PRISON NATION New effort seeks better results for ex-offenders BY NICOLE DIONNE

More than two million people are incarcerated in the United States, nearly five million are on probation or parole, and, according to the US Justice Department, "62 percent of those released from state prisons will be re-arrested within three years and 40 percent will be re-incarcerated." In Rhode Island, approximately half of all released inmates return to prison within three years. Assistant US Attorney Richard Rose calls this, "Life on the installment plan."

The Challenging Offenders to Maintain Positive Associations and Social Stability (COMPASS) project aims to challenge the disparity between America’s high rate of incarceration and the absence of efforts to help offenders become productive citizens. Many newly released offenders lack such basic things as housing or a driver’s license, so it’s not exactly surprising that they revert to old ways. Because of the discrimination faced by ex-offenders seeking jobs or housing, it is "virtually impossible to get their lives back in order," says Joseph Buchanan, a founding member of COMPASS. "If they can’t get a job, they will go back to what they know best," thereby increasing the amount of people who are incarcerated and the resulting costs for taxpayers.

COMPASS is intended to more successfully reintegrate offenders by initiating planning and case management with the offender, three months before their release, and their family. Run by the state Department of Corrections (DOC) with help from federal grants, the project builds on the efforts of two existing juvenile and adult reentry programs. Rose, who chairs COMPASS’s advisory board, says he’s interested in the program since it’s a matter of public safety. As he notes, if people are going to be released from prison, the state should make every effort to ensure that further crimes won’t be committed.

Officials say COMPASS, which began in July, will eventually target more than 600 adult offenders released to Providence and more than 300 juveniles released throughout the state. Through the program, the DOC and the state Department of Children, Youth, and Families will work with various agencies to address the issues of recidivism, substance abuse, mental health, and to support workforce participation, housing, family reunification, and faith-based mentoring.

Boosters say the COMPASS program differs from past efforts since participants are chosen based on the nature of the crime, their age, area of residence and the desire to make positive changes in their lives. In the past, "There hasn’t been a coordination of all available services," Rose says.

In 2002, 3304 inmates were released in Rhode Island, 29 percent of whom were violent offenders. COMPASS is available only to violent offenders and is limited to four zip codes in Providence: 02905, 02907, 02908, and 02909. Providence was chosen because almost 40 percent of all released offenders return to the central part of the city. If it is successful, says spokeswoman Teresa Foley, "it will be expanded statewide if there is funding available." Such efforts go against the grain in a society where shortsighted three-strikes-type policies often prove popular. But as Rose says, "All of us are affected by ex-offenders, and all of us will benefit if we can make the process more effective."