Erika Howsare profiles the jail’s re-entry program in the current C-Ville Weekly. Locking people up for years and then loosing them on the public without any sort of transition hasn’t really been working out, so the eight-week-long New Beginnings Transitional Re-entry Program is an effort at the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail to prepare a small number of prisoners for life on the outside—teaching them how to get a job, avoid the temptations of their old life, and support their families. The program can accommodate only a very small number of the prisoners, and its effect on recidivism isn’t particularly stellar (a 50% rate instead of 55% for the general population), although that hasn’t been properly measured just yet. Howsare profiles some of the inmates going through the program, avoiding presenting them in the sort of black-and-white, good-and-evil terms that would have been easy, but wrong.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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Archive for Sideblog »
Is this a duplication of the services provided by Offender Aid and Restoration?
Nope. To the best of my (casual) knowledge, OAR’s approach isn’t curriculum-based, but more of a one-on-one mentoring approach. While this program teaches specific information over a defined timeline with absolute goals, OAR matches up a prisoner with a member of the community with whom they can discuss life goals and how to achieve them.
http://www.oar-jacc.org/
Local Probation Services
Pretrial Services
Pre- and Post- Incarceration Services
Drug Court
Restorative Justice
Reentry Program
Criminal Justice Planning