Alaska Insight is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

And by viewers just like you.

Thank you.

Support of employment and housing programs for people leaving incarceration are critical for success and building self-awareness and confidence through arts exploration can also enhance personal growth.

I wrote my first poem a couple weeks ago.

I was so happy I did something like that.

I've never written a poem before.

At 66, I got my first one.

I was proud of myself.

What other programs and services help people succeed at reentering society and avoid recidivism?

We'll discuss paths to success for incarcerated Alaskans right now on Alaska insight.

Serving time in prison is necessary when people break laws and are sentenced by a court.

Incarceration is a punishment for illegal behavior, and it's meant to keep society orderly and safe.

But what happens when people are released from incarceration and must figure out how to reintegrate themselves into their families and communities?

The cost of incarceration is high and the cost of recidivism can be even higher.

Tonight, we'll talk to reentry experts about what works to help people have success.

Before we get to that discussion, here are some of the top stories of the week from Alaska Public Media's collaborative statewide news network.

The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, or ANTHC, announced Tuesday that Valerie Davidson is no longer the president and CEO of the organization.

In a statement, ANTHC announced Davidson had left the position but offered no explanation other than to say she has transitioned out of her role.

Executive vice president Natasha Singh will replace her in the interim.

The city of Bethel is warning residents that flooding in the city is likely to get worse, as ice jams from break up on the Kuskokwim River sent water into many lower river communities.

In social media posts, the city recommends that affected residents pack valuables and get to higher ground if necessary.

NANA, the regional corporation owned by the Inupiat people of northwest Alaska, says it is severing ties to the Ambler Access Project.

The controversial road that a state agency proposed to build through the Brooks Range foothills to allow commercial mining in an isolated Arctic area.

In an announcement on Wednesday, NANA said it will not renew a land use permit for the project that it granted to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority.

In a statement, the corporation said the decision reflects insufficient consultation and a lack of confidence in the project's alignment with its values and community interests.

During a legislative hearing on Wednesday, AIDEA Chief Executive Randy Rauro called the decision unfortunate but said they would continue to push for the road, adjusting its path to avoid Nanna land.

You can find the full version of these and many more stories on our website, Alaska public.org, or by downloading the Alaska Public Media app on your phone.

Now on to our discussion for this evening.

More than 5000 Alaskans are incarcerated in almost 30 prisons and jails in the state.

Inside prisoners, time is controlled and activities are limited.

But in Hiland Mountain Correctional Center, a volunteer teacher is offering women a space that gives them a bit of what they describe as normalcy.

And as Alaska Public Media's Rachel Cassandra reports, it helps them develop confidence and ways to process emotions that can serve them after release.

It's crafting day in Jamie Bradbury's class at Hiland Mountain Correctional Center.

I'm going to give you guys some Play-Doh, and then I'm going to give you a scene to create.

This class is called tapping into your Creative Self.

So yeah, pass those around.

The idea is to show students that everyone has a creative side.

Imagination.

Right?

Right.

And you don't need elaborate materials to access it.

But I like to do is kind of baby step people into creativity, into taking a risk that might be scary for them.

Hiland houses, about 350 women, 15, signed up for a Bradbury six week class, though a few have been released in that time.

So the good news is, fortunately, you don't have to be an origami expert to get something out of crafting.

Bradbury doesn't force any participation.

And when she held the acting class, two women chose to leave.

But students have sometimes surprised themselves when they've tried new things.

Like Tonya Parker.

I wrote my first poem a couple weeks ago.

I was so happy I did something like that.

I've never written a poem before.

At 66, I get my first one, but I wouldn't have been able to do it if I didn't come to this class.

Parker finds her poem.

There it is.

Okay.

Ready?

It's called my home.

My home is not made of bricks.

My heart is not made of stone.

Parker says since writing that poem, she's also reading poetry for the first time.

The classes have also taught her to feel comfortable speaking in front of a group.

She says, something she's always avoided, and she says that confidence will help her once she's released in under a month.

I'll stand up for myself.

You know, if people don't like the way I say or what I say, they don't have to come out.

The number of incarcerated Alaskans has tripled since the 1970s, and arts classes like Bradbury's are shown to reduce both violence inside prisons and the rates of people returning to prison once released.

But a spokesperson for the Department of Corrections says only a quarter of jails and prisons in Alaska offer some kind of arts class.

E is another student.

We can't show her on camera or share her name because of a rule that requires victim notification.

She says the guards limit how people who are incarcerated can interact with each other most of the time.

So this class becomes a unique space.

We get to have fun and definitely, you know, joy, laughter.

creativity.

We're using all of our senses.

So, you know, without even some of us knowing it.

It's like this mindfulness.

