FAC board members participate in reentry seminar

This week two of our FAC board members participated in a reentry seminar at Madison Correctional Institution, an incentivized facility.  The Florida Department of Corrections plans on eventually conducting such seminars at all facilities.  Why it has taken so long to figure out the need for such programs, I do not know.  But leaving a correctional institution with a one-way bus ticket and $50 in your pocket does little to assure a successful reintegration back into society.

According to the staff at MCI, back in 1994 the two-year recidivism rate for all released inmates in Florida was just under 70%.  At that time there were only two to three resources available to help the men and women when they were released.

Today Florida has many reentry groups along with numerous resources to assist these returning citizens making the two-year recidivism rate at 30%.  Why has it taken the state of Florida so long to figure out that people need help?  How can you succeed when you are homeless?  When you have untreated medical needs?  When you are suffering from a drug addiction?  When you have no job?

A staff member shared with us that many people in their facility are there because of a sex offense.  He went on to share that the reason so many of these individuals qualify for their incentivized institution is because people whose crime was a sex offense tend to be people who follow the rules.  That was no surprise to us, therefore, the low sexual recidivism rate for Persons Forced to Register.

Statistics and Publication—Florida Department of Corrections