Group aims to fight ex-cons’ recidivism

A group of law enforcement, probation and church officials from Middle Georgia is headed to Atlanta this morning to try to keep ex-prisoners from being sent back to state and federal lockups.

The Macon Reentry Coalition plans to tour the Atlanta Community Impact Project, based in College Park, about 9 a.m. to help improve outreach programs for returning prisoners. The goal of the coalition is to educate returning prisoners who are on parole or probation to keep them from falling back into lives of crime.

“A lot of these guys we run across don’t even know how to look for a job, much less dress for one or interview for employment,” said Kevin Mason, a Macon-based federal probation officer. “They lack the education or the background to be competitive for a job.”

More often than not, that lack of knowledge is a ticket back to jail, said Stacy Rivera, the chief probation officer for the Macon Judicial Circuit.

“Our goal is to stop that (prison) return rate. Through the coalition, we have pulled together law enforcement, corrections officials, faith-based organizations to provide opportunities for skills training, job placement and counseling as they need it.”

About 70 former prisoners “hit the streets every three months returning to Macon and Bibb County,” Rivera said. Of that, about 28 percent end up returning to prison within three years.

“They cannot find jobs and return to crime either through despair, boredom or just because they give up,” Mason said. “We want to reduce that number any way we can.”

Mason said Macon-Bibb County has about 100 federal prisoners. “That’s a very low number when compared to the state caseload,” he said.

The ones who turn to crime are not only a danger to their communities, Rivera said, “but they cost the people. It costs to house them in the prison system.”

A state inmate costs about $17,500 per year to house, clothe and feed, Rivera said. There were no federal incarceration figures readily available Tuesday, Mason said.

The coalition has 125 people who represent 130 organizations or elected officials from Middle Georgia. Members range from Macon Mayor Robert Reichert to several members of the Macon Police Department, along with judges and prison representatives.

Reichert will not be able to make the trip today, spokesman Andrew Blascovich said, but the mayor praised the coalition’s efforts.

“The re-entry coalition is on the right path to look at what other communities have done and what we need to implement here in Macon,” Reichert said through his spokesman.