Westmoreland County hires firm to reduce inmate recidivism

Westmoreland County Prison inmates with three months remaining on their sentences may have the opportunity to participate in a program beginning in May that is aimed at improving their chances of successfully reentering the world — and keep them from returning to jail.

The program, to be conducted by Peerstar LLC of Altoona, will teach life skills to prepare inmates for what they will do after incarceration, help them with mental health issues and “help them understand their past,” Warden Bryan Kline said Monday at the county prison board meeting, where the agreement was approved. An advantage of this program is that it will continue to help those held in the Hempfield jail “to be reintegrated into the community” after they are free, Kline said.

It also is designed to help them with mental health issues, Kline said. He noted 70% of the inmates are on some kind of psychotropic drugs to treat mental health issues. Psychotropic medications are used to treat psychosis and depression, among other mental health problems.

Those inmates who are within 90 days of their release and approved by prison administrators for the program will be placed in groups of 10 — two groups of men and one of women, Kline said.

“He’s trying to get them back to real life,” said Controller Jeff Balzer, a member of the prison board.

Most of those inmates leave prison with limited knowledge of services, little access to those services and even fewer positive relationships to help them navigate the new world they have reentered, according to the 2020 report from the Pennsylvania Reentry Council. About 67% of people incarcerated in Pennsylvania end up back in jail within three years of their release, the report found.

“When two of every three people emerging from jail commit another crime and return, it’s clear the system is broken,” the 2020 report stated.

Gov. Tom Wolf and Attorney General Josh Shapiro in 2017 created the Pennsylvania Reentry Council, or PARC, to help explore the best ways to reintegrate inmates into communities after their release and to keep them from returning to jail or prison. In addition to the state council, Pennsylvania has 30 county-based reentry coalitions, including in Allegheny and Westmoreland.

Some of the key areas where the coalitions look to help are in providing housing and finding jobs for those being released from incarceration.

Among PARC recommendations are hiring reentry coordinators in each county and providing reentry counselors at each jail or prison, as well as exploring better solutions for housing incentives, health care and substance abuse treatment, among others.

Kline said Peerstar has a proven program that operates inside other prisons, but Elissa Nulton, chief operations officer for Peerstar, declined to reveal those other prisons.

Peerstar offers a program at the Blair County Prison, according to a March 22 story in the Altoona Mirror.

The program will be funded through Westmoreland County’s Behavioral Health Department. Neither Kline nor Balzer knew the cost of the program.