We're in the moment.

We're not, you know, just doing the routine, you know, go to meals or go to men's go to count.

It's it's something different.

E says she guesses that some people on the outside might not understand why it's important to offer art classes here.

That prison should be a punishment.

But she says the rest of prison life is plenty punishing.

Bradbury says during some of her writing classes, her students have processed intense emotions, and she says the classes are also a break from prison life.

You look around and you see people in yellow jumpsuits and you remember, oh, I'm in a prison.

But you pretty quickly forget that.

And I think that for a few minutes at least in the class, they're able to forget that too.

And it's just a group of women crafting together, hanging out together, having fun and laughing.

And please have green freedom.

Bradbury gives each student a certificate for completing the class.

Yeah, I've got certificates that I'm proud of.

Tanya Parker says when she gets home after finishing her sentence in May, she is planning to hang it on her wall in Anchorage with photojournalist Matt Faubion I'm Rachel Cassandra.

One of the goals of classes like this in prison is to help people prepare for life when they're released.

Building self-confidence through creative expression.

Joining me tonight to discuss their work in helping Alaskans succeed at rejoining society and at lowering rates of re-offending is Doreen Schenkenberger.

Doreen is the CEO for partners for Progress and Troy Buckner-Nkrumah is the executive director of New Life Development.

Welcome both of you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks so much for being here.

Troy, I want to start with you.

Give us a snapshot of the services you provide in the goals of your program.

Your programs run from six months to two years.

Tell us about what you provide, especially in that longer term.

Okay, well, when people are released, the recidivism rate in Alaska is between 60 and 65% every year.

That's a high percentage.

And it's pretty similar to the national percentage.

The reason for that is because people are released back into the same environment that they got caught up in when they, you know, did whatever they did to get them in that situation.

so we provide, clean, sober, safe, structured environment, where individuals releasing can come, feel at home.

they are no longer, you know, dictated what they can do every day.

They have some requirements.

And so the whole idea is to get them in a safe place where they can actually prepare for a life of independence, incarceration doesn't necessarily prepare you for independence.

because you it's, I guess I would say a lot of people that are incarcerated, a good 75% of our clients, have a history of substance abuse and drug addiction.

And when you're incarcerated, it's not in your face, but when you get back out, it's everywhere.

And so the whole idea is to keep people safe, know that they can have a place to go home to.

They don't have to worry where they're going to sleep at night, where they what they're going to eat.

and you know, with that, then we provide other services in the facility, such as, in a classes, AA classes, case management, job, support.

We work very close with partners reentry center.

because we're not a shelter.

we are a program.

similar, like you would think of a, treatment program, where, you know, you have some expectations and some requirements as opposed to just a landlord where you just pay and do whatever you want.

Come and go.

So we find that that structure is not as tight as incarceration, but it slowly loosens up to the point where when they're finished with our program, they are they have the skills, the life skills, everything they need to be successful, you know?

And through the partnership with our programs, we also help them once they're out of the housing we keep helping them for a little bit of time.

And if something happens, they'r free to come back because some people get out there and it's a little harder than they expected it to be.

And so we allow them to come back.

It's interesting to think about when you're coming out of a very tightly restricted environment if you're just released.

I'm sure that can be really terrifying and overwhelming.

And so it sounds like what you're doing is sort of stepping back those restrictions gradually to feel a little more comfortable in their own space.

And it's done through a partnership, not just with other agencies, but also with Department of Corrections.

with the institution I go into highly and I know the women that were on that program.

I go into Highland every two weeks for the last ten years.

And, you know, we prepare them even before they get out to what they're going to go into.

Okay.

Thank you so much for getting us started.

During partners for progress started in 1998.

You were providing housing funds for people leaving incarceration, and then you saw people struggling with drugs and alcohol going in and out.

And so you started helping the therapeutic courts.

Tell us about this work and trying to divert people from incarceration in the first place?

Sure.

Thank you.

So, like you said, we got started in 1998 and it really was a joint effort between, retired Judge Jim Wanamaker and Partners founder Janet McCabe.

They were serving on another organization together and started talking about, the revolving door of incarceration and, the role that addiction and poverty and, mental health issues played in that.

Judge Wanamaker would talk about the same people coming in and out of this courtroom every month.

You see in this scene, the same people.

So people are people were really just going in and out of prison and they started brainstorming.

What could they do about it?

How could they help?

Judge Wanamaker heard about the therapeutic court program on the lower 48.

We had didn't have that up here in Alaska yet.

And so partners and Judge Wanamaker and a couple of other people started, one of the first therapeutic courts in Alaska, the Anchorage Wellness Court, in 1999, I believe, at the same time.

