By Lindsay Renick Mayer

When many offenders are sentenced to prison, they enter the system with nothing. No family support. No role models. No feelings of self-worth. Only memories of a broken home, of a past filled with violence, of their last jail cell and maybe of a nasty drug habit. After serving their term, they leave the prison in about the same shape. They leave without hope.

Perhaps this is why Wisconsin state prisons released more than 7,600 men and women last year, but saw 3,087 return on parole revocations. Perhaps this is why about one-third of youthful offenders in Wisconsin commit crimes within two years of their release. And perhaps this is why the Wisconsin Department of Corrections’ Division of Juvenile Corrections (DJC) has established a $2 million “Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative” that involves entire communities in the support of youth who have lost their way.

The $2 million grant comes from a total of $120 million awarded to all states except Nebraska (which did not apply for a grant) from the U.S. Department of Justice in partnership with seven other federal agencies. Rather than target the re-entry of adult offenders like most other states, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections decided to use the grant money on juvenile offenders – to give them hope and a second chance as they “go home.”

“My life has changed since being locked up,” says a 19-year-old Going Home Project youth from Milwaukee who was incarcerated for sexual assault. “My life’s on a better track. The project has changed me.”

Transforming lives

The philosophy behind Wisconsin’s Going Home Project for youthful offenders is a simple one – the shaping of a person’s life is a complex process and can be greatly influenced by external factors. Every interaction with every person is important. Every experience leaves a mark. Every memory of these experiences determines the choices an individual might make.

“The environment plays a large role in shaping behavior,” says Joseph Newman, professor and director of clinical training at UW-Madison. “This is especially true for offenders who have fallen into an antisocial lifestyle. Community involvement, resources and creative intervention could be very important in helping youth released from jail or prison to adopt an alternative lifestyle.”

The Going Home Project, a three-year re-entry program, takes this idea and matches existing community services with the specific needs, strengths and interests of 90 youth incarcerated in one of three Wisconsin institutions: Southern Oaks Girls School in Union Grove, Lincoln Hills School in Irma and Ethan Allen School in Wales. Participants in the project are between the ages of 14 and 25 and have committed serious crimes, ranging from felony murder and sexual assault to robbery and arson. Based on a risk assessment that focused on their family life, their history with drugs and alcohol, past employment and past run-ins with the law, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections selected participants considered likely to re-offend.

Each youth was then matched with one of five re-entry case managers who develop a “transition team.” This team comprises various individuals who can provide specific services depending on what the youth need and request, including housing, employment, substance abuse counseling, mentoring and family development. Individuals from the organizations begin meeting with the youth three months before their release from prison and continue to meet with them for an average of six to nine months after their release. These youth offenders are suddenly bombarded by people concerned with their well being. This may be substantially different from the world to which they have been exposed.

“These organizations will be there long after we’re gone,” says Kate Elvidge, director of the Going Home Project. “Once the youth are off, if we haven’t connected them to people in their own community to help them go down the right path, we’ve done them an injustice with the time that we have with them.”

Teaching Life Skills

About 30 organizations have either volunteered their time or have become contractors for the project. Most draw on volunteers from the community and are simply extending the resources and programs they already offer. For example, Homeboyz Consulting in Milwaukee offers computer training for at-risk youth. The training programs include lessons on how to build Web sites, use software like Photoshop and write HTML code. Upon completion, the trainee is offered a permanent job with the consulting firm, building Web sites for a variety of clients. Going Home Project youth are taking advantage of this service and finding themselves employed full-time, usually for the first time.

Another Milwaukee-based organization, New Outlook, houses up to eight juvenile offenders who have no other place to go. Robb Taylor, program director, helps the youth find employment or places them in school. He also brings in volunteers from the community who have been victimized. The victims voluntarily speak to the youth about their experiences, while the youth are encouraged to speak openly about their past.

“I think that most of the time we send these kids back into the community without the tools they need to be a focal part of the community,” Taylor says. “If you think about it, you know the old stuff better than the new stuff. We just need people with the will to help these kids. Otherwise these young people just give up.”

