Lancaster County, Pa., will be recognized in June for their efforts to combat prison overcrowding by reducing the county’s prison population safely and effectively.
The county’s efforts were profiled in an ABC 27 news story, which states that the county has reduced their prison population by 300 in a year-and-a-half—saving $2 million in incarceration costs—and that the reduction has not caused an increase in crime.
Officials are reevaluating inmates to determine who would be a suitable candidate for early release with some of those offenders being place on electronic monitoring and other alternatives to detention.
In February, GEO Reentry Services opened a day reporting center for parolees in Lancaster as part of a state initiative to reduce recidivism, lower incarceration costs and enhance public safety. The center offers day reporting, cognitive behavioral therapy and employment-readiness training services founded on evidence-based programming designed to rehabilitate offenders and successfully prepare them for life after prison, while maintaining public safety.
The center helps take pressure off of the Lancaster County prison by working to reduce recidivism rates amongst the parolee population.