'To focus on young adults who are in prison is very cutting edge'

After kids spend time in one of New York City's community-based incarceration facilities, they are enrolled in an "aftercare" program, which includes group meetings and mentoring, to help with the transition. As Milwaukee continues to reform its youth prison system, it is looking to New York as one promising model to consider.

For many offenders, prison can be a tense, divisive, and anger-inducing environment, fueling the negative influences that landed them there in the first place and leading to high recidivism rates. Actor Tim Robbins - who once famously portrayed a prisoner himself - started a program called The Actors Gang to bring theater to inmates as an outlet for emotion and expression, breaking down barriers between former gang members and helping individuals to process their troubles.

Working to train therapy dogs helps kids with issues learn how to cope. Rising Ground, an organization in New York City, provides animal therapy as part of a residential placement program for juveniles facing problems with the law. The youth receive training in life skills, counseling, and peer support through their court-ordered program. In addition, Rising Ground engages them in an eight-week program to train therapy dogs, which helps the youth learn how to deal with their emotions, as well.

Chicago's Cook County Jail seeks to short-circuit the cycle of violence by involving young men from the city's most violent zip codes in a program that includes counseling, conflict resolution and anger management. The Sheriff's Anti-Violence Effort, or SAVE, then connects them with services once they're released to find housing and employment. Results are preliminary, but so far more than 80 have gone through the program and 20 were released, with just two ending up back in jail.

Victims of violence that end up in the emergency room can return within two years with more injuries because of retaliation efforts. Philadelphia’s Healing Hurt People is a hospital-based violence intervention program that assists individuals who need medical care and mental health services. The hospital and social work collaboration helps reduce emergency room costs.

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.

Illinois has implemented mental health courts across 31 counties as an alternative to incarceration for people with mental illness. These specialized courts divert defendants into community-based treatment programs lasting 1-2 years, featuring regular court appearances, counseling and drug testing. Since 2017, approximately 50% of participants have successfully graduated from mental health court programs statewide, with 11,000+ diverted from prison through the broader Adult Redeploy Illinois initiative.

Healing Justice brings exonerees, crime victims and family members from a variety of cases together to share stories, play games, connect and heal together while facing the traumas of wrongful convictions. Since 2015, Healing Justice has hosted 17 retreats, where exonerees and crime victims gather for three days to work through their traumas together.

Women in Recovery is a diversion program for women who would otherwise face prison time for drug-related offenses. The comprehensive program lasts 18 months and helps participants restore their mental health, reunite with their children, develop skills that help them get jobs, secure housing and reenter the community. Women in Recovery helps reduce recidivism rates and 70% of women who start the program complete it and graduate.

Transitional housing centers like Huma-Faith and Halal House provide accommodations for formerly incarcerated people, specifically Muslim men. These houses are safe spaces that provide necessary resources like a shower and a warm bed, as well as work opportunities, group talk sessions, and regular drug and alcohol screening to help people put their best selves forward. These houses are also Muslim-centric, meaning people can rebuild their lives while freely practicing their religion.