MECHANICSBURG, Pa. — It’s the reality for thousands of Pennsylvanians in the criminal justice system: being re-arrested or re-incarcerated.
It’s known as recidivism, a pattern Kelly Evans with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PADOC) says has been on the decline in state facilities.
"Our current recidivism rate is down. It’s 54.8%, and it's the lowest it’s been in 20 years," Evans said.
Despite the decline, Pennsylvania still has one of the highest recidivism rates in the U.S., cracking the top 10.
"The system failed them in one way or another," Evans said. "We failed them as a community."
Last year, the PADOC released its 2022 recidivism report. Its data shows that 64.7% of inmates who were released wound up back behind bars within the first three years after their sentence.
It's the community that pays the cost. Recidivism costs the state $3.1 billion annually and is covered by taxpayer dollars, according to the PADOC.
A portion of that cost includes the resources to set up inmates for post-release success.
"We have hundreds of community partnerships throughout the state," Evans said. "Some volunteer and some are under contract with us."
Partnerships are an essential part of the PADOC's approach to reducing the recidivism rate.
"They range from mentoring, workforce development, housing, family reunification," Evans said. "Wherever there’s a need, we try to fill that gap."
It’s a process that’s not only working at the state level. In York County, Prison Warden Adam Ogle says the mindset and the approach have changed to benefit the county.
"We’re trying to build bridges," Ogle said. "We’re trying to find ways to stop that revolving door of recidivism."
In more than 20 years at the prison, Ogle has seen the county’s recidivism rate decline and the prison population cut by about 40%.
Under their new initiative and space called the Reentrant Opportunity Center (ROC) various departments come under one roof for the same reason.
Annemarie Camillo is the Treatment Reentry Manager at the prison.
"It's breaking down that stigma of being in the criminal justice system," Camillo said. "[It's] letting them know like ‘Hey it’s okay, everybody makes mistakes. What's important that we're not continuing to make them.’"
She says the collaborative efforts give them a clear path forward in addressing individual inmates.
"We want to gauge what needs they're looking at leading up to release to be able to prepare and come up with a game plan, get something in line, so that that's one less thing they have to worry about," Camillo said. "We want to set them up for success."
Chief Probation officer April J. Billet says giving a warm handoff into the community is crucial.
"If you leave the jail and you have nothing in place, you don't have treatment in place, you don't know where you're going to live, you don't have food, you don't have clothing, it's likely that you're going to fall back on what you know to help support yourself," she said.
Through evidence and researched based models, staff can identify specific areas to work on.
"They target the needs of individuals coming on to supervision so that we can improve their outcomes, you know, create safer communities and improve their lives," Billet said.
With that focus in mind, reentrants on probation and parole supervision in York County recidivate at a much lower rate of 28%.
Reentrants are members of our community. Both state and local efforts are helping them write their own success stories beyond the barbed wire.
"Some of them are business owners, some of them work for, you know, universities," Evans said. "It's just amazing the things that they can accomplish."
"I'm completely okay, if I don't have a job in 10 years, if this prison doesn't exist," Ogle said. "I would be completely fine with that."
York County’s “ROC” officially launches next month – though internal efforts like it are far from the only way inmates are getting help.