Summer Graduations in Pennsylvania Showcase Positive Reentry Program Outcomes
Two participant graduations in Pennsylvania this month highlighted the power of recognizing participants at reentry center programs for their hard work and commitment to changing their lives in a positive manner. These events are uplifting for participants, their families and friends, key stakeholders in the local criminal system and program staff, and they deliver positive […]
Dauphin County Reentry Program hosts graduation at State Capitol
GEO Reentry Services and Dauphin County Probation hosted a transition ceremony – aka graduation –for individuals on probation who have successfully completed an intensive reentry program at the Dauphin County Reentry Service Center. To mark the seriousness of the participants accomplishments, the graduation was held in Harrisburg at the Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex Main Rotunda. […]
Lycoming County Reentry Service Center hosts graduation for reentry program graduates
GEO Reentry Services and the Lycoming County Probation Department in Williamsport, Penn., hosted a transition celebration for more than 100 individuals on probation who this month graduated from the Lycoming Reentry Service Center, an innovative non-residential day reporting program. Many graduates had work commitments, but 30 attended the event to receive certificates of completion and […]
Open house explains Lycoming County reentry services
GEO Reentry Services opened its doors Thursday to provide a glimpse at the expansive programs that give people convicted of crimes the tools they need to be successful
Outcomes Report Released for Dauphin County Reentry Service Center
HARRISBURG — GEO Reentry Services has released an outcomes report for the Dauphin County Reentry Service Center. For more than a decade, GEO Reentry has operated the RSC for the Dauphin County Probation Department. This report assesses data points for 132 participants who entered the program in calendar year 2022. It finds very positive attendance […]
Outcomes Report Released for Luzerne County Reentry Service Center
WILKES-BARRE — GEO Reentry Services has released an outcomes report for the Luzerne County Reentry Service Center. Since 2010, GEO Reentry has operated the RSC for the probation department. This report assesses data points for 140 participants who entered the program in calendar year 2022. It finds very positive engagement results, including an 87% accountability […]
Outcomes Report Released for Cambria County Reentry Service Center
EBENSBURG — GEO Reentry Services has released an outcomes report for the Cambria County Reentry Service Center. For more than a decade, GEO Reentry has operated the RSC for the Cambria County Probation Department. This report assesses data points for 259 participants who entered the program in calendar year 2022. It finds very positive engagement […]
Luzerne County probation reentry program hosts transition event for more than 80 participants
WILKES-BARRE — GEO Reentry Services will host a summer graduation event, also called a 2021 Transition Celebration, for 84 probationerswho have successfully completed the intensive reentry program at the Luzerne County Reentry Service Center. Honorable Tina Polacheck Gartley of the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas will serve as the event’s keynote speaker, and graduates […]
Cambria County RSC Hosts Summer Transition Celebration for Participants
The Cambria County Reentry Service Center in Ebensburg, Pennsylvania recently hosted a summer transition celebration to honor 38 probationers who successfully completed the center’s intensive evidence-based reentry program. GEO Reentry Services runs the Cambria County RSC, a non-residential reentry center, on behalf of Cambria County Probation Services. Daily operations are supervised by RSC Program Manager […]
GEO Reentry’s Luzerne County RSC celebrates National Recovery Day
National Recovery Month is a national observance held each fall to educate Americans that substance use treatment and mental health services can enable those with mental and substance use disorders to live healthy and rewarding lives. Now in its 31st year, Recovery Month celebrates the gains made by those living in recovery. The effort is […]
ADAPPT participants resume community service activities over the summer
Community service is a key element of treatment at the Alcohol & Drug Addiction Parole & Probation Treatment program, or ADAPPT. After months without outside service activities, program participants at the residential reentry center in Reading, Pennsylvania were finally able to spend time on a new project: cleaning up the grounds of the local College […]
Luzerne County DRC celebrates 10 years of reentry services
Over the past 10 years, the Luzerne County Day Reporting Center in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania has graduated 554 participants from its reentry programs, which offer skills classes, behavioral tools and local resource referrals to help former offenders reintegrate into society. Luzerne County’s non-residential reentry center, which is operated by GEO Reentry Services, recently celebrated this important […]
