April 24 – 30, 2018 is National Reentry Week. Since 2016, the final week of April  has been used to draw attention to the over 600,000 people released from US prisons to ensure they are prepared to successfully reenter their communities and become productive and law abiding citizens.

The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services (NDCS) reentry team will be hosting movies or discussion panels at the Lincoln Correctional Center (LCC), Nebraska State Penitentiary (NSP), Community Corrections Center-Lincoln (CCC-L), Community Corrections Center Omaha (CCC-O) and Omaha Correctional Center (OCC) to commemorate the National Reentry week.

Over 90% of the people in NDCS custody will be released back into the community. In 2016, NDCS released about 2,236 people after serving an average of two to three years. That is a staggering number of people who go back to sometimes unwelcoming and depressed communities.  Many lack support and resources to succeed and lead law abiding lives after release. About 32% return to prison within three years due in part to the personal, legal and collateral barriers that make it daunting for them to access employment, housing, health care, transportation, supportive relationships and many other  essential  components of living a productive and law abiding life.

It is possible for more people to succeed with increased hope, opportunity, support and resources. The reentry team’s mission is to increase the number of successes by working with individuals at intake, throughout incarceration, at release and beyond. At reentry planning meetings, individuals are encouraged to view their period of incarceration as an opportunity to get healthy, participate in programing, repair relationships, intentionally think about their needs and make plans before release to work on meeting those needs and overcoming barriers to success.

No one does reentry alone. The NDCS reentry team relies on a collective, connected, and collaborative effort by NDCS team members to build the ultimate reentry team and community partnership. What NDCS team members do matters; an individual may need positive reinforcement, a gentle reminder, redirection, a sincere hello or a simple “how are you doing?’ to encourage pro-social behavior. From custody to case management, medical or behavioral health services, recreational or religious services, accounting or purchasing, food service or education, social work or reentry, human resource or administrative services, the work of more than 2,000 NDCS team members is critical to helping  thousands of incarcerated individuals go home and not come back.

In addition to NDCS team members, outside agencies throughout the state are also doing their part in contributing to successful reentry. Governor Pete Ricketts recently signed a proclamation, recognizing the month of April 2018 as Second Chance Month.

Our communities are safer when reentrants succeed. Thank you for the work you do in supporting reentry efforts.

Below is a schedule of the upcoming NDCS Reentry Week Events:

TSCI – April 23rd, motivational speaker Ron ‘Gus’ Gustafson 10 am
LLC – April 26th, movie and discussion, time to be determined
NSP ­­– April 25th, movie and discussion at 10:15 am
CCCO – May 1st, reentry panel discussion 2:00 pm
OCC - May 1st, reentry panel discussion 8:30 am