What can you do to improve the chances of returning citizens, to help them become productive members of society? Attend an information breakfast on January 28th, snow date January 30th. The “Coming Home” breakfast will present information about the barriers that cause folks to return to jail, and about ways that local groups are already helping to prevent this. We are a county rich in people who care, from court and corrections officials to social service groups and volunteers. Like our neighbors in Franklin and other counties, we can pull together to form a ReEntry Coalition in order to better coordinate this help. Come on the 28th to hear what is possible for the future, and to better understand what is needed, as we hear from a panel of those who have experienced both the barriers and the successes of their return to society.
The free Coming Home Breakfast will take place from 7:30 to 9:00 am on 1/28/2020, snow date 1/30, at the 911 Emergency Services Building, at 230 Greenamyer Lane in Gettysburg, 17325. Please register so that your full breakfast will be waiting for you, either by going online at https://forms.gle/BvQayNLYd5UrrxbX9 or by emailing Chad Collie at chadcollie1@gmail.com or Dennis Murphy at murphtones72@comcast.net In this New Year we can indeed make music in the heart.
BACKGROUND:
In Adams County we do indeed “release the prisoner” in the New Year. In fact every month returning citizens are released from the Adams County Adult Correctional Complex (ACACC). In November, 151 people returned to Adams County from jail. But what help do they receive in order to give them, and all of us, a better chance of their not returning to jail? It matters profoundly to those directly affected. A return to jail drains the spirit and the income of local families. It also drains each of us as taxpayers, who pay $81 a day for the incarceration or reincarceration of our fellow citizens. So far this year, ACACC has held an average of 322 people daily. Last year, we as taxpayers covered the cost of a total of 116,830 inmate days. It is in everyone’s best interest to reduce the high rate at which people return to jail. Those who return to illegal drugs or crime reduce public safety, as well as leading to an additional drain on the public purse, on themselves, and on their families. And frequently, people return to jail because of non-criminal parole violations. Lack of access to reliable transportation can cause someone to violate parole by losing their job, or by missing a probation appointment. Lack of access to affordable housing, or the inability to find a job, or to get needed treatment, are all things that put people at risk of reoffending.