Volunteers of America Indiana will Host a Public Roundtable Discussion about Recidivism
INDIANAPOLIS, IN. ( 31 March, 2016) – On April 5th 2016, Volunteers of America Indiana will host a roundtable discussion about recidivism and community involvement at the Haughville Branch Public Library from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Latrice Watson, Program Coordinator of the Second Chance Mentoring Program, will lead the discussion. Panel members will include volunteer mentors, and staff of Volunteers of America Indiana who have professional experience in reentry services. The event is free and open to the public.
Subject matter to be discussed at this event will include the following:
- The impact of incarceration in Marion County
- As of January 2016, there are 8,126 people who are incarcerated in Marion County (Indiana Department of Corrections).
- The rate of re-arrest and recidivism
- According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 77 percent of the current prison population will be arrested again within the next five years. So if 8,126 people are currently incarcerated, an estimated 6,257 people will return to prison within the next five years.
- The cost of incarceration
- The Bureau of Justice also reports that the average annual cost per inmate is $20,761 which means Marion County is spending an average of $168,703,886 a year. But if people only went to prison once, it would spend an average of $38,802,309 a year.
- Possible solutions/how the community can respond
- The Second Chance Mentoring program provides an evidence-based response to the problem. This program matches volunteer mentors with individuals transitioning back into their communities from incarceration in order to help them decide not return to prison.
- A recent case study funded by the US Department of Labor found that ex-offenders involved in mentoring programs were more than twice as likely to find jobs. They were 39 percent less likely to recidivate than those participants who were not mentored.
Currently there are 53 people transitioning out of incarceration who are looking for mentors through the Second Chance Mentoring program. So Volunteers of America Indiana is encouraging individuals to come to this event to learn more about recidivism, criminal justice reform, and how they can help.