By Jackie Horsfall The Iowa Statewide Recidivism Reduction Strategy presented at a panel at the 2016 Iowa/Nebraska Peer to Peer Homelessness Symposium June 9th on the topic of housing persons re-entering communities. 36 professionals in the housing, shelter and social work industries attended the panel to learn and discuss the challenges of prisoner reentry and housing. The panel included Beth Skinner, Katrina Carter, Debra Dancer, Melissa Perry and Deb Theeler. Beth Skinner, coordinator for the Statewide Recidivism Reduction Strategy, started off with statistics related to recidivism. According to Bureau of Justice Statistics, 68 percent of state prisoners are rearrested in three years and 50 percent of state prisoners are reincarcerated in three years. Skinner commented on the difficulties of released inmates reentering society with housing and employment. "How do you focus on your job if you don’t know where you are sleeping tonight,” said Skinner.
The panel also included two previous justice involved individuals who spoke on their experience on homelessness and job security after reentry. Deb Theeler, a registered nurse and previous inmate who now helps run halfway houses, described life after prison as scary staying in inadequate housing. “I wanted to go back to prison with the people that loved me and the people that knew me,” said Theeler. Melissa Perry, a previous inmate and fellow panelist, described her difficulty finding a job and housing. “They wouldn’t hire me for my history, they wouldn’t take me” said Perry. “I had to start buying and selling drugs to make money and ended up back in prison.” A discussion addressing challenges for individuals returning included educating landlords, reducing screening criteria, improving collaboration among service agencies, creating incentives and seamless reentry practices. The panel was asked what they would say to someone who was reentering society. “You are a new arrival, you are not in the clearance bin, you are arriving as a new person and the world is open to you,” said Theeler. Perry described how overwhelming everyday life can be. “Make a little plan, don’t do it all in one day,” said Perry. Skinner closed the panel discussion by commenting on how important collaboration is when addressing challenges to housing and employment for previous inmates. “We have to work together so people don’t fall through the cracks,” said Skinner. The panel included left to right: Debra Dancer, Beth Skinner, Katrina Carter, Melissa Perry and Deb Theeler.
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By Jackie Horsfall
Kim Sperber visited the Iowa Department of Corrections May 24th to give a presentation about Continuous Quality Improvement. Sperber, the Chief Research officer for Talbert House in Cincinnati Ohio, is a part of the quality assurance workgroup in SRR that helps to research and assess that desired quality of use in policies and procedures are being utilized by staff in institutions and community-based corrections to ensure fidelity in programming and casework. Continuous Quality Assurance is a method of continuously examining processes and making them better by the means of data, team approaches and the involvement of the organization. Jerry Bartruff, director of the Iowa Department of Corrections addressed the staff in the audience, commenting on the important work being done by SRR and the massive undertaking with quality assurance. “I am proud that we are doing this in the state,” said Bartruff. Sperber addressed how CQI in organizations demonstrated better outcomes and thus can help aid in lowering recidivism. “System issues are one of the biggest factors that make people quit their job,” said Sperber. The staff in the audience was then split into eights groups all to discuss goals, challenges and steps moving forward. Comments for goals included stakeholder education and program fidelity. Challenges included staff resources and time. Future steps included education of all staff of the benefits and utilization of the CQI process. The SRR staff in Des Moines is currently developing a strategy to spread knowledge of CQI to community based corrections and institutional staff. |