 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Dennis' Story Dennis doesn't let his challenges get in his way ... MORE |
 |
 |
|
Strong Families = Successful Children | Learning and Earning for Life | Health and Caring for All | Senior Success
INITIATIVE: Promoting Family Behavioral Health in the Prison Re-Entry Population There are few people in our community who face a harder road to travel than those returning from prison. Ohio incarcerates more people than many other states, and this large prison population translates into a large prison re-entry population. Approximately 20 percent of the Ohio prison population returns to Cuyahoga County, and 79 percent of those individuals return to Cleveland. Formerly incarcerated people often need additional support as they rejoin the community. During incarceration, they've lost financial, emotional and social support, and not much happens in prison to change behavioral health issues. The impact of incarceration has a huge effect on the person's family as well. Children with an incarcerated parent are at high risk of becoming offenders themselves. Strengthening family support of re-entry individuals helps keep them out of prison and find employment. And close attachment to their families decreases the likelihood of substance abuse. All these factors make it crucial to develop services that promote behavioral health and strengthen families within the criminal justice re-entry population. PROGRESS TO DATE: Cuyahoga County government will integrate their long-planned comprehensive re-entry pilot project with this CVC initiative, creating a unified plan for the community with a single lead agency to head the combined project plan, which will address issues related to housing and employment as well as family behavioral health and community attitudes toward ex-offenders. CVC committee members will oversee this public-private partnership. |
|