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Sandy • Out of every 100 offenders who are incarcerated in the nation, about 95 will leave jail or prison eventually, according to the Utah Department of Corrections.
Utah officials don't want them to land back behind bars. So to help former prisoners re-enter society, public agencies and community entities have formed a coalition to provide services and knock down barriers to success, such as lack of access to housing, employment, education, treatment and transportation.
On Wednesday, the coalition's initiative, ASCENT — Achieving Success Through Collaborative Engagement and Navigated Transition — was officially launched. Representatives of state, federal and community groups gathered at the Salt Lake Community College Larry H. Miller Campus in Sandy to talk about the multi-agency approach to give people who have gone through the criminal justice system a second chance and reduce recidivism.
The group later broke down into four committees to discuss the details of implementing the initiative's focus areas: treatment and victim assistance; housing and transportation; education and employment; and community support and reintegration reform.
Gordon Swensen, field service director for the Utah Office of Rehabilitation, said collaboration among agencies will assist offenders in their transition.
"They need the services to help them successfully integrate," Swensen said.
Steve Gehrke, director of quality and process improvement at the corrections department, said prisoners have higher rates of mental health issues and substance abuse problems than the general population. And 73 percent of offenders returning to prison nationally were unemployed, he said.
Very few prisoners are serving life without parole so most will be rejoining the community sometime, Gehrke said. About 2,200 inmates were paroled last year from the Utah State Prison, he said.
ASCENT has been in the works for months and Corrections Executive Director Rollin Cook said his agency already has been working to integrate inmates into society. Programming sergeants connect inmates to appropriate programs behind bars, while transition specialists help line up a variety of services for when they leave prison, he said.
"There's not one magic solution to this incredible challenge," Cook said.
Kenny O'Rourke, a Utah man who spent years in federal and state prisons and battled a drug problem, said being given a second chance and getting treatment changed his life.
O'Rourke, who is employed now and has a wife and kids, believes other offenders can succeed with the right help.
"It's going to take a thousand little investments," he said. "You can't count anybody out."
Agencies that are partnering in the effort include the Department of Corrections; Board of Pardons and Parole; Workforce Services; Human Services; Office of Rehabilitation; Office of Education; U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services; the federal Public Defender for the District of Utah; county and state housing authorities; faith groups; and treatment providers.
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