Two in three Alaska inmates end up back in jail after they are released, which is why the Department of Corrections is trying to beef up programs that reduce recidivism. Programs like the reentry program at the Hiland Mountain Correctional Center.

It is the reentry program's 4th year at Highland and every year, organizers are seeing more and more inmates applying for it.

The program helps inmates with the 3 biggest issues when they are released from prison, housing, sober treatment and employment.

"I had to call lots of places to find a place. I finally found one. It took me over a month to find a good job," said Violet Dann, who went from being an inmate at Hiland Mountain now working in a law office. She is one of the professional Pre-Release Conference's success stories.

During the Pre-Release conference, Oct. 31st, more than a hundred other inmates at Hiland Mountain Correctional Center are hoping for similar success.

"A lot of us when we get released we don't have any tools and we don't have any support and it's very helpful," said inmate at Highland, Nayade Perez.

"Being here today meant a lot cause there is a lot of people who can help me get through, like getting my job or my housing or staying clean," said another inmate, Edna Commack.

Edna Commack has been in and out of Hiland for the last five years. She says this time is different; she got her GED last month and will soon start taking college courses to help her

Advertisement
land a job so that when she is out she can stay out.

"We can do very good programmatic news inside the facility but without a good solid reentry plan, it isn't going to matter," said Department of Corrections, Commissioner Joe Schmidt.

The workshops cover a whole range of skills these women will need to reduce their chances of ending up back behind bars. "I'm sure the challenges are tougher even now but again I think the message that this conference sends these women is that people in the community care about them and want them to succeed and I think that in of itself is a powerful message," said Chief Justice Dana Fabe with the Alaska Supreme Court.

Backers of the program say with the state spending more than a quarter of a billion dollars on prisons the reentry program makes sense. "Everyone wants prisoners to be successful, it's a huge cost to the state to keep people incarcerated so everything we can do to assist these population from staying out it's a benefit for the state of Alaska," said Superintendent of Hiland Mountain Correctional Center, Dean Marshall.

Women who are within a year of their release are eligible to attend the program.

Chief Justice Fabe said the state is looking to obtain some grant funding to do a study on the program's impact on reducing recidivism.