We wanted to help people coming out of incarceration, therapeutic courts, a pre incarceration program, instead of being incarcerated, you can opt in to a therapeutic court and get treatment and supportive services and, go through the 18 month program so you don't have to be incarcerated.

On the other side of that, we have, you know, hundreds of people exiting incarceration everyday in Alaska.

And how do we help that group of people so they don't go back?

One of the first things partners started doing was offering, supportive housing.

Sober housing such as, new life development offers.

New life development is one of partners biggest partners in reentry and and trying to reduce recidivism.

So from housing we offered supportive services help to get treatment, recovery support, transportation support, employment and training.

Support is a big part of reentry.

It's something we really focus on.

Down donut Partners for progress today at our walk in reentry center.

you talked about people, leaving incarceration.

And what do they do?

They literally are led out, in the parking lot at the Anchorage jail.

That's three blocks from us downtown, with their box of belongings.

And, you know, what do they do?

Where do they go?

Well, now we have a walk in reentry center.

They can they can walk right up the hill and come to us and be housed the same day.

And like Troy said, that's set up already.

the lady that was on the show this morning, we've already been in contact with her, and we likely have her housing set up already.

We have workshops set up for her.

We have sober support set up for her, so she will be exiting right into our program and have a safe house, roof over her head.

That just sounds so incredibly, enormously transformative for people.

I have this image of someone being released with a box of belongings and no money, no support.

Maybe not even from this area.

Could be from other parts of the state.

And here they are stuck on the street.

So what a what an amazing difference that can make if you know there's a place for people to go.

Of course, Troy, you're an attorney.

You've been the executive director for a decade.

You had no intention of staying here.

You came to help your mom move.

You ended up staying.

What keeps you in this work?

It can't be easy all the time.

You know, it's it's not.

It's not easy all the time.

Because, you know, we we talk about our graduation, our graduation with, with our participants.

Less than 10% of our participants recidivist.

however, not everybody graduates do our program.

So those that don't graduate, either they relapse or they just, you know, go on the run or whatever it might be.

They end up back incarcerated at the same rate.

as a state.

It's that 10% that, that less than that, over 10% of people that don't go back.

They've helped me with the I was just telling Doreen earlier, I was at a dinner party last month and a guy came up to me and I didn't recognize him at first, and we're all sitting around and he said, you guys don't understand this man saved my life.

He's like, I walked off the street into his program.

And then it hit me.

I knew exactly who he was.

And.

But once they leave, we don't necessarily keep track of them.

So I don't know if he ever went back or what happened and or how well he did.

But then I got to see it that night and we that happens.

It happens at the grocery store.

It happens at dinner.

It happens.

We run into people or they write us, or they come back to the program and say, thank you.

You know, I got my daughter now and ended it in a and that's kind of what keeps me going.

I couldn't get that, practicing law, you know, and I probably keep more people out of incarceration doing this than I would have done practicing law.

Yeah.

You had mentioned that in an earlier interview.

Talk a little more about that, that that you're having better success on this end than if you're in court with folks.

Right?

Because a lot of times, like we say, it's 65% recidivism rate.

So six out of every ten people that are coming out are going to go back unless they get involved with the program.

You know, you know, in court, you're dealing with a stack of clients and you really don't even know the case until, you know, the day of if you're doing, you know, public interest type of law.

but with this, you actually get to know the people.

We go in, we meet them.

I live on property, so we we have 65 individuals on three different properties.

So two male properties and one female property.

Our offices is at the female property.

I know them I see them every day, you know the same thing.

They come in from prison.

They already know me, you know.

so because Highland so close, we can go in and out of there so much.

but it just makes a difference, actually, knowing your clients, knowing the individuals that you're, you're serving, because they to then feel an obligation that they don't want to let us down because of all the stuff that we've done for them, all the energy that was put into them.

But we let them know that you have the hard part.

You know, we we're going to have a place to live.

We're going to have a job.

You have to do everything you need to do so that you have a permanent place.

You have a job.

You will be able to get your family back.

You'll be able to stay sober, you know, and that's the hardest part, you know, really is.

Yeah.

Doreen, you said that you serve 20 to 60 people per day, more than a thousand per year.

That number surprised me.

Are there Alaskans who are returning for new and other services, or are these primarily people who are newly released?

These are newly released people.

you know, we make contact with individuals, anywhere from 30 to 90 days from release.

In fact, we have an employee in Highland Mountain Correctional Center, a reentry planner that makes contact with individuals and starts planning for their release to set services up.

So, it's a busy.

It's a busy center.

is that unusual, or is that, do other states have this sort of a setup where you're working with folks before they ever leave?

You know, they say reentry starts on day one of incarceration.

