Redina's story: A mother's troubled journey home from prison

Minnesota’s Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA) program takes a restorative, rehabilitative approach to sex offender re-entry and has lowered the risk of recidivism by 88%. The initiative provides participants with a group of volunteers that help them with emotional support, job finding, and challenge and shift the attitudes and behaviors that led to the committed crime. The rise of the #metoo movement has given way to the complexity of sexual assault, restorative justice, and rehabilitation – making programs like CoSA both more necessary and challenging to sustain.

As jails in Ohio struggle with the skyrocketing numbers of people addicted to opioids, they are increasingly becoming the state's primary detox centers. This article explores how several counties are addressing the issue by connecting inmates to jobs, training and housing to cut down on overdose deaths and reduce recidivism. Medicaid has also made it easier to get inmates health insurance coverage, which gives them access to treatment and medications upon release.

Connecticut is attempting to reduce prison recidivism by changing parole practices. Changes to the system are allowing parole officers to foster relationships with parolees and counsel them as people, not as cases.

An anti-violence program in Chicago called the Rapid Employment and Development Initiative, or READI, identifies and engages with those most vulnerable to partake or be a victim of gun violence, and provides them with the support they need to avoid it. Born out of a collaboration between the University of Chicago’s Crime and Education Lab and various philanthropical efforts, READI gives participants job counseling and therapy to cope with current and past traumas. While it’s seen demonstrable success, it hopes to expand with the financial support from the city.

Maine's only offender re-entry program for women in Windham is on its way to replicate the success of similar programs in Texas and Nevada. Federal justice research has shown that offenders that go through re-entry programs are less likely to reoffend and more likely to hold down a steady job. The Windham program works towards this through their education program that incorporates students from local colleges as well as utilizing a collection of best practices developed by similar programs.

The organization Southerners on New Ground is helping reform the criminal justice system in the south. Activists won a small victory in Atlanta, where the mayor and city council approved a resolution that replaced cash bonds with signature bonds for misdemeanor offenses. They also raised money to help people pay their cash bails as part of a larger event called the National Bail Out collective, which bailed out 147 Black women in 26 cities this year.

The rampant opioid epidemic tearing through communities across the United States is exacerbated by a rigid court system that fails to address individual needs and a severe lack of comprehensive treatment options, even for those who want to get clean. Family Treatment Court, like the one in Chautauqua County, N.Y., provides parents who are addicts an innovative intervention program that includes a broad range of custom-tailored services to permanently quit their drug use and keep their families together.

Montana saw the rise of child abuse and neglect cases due to parental substance abuse, particularly with those using methamphetamine. Family drug courts are reversing this trend due to a more holistic approach striving for permanency through rewards and sanctions program, frequent testing, and treatment.

Mississippians who receive earned probation for crimes that do not carry a death sentence or involve deadly weapons will now have access to high-school equivalency education, alcohol and drug counseling, re-entry and employment services—and perhaps, most importantly, "Thinking for a Change," an evidence-based cognitive behavioral-therapy program.

Communities nationwide, including in Wisconsin, work to help ex-prisoners by surrounding them with supportive people. But in Vermont, a statewide network funded by the DOC makes it happen.