Re-entry Tablet Program

About the Program

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

Year: 2018

Within Montgomery County Correctional Facility (MCCF), the Montgomery County Department of Correction and Rehabilitation (MCDOCR) implemented an innovative reentry initiative to enhance services to the custodial population through the deployment of Reentry Tablets. While tablet technology has already entered into correctional education classrooms, this program supports a new foundation of contemporary corrections through bridging technology with reentry services and inmate programs as demonstrated through successful approaches throughout our maximum-security facility. Incarcerated individuals have a wide range of reentry needs that present with an even broader complexity of varying length of time in custody, recidivism risks, and personal readiness for change. As a staff tool used within program groups and individual reentry case management services, these tablets extend the service reach of reentry staff by providing important information, resources, and skill development modules directly to incarcerated individuals. Facility staff has direct control and monitoring oversight of them. Participants do not have open access to the outside community or internet through these tablets, and every function of the tablet is deliberate and connected to individual and group settings. This increased access to services and information is a critical benefit as limited reentry staff resources cannot reach the full scope of needs and complexities of the entire custodial population.