Choose to Change Reentry Program

About the Program

Category: Criminal Justice and Public Safety (Best in Category)

Year: 2018

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office new jail reentry program, called Choose to Change, is an intensive eight-week cycle of evidence-based curriculum aimed at medium and high-risk inmates in an effort to reduce recidivism by targeting their criminogenic risk factors. The classes for both sentenced and unsentenced inmates include: Thinking for a Change for cognitive restructuring, New Opportunities for Work (N.O.W.), transition for preparing for release, anger management, domestic violence, parenting, and special topic workshops. Inmates receive up to twenty-six hours of programming per week which keeps them busy and reduces disciplinary issues in their housing units. Based on the anonymous feedback from the inmates at the conclusion of the program, they felt Choose to Change was the best experience they have ever been a part of, and refer other inmates to enroll in this voluntary program. In a number of cases, inmates have received better plea agreements for their participation. Graduates of the program are set up for success by completing programs and receiving community service hours before they are released to the community and/or probation. Initial analysis after one year found a recidivism rate of 4.5% for the graduates, compared to 86% for a comparison group of inmates being released without programming.