Merlin
06-29-2006, 01:05 AM
http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBX9104ZOE.html
TAMPA - When James McDonough took over as the state's new prisons chief in February, the corrections system was being rocked by scandal, and he didn't know what to expect.
McDonough feared possible disorder and contacted the Florida National Guard to see whether it could step in if needed, McDonough said Tuesday.
Fortunately, that wasn't necessary, McDonough told a gathering of community agency officials, faith-based organizations and law enforcement officials.
The occasion for McDonough's remarks was a "re-entry summit" sponsored by the U.S. attorney's office aimed at getting people together to share ideas on helping prisoners reintegrate into society.
Officials said they hope the summit will help officials decide the best way to spend $500,000 of a $2.5 million antigang grant given by the U.S. Department of Justice to Hillsborough County. That portion of the grant is to help offenders re-enter society.
McDonough said more than 50 percent of convicts are arrested for another crime within two years of being released from Florida prisons. Nationwide, that figure is 67 percent within three years of release, said Steven T. McFarland, director of faith-based and community initiatives for the Department of Justice.
McDonough wants to reduce the number in Florida by 10 percent a year. Among the initiatives being organized, he said, is an effort to teach inmates construction skills by putting them together with Habitat for Humanity and state construction industry groups.
Vicki Lukis, vice chairwoman of the governor's Ex-Offender Re-Entry Task Force, told the gathering that the state has identified five locations, including Hillsborough County, for the creation of local prison re-entry boards. The boards are conceptual but should be up and running within months, Lukis said.
The idea is for localities to assume "ownership of prisoners returning to their communities," she said.
Lukis said she is uniquely qualified to discuss the subject because she is an ex-offender. Lukis, a former Lee County commissioner, served time in federal prison for mail fraud after being indicted in 1990. Her 27-month sentence was commuted by President Clinton after she served 15 1/2 months, she said.
The Rev. Abe Brown, of Abe Brown Ministries, has been designated the prison re-entry coordinator for the Middle District of Florida under a $70,000 federal grant given last year. In addition, he will receive part of the $500,000 from the antigang grant, most of which is supposed to go to vouchers for former inmates to help them re-enter society, officials said.
Brown was gratified that his work with prisoners is receiving attention. There was a caveat: "The ideas that are being discussed today we had that 30 years ago," he said. But programs for former inmates fell to the government budget ax, he said. Naturally, Brown said, crime rates went up.
"If you lock a dog up and don't do anything for that dog, he's not going to be better in 15 years," Brown said. "He's going to be loose."
TAMPA - When James McDonough took over as the state's new prisons chief in February, the corrections system was being rocked by scandal, and he didn't know what to expect.
McDonough feared possible disorder and contacted the Florida National Guard to see whether it could step in if needed, McDonough said Tuesday.
Fortunately, that wasn't necessary, McDonough told a gathering of community agency officials, faith-based organizations and law enforcement officials.
The occasion for McDonough's remarks was a "re-entry summit" sponsored by the U.S. attorney's office aimed at getting people together to share ideas on helping prisoners reintegrate into society.
Officials said they hope the summit will help officials decide the best way to spend $500,000 of a $2.5 million antigang grant given by the U.S. Department of Justice to Hillsborough County. That portion of the grant is to help offenders re-enter society.
McDonough said more than 50 percent of convicts are arrested for another crime within two years of being released from Florida prisons. Nationwide, that figure is 67 percent within three years of release, said Steven T. McFarland, director of faith-based and community initiatives for the Department of Justice.
McDonough wants to reduce the number in Florida by 10 percent a year. Among the initiatives being organized, he said, is an effort to teach inmates construction skills by putting them together with Habitat for Humanity and state construction industry groups.
Vicki Lukis, vice chairwoman of the governor's Ex-Offender Re-Entry Task Force, told the gathering that the state has identified five locations, including Hillsborough County, for the creation of local prison re-entry boards. The boards are conceptual but should be up and running within months, Lukis said.
The idea is for localities to assume "ownership of prisoners returning to their communities," she said.
Lukis said she is uniquely qualified to discuss the subject because she is an ex-offender. Lukis, a former Lee County commissioner, served time in federal prison for mail fraud after being indicted in 1990. Her 27-month sentence was commuted by President Clinton after she served 15 1/2 months, she said.
The Rev. Abe Brown, of Abe Brown Ministries, has been designated the prison re-entry coordinator for the Middle District of Florida under a $70,000 federal grant given last year. In addition, he will receive part of the $500,000 from the antigang grant, most of which is supposed to go to vouchers for former inmates to help them re-enter society, officials said.
Brown was gratified that his work with prisoners is receiving attention. There was a caveat: "The ideas that are being discussed today we had that 30 years ago," he said. But programs for former inmates fell to the government budget ax, he said. Naturally, Brown said, crime rates went up.
"If you lock a dog up and don't do anything for that dog, he's not going to be better in 15 years," Brown said. "He's going to be loose."