White County Re-Entry Program Entering Year 2

White County’s Justice Assistance Grant Re-entry Program entering its second year of helping inmates better themselves before returning to society.

White County Corrections Division Captain Will Randolph said the program offers educational programming, faith-based assistance, mental health counseling, and substance abuse rehabilitation. Randolph said that often times inmates are likely to re-offend if not given the proper help they need. Randolph said for year two the program is working on a slight issue they experienced in year one.

“Some of the program goals is actually for those individuals once they are released to deal with the logistics of entering back into the community,” Randolph said. “Unfortunately in a short-term facility like a local jail, we do not have very many individuals that stay with us so that they can fulfill the entirety of a program while they are in our facility.”

Randolph said the program will help individuals find assistance once they are no longer incarcerated. Randolph said White County has seen a slight reduction in recidivism within the past year even though the program is still preliminary.

“Of course, we have to maintain the discipline and the structure of a correctional facility because that is also a big part of the reduction of recidivism,” Randolph said. “It’s still a correctional facility, but there is no reason for a correctional facility to be a place where all you do is put a pause on your life.”

Randolph said mental health has come to the forefront of the corrections industry. Randolph said the program has partnered with the state to bring more mental health specialists to White County.

“These small rural communities don’t necessarily have the budget or the resources available right off hand,” Randolph said. “Which is one of the things that we have run into in our area is we do not have a whole lot of qualified mental health professionals available to us at any given time, so these partnerships have increased our ability and our reach on that piece of the business.”

Randolph said the program has helped inmates who truly want to better themselves. Randolph said reducing recidivism plays a huge role in reducing the crime rate.