And the nice thing about seeing these programs at Highland Mountain is that's helping to prepare the women for release.

Doc has a number of programs in all of their facilities, and, they're one of our our partners in reentry.

Doc has their own reentry program that we work very closely with.

The state of Alaska puts a lot of money into recidivism reduction because it saves money.

docs budgets, one of the biggest budgets our state has.

So, it really benefits all of us to, to help people when they exit incarceration so they don't go back.

It's very costly, very costly, very costly.

And the societal cost means more crime or potentially violent crime.

So yes, of course, if we can keep people on a good path for both of you, how do you help them find employment?

And how difficult is that, with employers when they find out, oh, this person has been incarcerated.

And I imagine that for some that conjures images that aren't positive.

So how difficult is that to help match people up with gainful employment?

We have, right now of the people that we're serving, partners, we just ran we run statistics every month.

We have a lot of reporting to do.

And, and, you know, operating federal and state grants.

we want to know where our, weaknesses are and how we can do better.

So it's a lot of data and a lot of reporting, but our employment rate right now is 78%.

So 78% of our program participants are gainfully employed.

Right?

So it's extraordinary.

It's it's very good.

It's usually in this in the 70% somewhere.

So this is a really good month.

employment and training is huge in reentry.

We have a number of different workshops and classes at partners that the program participants are required to go through.

getting and finding and keeping holding a job is one of the most important things.

in our program besides recovery and housing.

And so we do put a lot of effort into that.

We have a large job center down at the, downtown there.

And in the first, two months, everybody is required to, to find and get a job.

And and Troy, how about four year program.

Right.

So right now we have about 50 beds filled.

Every single person in our program is employed.

the difficult part comes when.

So we work really closely with the therapeutic courts as well.

And the mental health court through the therapeutic courts.

I think it's a little harder to find employment for, for people with mental health issues.

but we also do partners in and new life development.

We have a list of employers that we know that knows us, that knows that they can call us if they need people or we can call on them if our people need a job and we will hold our people accountable if they don't show up to work, let us know you know, that type of structured thing actually helps the the clients who aren't used to holding jobs, you know, at least not for a long period of time.

and we also let our clients know, don't embarrass us.

You know, you do what you're supposed to do because the person after you that needs a job, we want that employer to still, you know, respect, you know, our clients.

And so it's not as hard in Anchorage to for our employment.

There's a lot of jobs.

what is hard is the permanent placement after they finish our program.

Because rental rates have gone up since us, surplus has gone down.

And so our program used to be to, to, 6 to 18 months.

And we extended it because it's just harder for people to find a place.

And their record also will follow them when they're looking for an apartment.

So that's the challenge.

So we only have a little bit of time left.

But I know that treatment facility space beds for both substance abuse treatment and mental health challenges are very restricted in the state.

How difficult is it for you and are there placements specific for folks who are coming out of incarceration to help them meet the need that they have in that respect for partners?

That's another thing that we preplan well, the reentry planners work on, in the reentry plan with the individual.

We have partnerships with several, treatment facilities around the state to try to get people into treatment if they need it when they're exiting incarceration.

But it's very difficult.

The beds are limited and, sometimes waitlists are long.

We have several, recovery support, groups that we put people into in the interim while they're waiting for treatment.

And we do those with South Central Foundation and Alaska Native Justice Center.

we use in a, in a and, for my final question here in just about 30s.

Troy, what do you want people to know who have the mindset, you know, incarceration should be punishment.

Just lock them up.

And, you know, we shouldn't coddle them when they come out.

That's a handout.

And the people that say that say that until someone they love get caught up in the system, you know, and then when someone they love, then it becomes a different story.

So I would say, you know, people need to be compassionate, understand that everybody that goes in has a different story.

And what we find is that a lot of it is old trauma, and even trauma that started as young as, you know, while they were children.

and even with that, we recently started a project for women with children, so that we don't have those, you know, adverse childhood experiences, those aces.

so we now are housing women with children, so that we can break that cycle.

Thank you so much.

I wish we had more time.

This is such important work.

And thank you so much, both of you, for the work you're doing on behalf of all of us.

Thank you.

Providing help for people who have paid their debt to society and want to return to a productive life isn't a handout, it's a hand up that helps an individual gain stability, and that can help them avoid the desperation of a hungry life on the streets.

This, in turn, lowers rates of repeat offenses, keeping people out of the cycle of recidivism.

And that is good for all of us.

That's it for this edition of Alaska Insight, visit our website.

Alaska public.org for breaking news and reports from our partner stations across the state.

While you're there, sign up for a free daily digest so you won't miss any of Alaska's top stories of the day.

Thanks for joining us this evening.

I'm Lori Townsend tonight.