s funding allows the county, led by Probation, the Sheriff’s Office and court system, to continue the implementation and evaluation of strategies that will help reduce the formerly imprisoned’s tendency to commit new crimes.
The state’s recidivism rate hovers around 70-75 percent, higher than the national average of 52 percent.
“That is shamefully high,” said Glover, “and evidence that the justice system currently in place is not working.”
“Given the proper coping tools, most former inmates can be steered away from the anti-social behavior that put them behind bars,” said Glover. “That’s what we are developing in Contra Costa and that is why the DOJ is highly interested in what the county is attempting. They want us to succeed.”
4 comments
Want to reduce recidivism? Do what Sheriff Joe does in AZ. Put inmates in tents in the desert and feed them crappy food. No weights, no gym, and make them work. Our roadways will be much cleaner. It works great in AZ, the inmates there do NOT ever want to go back to prison. We treat our prisoners here way too nicely. An employee of the Health Services dept in our county jail told me that juvenile offenders actually look forward to spending time in juvenile hall because it’s like a vacation to them, they get good food and get to play video games. That is just wrong!
Arpaio is not a role model you want to follow. His department is sued 50 times more often than much bigger entities like Los Angeles. During his tenure, they have paid out close to 48 million in lost court cases. Some for the way he houses prisoners, but some for the over aggressive law enforcement on the streets. Guess who pays for all those nice lost cases.
As far as repeat offenders go, in a 1998 study commissioned by Arpaio, it was discovered his practices made no discernible difference. Look it up.
The comment from the Health Department employee should be telling you something different than you interpreted. If you’re wondering why there is a rash of crime in your city, you just got a clue.
You can either attempt to solve societal problems proactively or stick with the caveman approach where you think you are going to beat people into submission. One is much more effective. You guess which one.
Buy a Clue, have you been to his county in AZ? I spent some time in a city there the same size as Antioch, I posted some pictures. I know liberals like you hate him, but let me tell you, there were miles and miles of sound walls with NO graffiti. I had my cousin take us to the WORST part of town, and I didn’t see a bunch of gangbangers standing on street corners. I didn’t even see ONE gangbanger like we have all over Antioch. I didn’t see any garbage piled up all over the city like we do in Antioch. I didn’t see empty malt liquor bottles and blunts every 25 feet like you do in Antioch. Keep in mind AZ got hit much harder in the mortgage crisis than we did here in CA. The big difference in AZ? It is not run by a bunch of liberals that want to turn it into a ghetto like the ones that run Antioch. I think we can learn a lot from AZ. You always have nothing but criticisms, I have yet to see you post any ideas to make things better around here. At least I encourage people to think outside of the box and try. If you are so smart, why don’t you run for city council yourself?
Nice rant. But you didn’t dispute a single fact I posted.
See, that’s where you and I part ways. You want to go with the knee jerk emotional reaction to problem solving and I prefer to get the facts and take a big picture view.
Most responses like yours I read are consistent in their intent: to punish. Incarceration is supposed to be a rehabilitation affair. If you don’t focus on the latter, you get repeat visitors. Visitors that you and I pay for to the tune of $50k each per year.
You are your own worst enemy in failing to solve the problem and simply allowing the costs to climb.
To answer your question; yes. Been there several times. My sister lives there. If you haven’t seen the bad side of Maricopa County AZ, you haven’t looked very hard.
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