In addition to teaching participants about critical thinking, responsibility and decision-making, the Going Home Project also works on family connections. Both the Parenting Network and the Alternatives to Psychological Consultation play pivotal roles in strengthening the relationship between youth and their families. Family members are encouraged to visit the youth while he or she is incarcerated and to get involved in role-playing activities and open discussions about the future. The Parenting Network has recently initiated programs in two Milwaukee neighborhoods open for all families who may be concerned with the well being of their children. Going Home Project families are invited to attend.

“We have real high hopes that this will help families bond and learn from each other,” Jan Buchler, director of the Parenting Network, says. “That kind of learning is indispensable. As a community gets healthier, the lessons will filter down. So if your own parents aren’t capable of guiding you, maybe your aunt two blocks down or your next door neighbor will have some positive influence.”

It Takes a Community

The use of a wide range of community services ensures that every positive aspect of the youth’s life be strengthened. Advocates do not yet know how successful this method will be in preventing second or third offenses because it is the first program of its kind implemented in Wisconsin. According to Elvidge, success will be defined by how much the quality of life has improved for the participants – this means higher literacy levels, steady employment or school attendance, housing and abstinence from drugs and alcohol. And, of course, the project will clearly succeed if the youth stay out of prison and become contributing members of society.

“Especially in Milwaukee County, they see so many unfortunate things happen to our youth and I think people are sick of it and they want to do something about it,” says re-entry case manager, Kim Langrehr. “When community members help these youth, they are benefiting the entire community.”

Similar programs in other states have shown that this type of re-entry does positively change the lives of these youth, as well as the communities in which they live. The Going Home Project was modeled after the Intensive Aftercare Program, developed by Dr. David Altschuler at Johns Hopkins University and Dr. Troy Armstrong at California State University – Sacramento. This program, funded by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, lasted seven years and targeted youth offenders in Colorado, Nevada and Virginia and employed a similar strategy of drawing on the entire community to meet the needs of the youth.

“The success of such a program is something that we are still studying closely and carefully examining,” Altschuler says. “And if we don’t get the results we had hoped for, we have to find ways to make this kind of program better.”

Some are, indeed, skeptical that the results will be positive and believe that the money would be better spent on adult offenders or on at-risk youth before their first incarceration. Others believe that $2 million from the federal government simply isn’t enough. According to Steve Sawyer, outpatient program manager for the Alternatives to Psychological Consultation, it is difficult to effectively intervene when it comes to the lives of youth offenders.

But those involved in the Going Home Project, which only began in July 2002, are already speaking highly of it.

“This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” a 17-year-old project participant from West Allis says. “I’ve gotten a job, I’m doing community service and I’m back at home. Someday I’d like a home of my own. A car, maybe. A family. I might try to get a degree in business. So far, so good.”

If this type of success becomes the rule, rather than the exception, Elvidge hopes that when the grant money runs out in June 2005, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections’ Division of Juvenile Corrections will continue to practice what the project has modeled and more organizations will volunteer their help. In this way, these youth who may have felt like they had nothing, gain something. Gain hope.

“ Hope plays a role in everyone’s life,” Peter Marik, re-entry case manager for the Going Home Project, says. “It is what keeps people going. It is why you make the decisions you do. If you have hope, you care about what the outcome of your actions will be. I think this project gives the youth hope. It is something different.”

If you are interested in volunteering for the Going Home Project, contact:

Kate Elvidge
Director, Going Home Project
608-240-5937
kate.elvidge@doc.state.wi.us

*Statistics from the Wisconsin Division of Corrections
**Statistics from the Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics

For more information, visit the following sites:

Wisconsin Going Home Project: This site offers more information about the Going Home Project and how to become involved with this youth offender re-entry program.

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Aftercares Services Bulletin: This bulletin provides the most current research results for the Intensive Aftercare Program, the program after which the Going Home Project was modeled.

Wisconsin Youth Program Directory: Although this program is not associated with the Going Home Project, mentoring is a great way to help at-risk youth. This link offers detailed information about how to get involved in this program in your particular county.