Making the Transition
new ‘Transition’ program aims to get smart on crime
Eric Larson, photos by Andrea Paulseth |
(left) with a program supervisor, Jessica
Bryan (middle) and fellow program participant
Newton Armstrong (right).
But location-related issues should be the least concern when it comes to our criminal justice industry, says Steve McArthy, executive director of Addictions and Restorative Justice Services at Lutheran Social Services. Instead, he says, the incarceration numbers of the state are what should be most upsetting.
“The public is largely blind to the fact that Wisconsin spends nearly twice as much on corrections as Minnesota,” he said. “And that’s despite nearly identical demographics and crime statistics between the two states. We spend about $1.2 to $1.3 billion a year.”
Over the past several years, he says, county officials have debated ways to reduce the number of incarcerated, and the high rate of recidivism (offenders repeatedly coming and going to prison). According to Pew Research Center, one in 31 adults in the U.S. are on probation or parole, and one in 100 are behind bars.
After research and countless brainstorming sessions, McArthy says, a unique model called the Transition program was born. Funded by the odd partnership of the sheriff’s department, Eau Claire County, and the Department of Corrections, the program was awarded last August.
“(Transition) program is essentially used, as the name suggests, to help offenders on probation transition back into the community. We like to refer to it as a ‘smart on crime’ approach,” he says. “I say ‘smart on crime’ to contrast with the ‘tough on crime’ approaches that elected officials have used over the past 40 years that have resulted in the United States incarcerating people at the highest rate in the world. Our goal is to instead help offenders re-enter the community without reverting back to criminal activity.”
Jessica Bryan, program supervisor for Transition, has been working directly with participants on probation for the past year. “Overall, it’s been going well,” she says. “There is a broad range of programs we have, ranging from criminal thinking, cognitive behavior, life skills like hygiene and cooking, anger management, employment readiness, and healthy relationships.”
“I say ‘smart on crime’ to contrast with the ‘tough on crime’ approaches ... that have resulted in the United States incarcerating people at the highest rate in the world.” – Steve McCarthy on Transition’s potential for changing the justice system
Bryan says the program is only offered to offenders considered to be at the medium- to high-risk level – factors that are determined from an assessment screening before the start of the program.
“Research has shown that offenders at the low-risk stage can actually worsen if engaged with others who are at higher risk, so we only focus on those who score higher on the screening test,” she says.
And while the program is still in its elementary stages, she says, its effects are already beginning to show.
Lindsay Danielson, a 26-year-old Eau Clairian currently serving a three-year probation sentence, says the past seven months she’s spent with Transition have given her the help she was looking for.
“I’ve been in a lot of programs throughout my life. I’ve suffered addiction for a long time,” she told me. “But this really is the best program I’ve ever been a part of. I’ve been doing well. I see the whole thing as a huge accomplishment.”
In addition to Danielson, Bryan says her other clients have been performing well in their respective programs and looks forward to watching it develop.
“There are still some kinks to work out with everything. The biggest challenge, really, has been more structure-based things between working out the referral process with the Eau Claire County and Department of Corrections,” she says. “But I’m certainly happy with what we’ve accomplished so far.”
