Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • Teens Learn Life Skills Training Therapy Dogs Audio icon

    Working to train therapy dogs helps kids with issues learn how to cope. Rising Ground, an organization in New York City, provides animal therapy as part of a residential placement program for juveniles facing problems with the law. The youth receive training in life skills, counseling, and peer support through their court-ordered program. In addition, Rising Ground engages them in an eight-week program to train therapy dogs, which helps the youth learn how to deal with their emotions, as well.

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  • Incarcerated Women Help Recover Rare Northwest Butterfly Species

    In a collaboration with the Oregon Zoo, the Institute of Applied Ecology, the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Oregon’s Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, women experiencing incarceration are helping save the endangered Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly. Participants learn data gathering, environmental skills, and record keeping – all skills that can translate to life after release – so that they may help the species flourish from larvae to butterfly.

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  • In Nigeria's overcrowded prisons, Catholic group frees inmates through free legal services

    Thousands of people incarcerated in Nigeria’s rapidly growing prison system, many of them awaiting trial without lawyers, receive free legal, health, and educational services from an NGO that for decades has paid twice-weekly visits to prisons around the country. Serving the prisoners’ general welfare, the Catholic Institute for Development, Justice, and Peace seeks the release of defendants on bail, advocates for better health care, and delivers aid packages to people held in the overcrowded lockups.

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  • When Arizona catches fire, prisoners step up

    As the cost of fighting wildfires rises and the number of firefighters declines, Arizona found a solution: paying incarcerated men and women to do the same job for just five percent of the standard rate for firefighting. Arizona’s Inmate Wildfire Program, while fundamentally exploitative, is seemingly more complex. Those that go through the program find a sense of meaning and are given the opportunity to learn leadership and teamwork skills – things they can translate in life upon release.

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  • First Group Of Students Graduates From Wesleyan's Prison Education Program

    The first class of students enrolled in the Wesleyan University Center for Prison Education has just graduated. The program awards participants with an associate degree from Middlesex Community College in general studies and intends to serve as a tool against recidivism by offering an opportunity for success after incarceration. The Center for Prison Education has existed since 2009, serving 138 students thus far, and started offering a degree option in 2016.

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  • Fairfield County's new jail could serve as example for Wayne County

    In 2017, Ohio’s Fairfield County built a new jail that, for the first time in a long time, met minimum jail standards. Using bonds, the new jail included an increase in the amount of living space, better security standards, and more space and capacity for classes like drug and alcohol programming, GED prep, and job skill building. Six hours north, Wayne County looks to Fairfield as they face pushback in their attempts to create a new jail with similar improvements.

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  • Lack of space limits recovery, mental health services in Wayne County Jail

    In Ohio’s Wayne County Jail, people serving sentences can access CADET, which stands for Chemical Addiction/Dependency, Education and Therapy program. With nearly 20% of Wayne County bookings involving drug-related offenses, CADET provides participants with the support they need to overcome addiction, including cognitive behavioral treatment, crisis assessment, and case management. The program is offered in partnership with the nonprofit, OneEighty, and is often part of the term’s of some individual sentences.

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  • California's overhaul of prison education programs a blueprint for others

    In the six years after California prisons became the first in the nation to offer college classes in nearly every prison, thousands of incarcerated people have enrolled in classes and have outperformed free-world students in grades and passing rates. While such programs have been shown to reduce crimes committed by those released from prison, the ultimate goal of California’s program is to see the benefits ripple through communities that the formerly incarcerated go home to.

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  • ‘I'm not the only one who has a mom in jail': Camp reunites locked-up mothers with their kids

    Wisconsin’s Camp Reunite is bringing together women experiencing incarceration with their children. The camp was hosted at Taycheedah, a correctional facility in Fond du Lac, WI, and while the kids were there had less security and more carnival games. Parental incarceration has a strong effect on children and on the parent/child bond, something Camp Reunite hopes to help repair.

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  • A ‘Second Chance' After 27 Years in Prison: How Criminal Justice Helped an Ex-Inmate Graduate

    Since 2016, the Second Chance Pell program has been providing financial aid for those experiencing incarceration to pursue a college education. Started under the Obama administration, it has gained bipartisan support and traction in the Trump administration as well. Considering 90% of incarcerated individuals will be released, the Second Chance Pell program serves as a demonstrated commitment to reduce recidivism and mass incarceration.

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