|
|
| Corrections officials believe maps can help transition parolees, identify needs |
| By pennlive.com - DONALD GILLILAND |
| Published: 12/28/2011 |
|
Pennsylvania -- The power of an accurate map is underestimated. It once could mean the difference between shipwreck and success. Today, it could mean the difference between soaring prison costs and safer communities. For several months, Secretary of Corrections John Wetzel has been creating the most detailed maps ever of criminality in the commonwealth because he believes the answer to fixing prisons lies in the world outside the razor wire. Department of Corrections research staffers have collated the addresses to which recently paroled prisoners have returned and plotted them on square-mile maps. The patterns that emerge are not a surprise: Officials have long known where most parolees generally go. What’s new is the ability to overlay bus routes, one-stop career links, drug treatment centers, mental health clinics, day reporting centers, police stations — all at the neighborhood level. “We can start handing the offender a map of the local resources when they get out,” Wetzel said. “That’s doing a better job of re-entry.” Wetzel is focused on increasing the likelihood that a parolee will succeed when released. Making the transition to life on the outside a bit easier is one significant step. The department also is developing a resource book — by county — of employers willing to hire former offenders. But the maps mean more than an easy resource for parolees. “These maps go a long way in understanding where we’re going and can be a rudder for us,” Wetzel said. Wetzel is perusing the maps to confirm things such as how well specialty courts are working in counties that use them. He said the map on mental health “doesn’t tell the whole story, but it’s a start.” He’s also looking carefully at veterans who are paroled and where they are returning. “The Obama administration is really committed” to funding for homeless veterans, he said, “and there’s funding available.” The maps offer a new kind of strategic vision. If a large number of parolees return to an area that lacks basic services, Wetzel said, state and local officials can scrutinize a community and ask, “What can we do to improve the area?” Read More. |
Comments:
Login to let us know what you think
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
Have you been looking for social media websites of influencers like Hamilton Lindley Facebook page? It’s got continually updated content on the best news.