Kentucky’s Department of Corrections has been working on ways to lower the recidivism rate in the Commonwealth. In May Kentucky reported a record low rate of 27.15 percent. The department defines recidivism as a new felony committed within two years of a prisoner’s release or a return to prison on a technical violation.
One of the ways officials hope to curb recidivism is through treatment programs. On Tuesday, Alecia Webb-Edgington spoke to the Jail and Corrections Reform Taskforce. She is the president and CEO of the Life Learning Center in Covington, in northern Kentucky. She says they want to expand their model to more communities.
“We do think there is opportunity for us to collaborate with the community action commissions, the other treatment providers, the hospitals out there that have an interest in doing this type of work.”
Webb-Edgington says the Life Learning Center delivers a holistic, connected field of education and care to help 'at-risk' citizens find work and take control of their life.
Bill Hensley is the Boyd County Jailer. One of the suggestions he proposed to the task force involved inmate classification reform.
“When they’re not classified, they can’t go to programs, they can’t go to work programs, they can’t take classes. It’s always a struggle, people wanting to cancel the classes because we don’t have enough people in the classes, we have several controlled intakes who want to take the classes and they’re waiting but can’t take the classes until they’ve been classified.”
Hensley says with many of the incarcerated, not being able to take part in work programs or classes results in significant downtime. He suggested allowing the jails to classify the prisoners as they are brought in the facilities.
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