Discover the groundbreaking work being done at the Jefferson City Re-Entry 2030 program, funded by a federal grant and led by inmate facilitators with extensive counseling training.
This program is setting the standard for rehabilitation in Missouri and beyond. However, according to the inmates, all the good intentions upon re-entering into society may have been dismantled. Argus.
By: Reginald Clemons (a.k.a. Qadir Bilal Walid)
Here at the Jefferson City Correctional Center(JCCC) Re-Entry 2030 program, there has been some amazingly creative work being done by the Inmates/Offenders. The Jefferson City Re-Entry 2030 program has been the best and most advanced program site out of all the rehabilitation program sites in the State of Missouri.
This program is funded and sustained by a Federal grant from The Second Chance Act signed into law, by the 43rd President George W. Bush, to the tune of 30 million dollars of tax funding, earmarked to support these amazing efforts. The inmate facilitators/instructors have over 2,000 hours of counseling training to help in a peer-to-peer setting.
These particular inmate facilitators have developed a mock financial system to teach serious economic responsibility, in developing investment skills. These skills translate into prisoners becoming fiscally responsible citizens in our communities after release from prison.
Inmate facilitator Nicholas Thomas also developed a computer software on their own, for the Re-Entry 2030 program, that could be exported Nationwide throughout America. To more effectively rehabilitate each other in the peer-to-peer counseling environment.
I, Reginald Clemons have made leaps and bounds, with the activist community, to develop a handover process for prisoners to be directly connected with resources and housing after release from prison. Unfortunately the Missouri Dept. of Corr. Re-Entry director Alex Earls has dismantled the program, in a debilitating fashion and allowed JCCC to misappropriate the resources from the 30 million dollars allocated and earmarked for this Re-Entry 2030 program.
By redirecting all the Re-Entry 2030 rehabilitation program resources, equipment, and supplies toward other programs. Leaving the Re-Entry 2030 Inmate facilitator with not even a marker to teach computer classes or paper to track the newly developed mock financial system. This Re-Entry 2030 program is needed for serious rehabilitation efforts to continue to bring down crime rates.
Moreover, the rehabilitative computer data system along with the Securus tablets could and will allow all prisoner progress to be tracked and improved, if it were allowed to be fully implemented and not debilitated by fear of peer-to-peer rehabilitation’s success. I, Reginald Clemons, am asking for your help and support in continuing these rehabilitation efforts that the Missouri Dept. of Corr. has hampered and dismantled.
In closing, to help please contact Missouri Prison Reform or the Argus Community Foundation for more information.
Note:
The Argus Community Foundation was in contact with another non-profit organization The Alliance of Southwest Missouri, that receives allocated funds for their work in Re-Entry. The director, Marla Diggs, stated that she was not aware of any dismantling. However, she spoke emphatically about how important those funds are needed. Especially upon former felons being released from custody.
She also remarked that she was located southwest of Jefferson City and funding may be allocated from different sources of Missouri Department of Correction.
Yet, she still will look into it to see what is going on, because these guys getting out of prison need these resources to survive. As well as it keeps the crime down and gives the former offenders a sense of worth and purpose.
FY 2023 Second Chance Act Community-Based Reentry Program
Opportunity ID
O-BJA-2023-171683
Solicitation Status
Closed
Fiscal Year
2023
Closing Date
May 31, 2023
Posting Date
March 27, 2023
Solicitation Type
Competitive
May 24, 2023, 8:59 pm Eastern
Application JustGrants Deadline
May 31, 2023, 8:59 pm Eastern
