California’s Public Safety Realignment is putting increasing pressure on county jails, a new study finds, but that pressure could be alleviated in part by alternative custody programs that would decrease reliance on incarceration.
The study, published by the Public Policy Institute of California, specifically highlights aging jail facilities and long-term planning as two factors that need to be addressed when discussing jail capacity constraints. Researchers suggest that not only would facilities need to be updated and expanded, but planning—including split sentencing, alternative custody programs and risk assessments for releases of pre-trial detainees—would need to be made to decrease reliance on incarceration.
Reentry programming is a smart alternative to incarceration by providing offenders who have been determined to be suitable candidates with behavioral therapy and the tools they will need to successfully reenter society.
GEO Reentry Services works with correctional agencies around the country to provide evidence-based reentry programming that focuses on changing criminal behavior and not simply punishing it.
Participants undergo treatment for substance abuse and must participate in life skills classes with the goal that they will either have a job or be enrolled in school following graduation from the multi-phase reentry program.
GEO Reentry, along with its sister company, BI Incorporated, works with several counties in California to provide reentry programming with the goal of reducing recidivism, promoting public safety and saving taxpayer money.
Read the full PPIC report here.