How GEO Reentry non-residential reentry centers continued services through the pandemic
Back in March, as COVID-19 forced a nationwide lockdown, non-residential reentry centers operated by GEO Reentry Services were moving quickly to adapt their programming so participants could continue receiving evidence-based treatment and reentry services. Many of these facilities offer good examples of intelligent service modifications that allowed participants to not only continue working toward their […]
GEO Reentry observes Pretrial, Probation, and Parole Supervision Week July 19-25
GEO Reentry Services is pleased to support our partners at the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA) to celebrate Pretrial, Probation, and Parole Supervision Week, being marked from July 19 through July 25. Today in America, there are over 5 million adults on community supervision, and most of these individuals are monitored by pretrial, probation, […]
Council of state governments releases reentry planning checklist for correctional facilities
The Council of State Governments recently released a checklist to guide reentry planning during the COVID-19 outbreak, as many communities work to reduce their correctional populations so that staff and incarcerated individuals have adequate room to practice social distancing. The 21-question “Checklist for Correctional Facilities”, published this month on the CSG’s Justice Center website, was […]
Despite COVID-19, reentry participants continue positive steps
Even with social distancing in place, facilities sheltering at home, and in-person meetings cancelled, GEO Reentry Services programs in most locations are continuing to help participants stay clean and sober, make positive life choices and give back to the community. In Reading, Pennsylvania, staff at the ADAPPT residential reentry center are engaging with participants in […]
Luzerne County not ‘opening up the floodgates’ releasing prisoners, president judge says
Reprinted from the Times Leader Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas President Judge Michael T. Vough said Tuesday no violent criminals will be released from the county prison due to concerns about the coronavirus. “We’re not opening up the floodgates, the prison doors,” Vough said. Vough estimated approximately 60 to 70 inmates with low-level misdemeanor […]
GEO Reentry’s ADAPPT joins SAFE Berks in support of victim advocacy
The GEO Alcohol and Drug Addiction Parole and Probation Treatment Center in Reading, Pennsylvania, or ADAPPT, hosted a dinner on March 4 to support victim advocacy, which was organized in conjunction with Safe Berks, one of the center’s community partners. GEO Reentry Services presented a $200 donation to Safe Berks, an organization that provides ongoing […]
GEO Care launches website that connects justice-involved individuals with helpful resources
BOCA RATON, Fla. – February 5, 2020 – GEO Care, a division of The GEO Group, has launched a public and intuitive website for individuals returning to communities from incarceration. The website, www.GEOReentryConnect.com, provides access to a nationwide network of resources and helpful tools that can aid individuals transitioning from incarceration or justice-involved individuals already […]
50 individuals graduate from GEO Reentry’s Luzerne County program
Photos courtesy of Times Leader news. Luzerne County Reentry Service Center in an event called a Transition Celebration. To commemorate the seriousness of the accomplishment of these individuals, the event was held at the Luzerne County Courthouse Rotunda and the keynote speaker was Mark Rockovich, Luzerne County Prison Director of Correctional Services. The local paper, […]
30 graduate from Lancaster County Reentry Service Center
Thirty individuals participating at the Lancaster County Reentry Service Center graduated from a transition ceremony in November. The event recognized the accomplishment of reentrants completing the Day Reporting Service and Cognitive Behavioral treatment. The ceremony was held at the DRC facility in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The keynote speaker was Oscar S., a former participant and returning […]
GEO Care’s researchers publish research article on substance abuse treatment for inmates
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, almost seven of 10 individuals released from prison are rearrested within three years. Involvement in drug use is a key driving factor for this poor outcome. Despite the fact that more than half of inmates in prison meet the diagnosis for substance abuse or dependency, few receive treatment […]
Nearly 50 graduate from county’s reentry program after completing drug and alcohol treatment
WILKES-BARRE — It’s not every day that something at the Luzerne County Courthouse ends in hugs and cheers, but that’s what made Tuesday morning so special. The county, in conjunction with GEO Reentry Services, honored 48 graduates of the county’s reentry program, a rigorous program for offenders whose crimes stem from drug or alcohol addiction. […]
