Sheriff's Incarcerated Youth and Reentry Task Force Initiative

About the Program

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

Year: 2013

The Sheriff’s Incarcerated Youth and Reentry Task Force Initiative was launched in September 2011 with the mission of promoting the successful transition of incarcerated youth, between the ages of 16 to 19, from jail to community life. Incarcerated youth face many significant barriers to successful reentry, including family dysfunction, homelessness, substance abuse, educational deficits, lack of employment and mental health issues. The services provided to the youth through this program address these needs during incarceration and post release. The initiative involves a community-wide collaborative involving more than 30 non-profit and government agencies, volunteers and educators. Service providers are invited inside the correctional facility to run a variety of evidenced-based programs, internal case-managers provide transitional assistance to the incarcerated youth, and post release case-management teams work with the youth and their families following their period of incarceration. The program was launched with no additional county funding; instead the framework was built through coordination and collaboration with government and community stakeholders. The results have been remarkable; recidivism has dropped to 7% for those youth participating in the program. The typical one year re-incarceration rate for those youth not participating is between 20-25%.