Two centers operated by GEO Reentry Services recently opened in Burke and Robeson counties, North Carolina, to provide probationers who commit technical violations with intensive reentry assistance in lieu of re-incarceration.
The Confinement in Response to Violation Centers, located in Morganton and Lumberton, are repurposed state institutions that will have a total of 440 beds combined to be used for offenders who commit such probation violations as failing to register a new address or failing a drug test.
The centers were opened as part of the Justice Reinvestment Act, legislation signed in 2011 that is designed to reduce recidivism and combat state prison overcrowding.
Offenders sent to the CRVs will spend 90 days at the facility, where they will undergo evidence-based reentry programming including behavioral therapy, substance abuse treatment and life skills training, with an emphasis on gaining employment.
According to recent numbers from the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, in one year alone, 53 percent of all prison admissions were for probation violation and 66 percent of those violations were for technical reasons.
Opened through a partnership with the department, the CRVs are designed to discourage repeat offenses while recognizing that re-incarceration is not always the best treatment option for probation violators who commit technical probation offenses.
Read a media report on the Morganton CRV.
Read a media report on the Lumberton CRV.
GEO Reentry also operates six Treatment for Effective Community Supervision Service Center in North Carolina. The TECS centers provide reentry programming for offenders released to community supervision. Read more about them.