County Hall Corner: Crime and Punishment
The saying goes that crime doesn’t pay, but that is not completely true, because someone does pay — the taxpayer. When a crime is committed, emergency services are utilized, if an arrest is made, the court system gets involved, and if guilt is determined, the penal system is engaged. And all of these cost money! […]
32 celebrate graduation from reentry program
More than 30 people celebrated successfully completing Lycoming County’s reentry Friday morning at the Community Theatre League as the program’s fifth anniversary dawns this month. The graduates’ friends and family members as well as a variety of county and GEO Group staff, who provide the service, gathered to cheer them on. Michael Boughton, reentry program […]
Re-entry website is one more addition to rehab toolbox
When people break the law and are convicted of crimes, they are punished. That’s as it should be. The best possible outcome following that is that the offender serves their time and becomes rehabilitated during their penal phase to the point where they are worthy of a second chance. That, too, is as it should […]
Ex-inmates, advocates find resources at reentry fair
Having a criminal record makes it difficult for formerly incarcerated men and women to find work, and having a serious injury doesn’t help, said a York City man Thursday at a reentry services resource fair. James Greer Sr., 57, got out of jail in 2015 after serving time for a drug delivery conviction. Before he […]
Ex-inmates in York County get ‘Second Chance’ at job fair
After leaving jail or state prison, former inmates face an uphill battle when they’re applying for jobs. “They come out really lost, not knowing which direction that they need to go,” said Cristie DeWitt, site administrator for Pennsylvania CareerLink in York County. “Without having some kind of money, it’s hard to pay their fines, pay […]
Numbers indicate multiple dividends of reentry program
When Lycoming County instituted its reentry program in 2014, there was a dual, related mission. The program was supposed to cut down on overcrowding at the Lycoming County Prison. And that was supposed to save the county money. Five years in, the facts say the mission is being accomplished. The cost of the reentry program […]
County saves over $3 million with reentry programs
Lycoming County has paid $3,440,505 to the GEO Group for reentry and electronic monitoring services, said John Stahl, deputy adult probation officer, to the prison board Friday morning. To date, it has saved $3,522,820. That’s $82,315 less than what would have been spent without the reentry and electronic monitoring programs in place, Stahl said. “In […]
County sees savings from electronic monitoring
Lycoming County’s electronic monitoring savings have surpassed program costs to the tune of about $23,048, John Stahl, adult probation office supervisor, told the prison board Friday morning. “We’re in the black,” he said. Electronic monitoring and the reentry program, both implemented by the GEO Group, have cost the county $3,382,172 over nearly five years, but […]
County celebrates graduates of reentry program
WILKES-BARRE — Dozens of offenders gathered in the Luzerne County Courthouse this week, but they were not in trouble. Instead, they were formally transitioning back into society. Under the dome of the courthouse, Luzerne County and Geo Reentry Services honored 53 graduates of the Luzerne County Reentry Service Center, a program designed to help minimal […]
County Hall Corner: A Solution that Works: GEO Day Reporting System
Prison overcrowding in Lycoming County has been around so long, it is almost seemed like “prison” and “problem” were two words joined together in marriage. Five years ago, GEO Services began the process of removing that word “problem.” Today prison overcrowding has not just been removed as a problem, the prison has vacancies! What it […]
Special program helping former inmates get their lives on track
April 27, 2016 5:19 PM By Dave Crawley PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — No one wants to go to prison. But once they’re out, what’s to keep former inmates from going right back to the lives they had before? For many, an intense reentry program can be the key to a new life. It’s graduation day! Program […]
State prison study sets baseline for progress
Secretary of Corrections John Wetzel on Thursday morning released what he’s calling a “landmark study” into recidivism rates at Pennsylvania’s state prisons, and the study is noted not for the progress shown, but rather for the lack of change demonstrated. For more than a decade, a consistent six in ten people released from Pennsylvania state prisons […]
Secretary of Corrections wants to rethink prisons
New Secretary of Corrections John Wetzel isn’t your standard political appointee. He offers no bureaucratic veneer or double-talk. The hulking former semi-pro football player gets straight to the point: he’s changing the way Pennsylvania prisons do business. “It’s one of the biggest changes we’ve seen in decades,” said Ann Schwartzman, policy director for the Pennsylvania […]