COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA - A $10,000 grant from the Iowa West Foundation will help the Fourth Judicial District Department of Correctional Services start a new program for families of offenders in the criminal justice system.

Matt Gelvin, district director, said that the grant was received for a program titled Families Also Serve Time, or FAST. The program educates family members of offenders to help them understand the criminal justice system and lend support.

"It's a great program, and we were fortunate to receive the grant money," Gelvin said.

FAST will work with the families and friends of offenders who struggle with guilt they may carry because their loved ones are in prison. Family and friends often times blame themselves for a loved one's transgressions.

FAST will assure family members that they are not guilty and will suggest ways to support the offender without condoning criminal behavior. The project will focus on the families who lack information on the rules and regulations where the offenders are incarcerated and help those who need counseling.

"The program will help family and friends realize it is not their fault that a loved one is in prison and help the family navigate the criminal justice system a little better," Gelvin said.

The new program will be administered by a newly created position that Gelvin expects to hire in late September or October. The new position will not only be responsible for the FAST program, but two additional new areas of corrections in the Fourth District: offender re-entry and victim and restorative justice.

Coordinating offender re-entry involves transitioning offenders from prison to their release. Gelvin said that the coordinator would contact an offender 180-days before release to begin preliminary planning and again at 60-days prior to release.

"We really want to formalize a case plan before (released offenders) get to us," Gelvin said.

Victim and Restorative Justice programs encourage victims' input in the criminal justice system by giving them opportunities to participate in interventions designed to try and repair the harm caused by crime. Restorative justice calls for a second level of offender accountability, one of a more personal nature, based on that fundamental recognition that not only has a law been broken, but also someone has been harmed.

Gelvin said the new position would spearhead the development of the Victim and Restorative Justice program with the state.