By Lindsey Kroskob
Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Wyoming officials work hard to keep convicted criminals from returning to prison through a series of planning procedures and transitional services.
The effort has proven effective, according to the Pew report, “State of Recidivism: The Revolving Door of America’s Prisons.” Wyoming has the second-lowest rate in the nation.
The number of convicted criminals who served time, were released in 2004 and subsequently returned to the jail system before 2007 was 24.8 percent. The national average is 43.3 percent.
Only Oregon had a lower rate than the Equality State at 22.8 percent.
“The figures were encouraging for Wyoming,” Wyoming Department of Corrections deputy director Steve Lindly said. “It is a credit to the staff and the offenders, as well for those who do well and the work they put into it to be successful.”
Lindly said the re-entry into society process for a convicted felon begins at the point that they enter the prison system and continues throughout their time on probation or parole.
Each offender is given an individualized case plan to help them and their supervisors understand specific risk factors.
They then host interventions for each risk factor to derail criminal behavior and improve a person’s chance of succeeding.
These individualized plans give offenders the opportunity to be personally invested and responsible for reducing their risk level.
Approximately 14 percent of Wyoming offenders were returned to prison within three years of release for parole violations. Offenders returned to prison because of a new felony conviction 11 percent of the time.
Figures for Laramie County were not available through the report.
Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation deputy director Kebin Haller said the statistics for recidivism broken down by county and crime are tracked on the National Based Reporting System, which Wyoming isn’t a part of.
He said he has been in talks to get hooked up to the national reporting system, but there are budget restraints.
Additionally, the information available now is complex and difficult to track, Haller said.
However, Laramie County District Attorney Scott Homar said that the recidivism rate in Laramie County isn’t terrible.
“We occasionally see some of the same players,” he said. “But I think that the county and the state systems we have in place do a terrific job on not only the punishment part, but the counseling and anti-recidivism issues as well.”
Homar said it would be difficult for him to judge the recidivism rate in the county, but he expects it is in line with the rest of the state.
Lindly said the most extensive transitional and re-entry programs in the Department of Corrections were more fully implemented in the last seven or eight years. He added that many of the components were in place, but the more comprehensive approach is a more recent vision.
“We’ve continued, over the last several years, to build on that, and it certainly has been the director’s vision to fully implement that and continue on that course,” Lindly said. “The recidivism rate is clearly one of the key performance measures. We were encouraged by this report and the findings in it, and we hope to continue to try and improve on it.”
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