Nevada prisoner program to be part of national study

By Timothy Pratt

Tuesday, March 2, 2004 | 9:46 a.m.

A new program to help Nevada prisoners prepare for life when they're no longer behind bars will be part of a national study, the state Department of Corrections announced Monday.

The study will take place during 2005 and cover 18 similar programs nationwide. Two private research groups, the Washington, D.C.-based Urban Institute Justice Policy Center and the North Carolina-based Research Triangle Institute, will be doing the study.

The program, known as "Going Home Prepared," was federally funded in 2002 -- along with 69 other adult and juvenile systems nationwide -- but it didn't begin until last year, said Jackie Crawford, Corrections Department director.

The program is located at Southern Desert Correctional Center near Indian Springs because about 65 percent of its prisoners return to the immediate area when they are released.

It includes short-term housing, counseling and help getting jobs.

The department director said "Going Home Prepared" was a first for Nevada.

"We kind of started from ground zero," she said.

Crawford said the study could be important for the future of the program, since its funding -- $1.5 million -- is up in 2005.

"We could be acknowledged as a model of best practices ... and that could mean more federal funding."