Driving down the highway, your car suddenly stalls. You pull off to the side of the road, needing assistance, but cars keep passing you by. Finally, a kind-hearted soul stops to give you a jump start. You know that without the help of another person, you would have remained stranded on the side of the road.

For inmates who need a helping hand to successfully reenter society, they are now receiving it from corrections officials in Maryland.

“Reentry initiatives aren't overnight sensations in corrections. But it has to be done. Otherwise, you know what the results are: more prisons, more tax dollars, more crime and more victims. That just does not make sense for us as a society,” says Mary Anne Saar, Secretary of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

Currently running as a pilot program in two Maryland facilities, RESTART, which stands for Reentry Enforcement Services Targeting Addictions, Rehabilitation and Treatment, offers a research-based reentry and rehabilitation curriculum that focuses on education, substance abuse treatment and operates with the support of many different divisions of corrections and community organizations.

Offenders can take advantage of an array of services during incarceration and post-release thanks to a collaboration between the Maryland Parole Commission, the Division of Parole and Probation, and the Division of Correction,

“We called everyone together and decided to follow this whole thing through, from A to Z,” Saar says. “We have lots of partners out there, but they were all struggling individually to accomplish this large task on their own. Now that we have an integrated approach to this, every division is on the same page.”

According to Saar, officials decided to jump start the state's reentry initiatives when recidivism research indicated that over 50% of the inmate population was likely to commit a new offense after their release.

“I think Maryland, along with many of the corrections officials and administrators across the country, has come to the full realization that corrections needs to have a balanced approach to have any impact on recidivism rates,” Saar says. “Part of the equation that was almost missing in many aspects of corrections was the program piece; giving inmates the tools they need when they are released. Over 90% of these offenders return to our communities [but] how do we want them to return? Prepared or not?”

Beginning the Process Early

In order to better prepare inmates for reentry pre-release, the RESTART program begins the moment an offender enters either of the two. By screening and assessing the needs of each offender, officials can better allocate resources and program spaces for inmates who need them.

The next step involves transition coordinators, who become an important part of the process. Transition coordinators have an open communication with offenders pre-release, discuss job opportunities with them, establish discharge plans, and even develop transitional housing.

“These discharge plans are like a blueprint for what offenders will do upon release,” explains Saar. “They are customized for each offender, and help them with crucial things such as possible housing or employment opportunities. We want them to return to their communities with a game plan, essentially.”

Maryland officials have also been focused on changing the way offenders think with cognitive restructuring. RESTART specifically targets the way offenders think and process situations.

“Cognitive restructuring sounds so complex,” says Saar. “But it's really simple. We're giving our offenders thinking tools. In general society, if someone confronts you and you have a violent reaction, you're going to have consequences to face. By restructuring the thought process of these offenders, we give them other response options rather than getting them into more trouble.”

Once offenders have the chance to reevaluate their violent reactions they might have, they then address their needs for substance abuse treatment, educational classes and employment. Offenders spend a total of 158 hours in these classes over a four month period prior to their release.

“These classes really help to target any issues an offender might have pre-release,” says Saar. “We use the class time to incorporate intervention programs, and all of the programs we use are research-based.”

Innovative Teams and Innovative Reentry

According to Saar, one important aspect of ensuring the RESTART program works is allowing facility employees to play a role in its implementation.

“We've created implementation teams, which require the active participation of wardens at the designated RESTART facilities,” says Saar. “The wardens choose individuals on their staff to form an implementation team at their facility. These teams work well in two ways – we're open to accepting good ideas from everyone, and since employees are allowed to participate, they are motivated to stay involved.”

Implementation teams, made up of staff from chaplains to security chiefs, oversee the RESTART program and have the chance to make suggestions to customize the program to the needs of their offender population. The department also looked to the community for help and ideas to assist offenders with reentry. According to Saar, community partnerships are an important tool for successful transition. Goodwill Industries is one organization that has led the way.

“Goodwill Industries is a tremendous help for us,” says Saar. “They work with our offenders before they are released, and then they work with them in the community. They do everything they can for inmates; from training them on how to present themselves during job interviews to transportation. They are a terrific community partner.”

Saar says that by combining forces inside and outside the facility, Maryland has provided offenders with an action plan for successfully reentering society after their release.

“We are absolutely optimistic about RESTART,” says Saar. “We know we're doing the right thing in Maryland.”