King George leading local pilot program to help decrease recidivism rate

By BILL FREEHLING

Date published: 11/22/2006

By BILL FREEHLING

As director of King George County's Department of Social Services, Dave Coman works with newly released prison inmates. Many end up back behind bars.

Coman is heading a new local program to reintegrate inmates into society. He said the path back to prison often goes like this:

The inmate leaves prison with $25, which is what the Virginia Department of Corrections generally gives to departing prisoners. The man gets dropped off where he used to live and blows about a third of his cash on fast food. He learns his old girlfriend has a new boyfriend. The job he had no longer exists. He owes thousands of dollars in child support. He doesn't have a phone, car or home. He has health problems but no medicine. People distrust him.

Some people in this situation don't know the rules and unwittingly break them, Coman said. Others intentionally commit a crime to return to an environment they know. The numbers bear this out.

About 29 percent of the roughly 9,000 inmates released from the Virginia Department of Corrections in 1999 went back to prison within three years, according to a corrections department study. The average time out for repeat offenders was 1.5 years.

Virginia isn't the only state with this problem, according to the report. A recent nationwide survey indicated that about 34 percent of inmates return to prison within three years.

Coman said Virginia policymakers have been discussing the problem for years. A new policy group called the Virginia Prisoner Reentry Policy Academy has recently met to discuss solutions. Leaders from statewide public safety and social services agencies are participating.

King George County is one of five communities chosen for a pilot initiative to better coordinate prisoner re-entry efforts. The others are in Culpeper County, Norfolk, Richmond and Emporia, according to the Virginia Department of Corrections.

Coman will travel to the Haynesville Correctional Center later this month to discuss the idea with 30 inmates scheduled to be released within six months. All of the inmates are scheduled to return to Fredericksburg, or the counties of Stafford, Spotsylvania, Caroline or King George.

Coman said that the King George Department of Social Services is heading up local efforts, but that agencies in Stafford, Spotsylvania, Caroline and Fredericksburg are also involved.

Easing inmates into society About 30 inmates from the Fredericksburg region will be involved in a trial re-entry program to help inmates. About a third of former inmates get sent back to prison within three years. Many inmates leave prison with $25. It costs an average of $21,250 to house a Virginia inmate annually.

Date published: 11/22/2006