Groups plan transitional homes for ex-cons
Two groups want to provide housing and services to help 48 ex-offenders get back on their feet.
Groups plan transitional homes for ex-cons Two groups want to provide housing and services to help 48 ex-offenders get back on their feet. Check out this story on pnj.com: http://www.pnj.com/story/news/2017/05/24/reentry-alliance-pensacola-south-palafox-group-plan-ex-offender-housing/342186001/
Kevin Robinson, krobinson4@pnj.com Published 2:38 p.m. CT May 24, 2017 | Updated 4:09 p.m. CT May 24, 2017
ReEntry Alliance Pensacola launched an initiative called Project Transparency to compile data on local criminal offenders and the incarceration system.(Photo: News Journal file photo)
Two Pensacola organizations are partnering to provide transitional housing for people who are re-entering society after leaving jail or prison.
Last week, ReEntry Alliance Pensacola entered into a joint venture with South Palafox Group to build 24 apartment units that will accommodate 48 men and women. The planned facility will also include a private work release center for 80 participants in Pensacola.
The project is still in its conceptual phases, and a final location has not been selected. Greg Evers, SPG chief of political affairs and a former Florida senator, said the project would ultimately benefit ex-offenders and the wider community.
"I think it's imperative folks understand one-third of inmates in prison will be out before the end of the year," said Evers, who served as chairman of the Senate's Criminal Justice Committee. "If they don't have a job or housing, there's an 85 to 90 percent chance they're going back to prison. If they do, they only have a 10 to 15 percent chance of going back."
More: Escambia County Commission must decide where to house inmates
REAP is contracted by the Florida Department of Corrections to provide re-entry services in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. SPG is a firm that provides management, marketing and development services for other organizations.
The joint re-entry program will equip men and women with resources such as a government-issued identification card, housing, food, medical and mental health care, transportation, assistance developing healthy relationships, greater education, employment and job training, and continuing cognitive behavior therapy, according to the organizations.
The funding for the project will come from various local and state agencies involved with REAP, according to the organizations. The pilot project will serve the entire First Judicial Circuit in Northwest Florida. REAP will be responsible for all operations, including housing and staffing.
Evers said REAP and SPG plan to partner with surrounding communities, churches and businesses and give them input in the project as it develops. Evers said SPG envisions re-purposing an existing empty building somewhere in the community, which would give the surrounding community the added benefit of removing blight.
More: Female inmates back in Escambia County
He added there would be "strict oversight" of program participants, with residents gradually earning more independence through successful compliance with program goals and protocols.
One in three working-age Americans has an arrest record, largely for relatively minor, non-violent offenses that could sometimes date back decades, according to Federal Interagency Reentry Council data.
"The long-term, sometimes lifetime, impact of a criminal record will keep many people from obtaining employment, accessing housing, higher education, loans and credit —even if they have paid their debt to society, turned their lives around, are qualified and are unlikely to reoffend," the agency wrote. "Pro-social activities such as employment, education and civic engagement — the very things that people with criminal records are often barred from participating in — reduce recidivism."
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