Contact the college
The College of Education
and Human Development
Office of the Dean
104 Burton Hall
178 Pillsbury Dr. SE
Minneapolis MN
55455 USA
Tel: 612-625-6806 Fax: 612-626-7496
Program fosters collaboration between corrections, advocates,
communities
A safe return for prisoners and their loved ones
by Anitra Budd
Nearly 650,000 state and federal prisoners—many of them African
American—are released into the general population every year, according
to the U.S. Department of Justice. Roughly half will face some form of
legal trouble within three years of their release date. In addition, a
2002 study in the International Journal of Offender Therapy and
Comparative Criminology found that 33 percent of inmates had
physically assaulted their intimate partners during the year prior to
their incarceration; almost 10 percent admitted to 10 or more physical
assaults during that period.
While many organizations offer support to former
prisoners or to domestic violence victims, few recognize the
intersections between the two groups and their concerns. Since 2003 the
School of Social Work’s Institute
on Domestic Violence in the African American Community (IDVAAC) has
worked to strengthen programs for intimate partners of former prisoners.
Its Safe Return Initiative (SRI) focuses specifically on preventing
domestic violence in communities and families living with newly released
prisoners.
The initiative is spearheaded by social work
professor
Oliver Williams, executive director of IDVAAC. “People who exhibit
abusive behavior can change, but it requires intentional intervention,”
says Williams. “To increase the odds of positive change, policymakers
and practitioners need to work together across the criminal justice
system, parole programs, and community organizations.”
How the initiative works
SRI is a resource and networking hub for practitioners and
policymakers. Williams and a team of 15 project associates nationwide
host discussion groups, conferences, and forums that foster partnerships
across fields and organizations. Through the events, SRI staff members
cull personal testimony from people who have managed the prisoner
reentry process, as well as suggestions from communities on how to
improve services for former prisoners and their partners.
SRI then creates recommendations and community work
plans based on the feedback it gathers, which becomes the basis for
further research and collaborations. The initiative nationally
distributes information on domestic violence and its intersections with
prisoner reentry via research reports, workshops, training sessions, and
curricula. In short, the initiative engages in a cycle of continuous
information gathering and distribution that draws additional partners as
it progresses.
Partners in the community
Williams is modest about the extensive collaborative network he has
built since the initiative’s inception four years ago. “For me, the
ultimate goal of SRI is linking strong communities,” he says.
Past and current partners include service providers
Minneapolis Family Services, the Tubman Family Alliance, and African
American Family Services, all located in the Twin Cities. SRI also
shares resources and information at the national level with the federal
Office on Violence against Women, the National Coalition on Domestic
Violence, and state and local programs in Washington, Oregon, and
Connecticut, among others.
As part of a two-year, $400,000 grant from the State
of Minnesota, SRI has begun work with the Minnesota Department of
Corrections and with My Home Inc., a Minneapolis nonprofit organization
that addresses chemical dependency and domestic violence issues. SRI
also trains Minnesota corrections workers on domestic violence and
prison reentry.
What other people are saying
Steve Eckstrom, manager of the Victim Services Program in the
Washington State Department of Corrections, says SRI offers a forum for
the corrections community to share effective approaches to domestic
violence. “It provides opportunities to test our ideas and to receive
constructive feedback from knowledgeable fellow professionals. Perhaps
most importantly, it provides opportunities to learn about other
innovative approaches that we can use to strengthen our own strategies.”
Anne Menard, director of the National Resource
Center on Domestic Violence in Harrisonburg, Pennsylvania, says, “IDVAAC
has carefully convened key stakeholders who don’t typically work
together and provided the opportunity to build practical strategies for
enhancing safety for domestic violence victims in the face of an
unprecedented number of prisoners returning to their communities. The
issues are complex, and effective responses will demand commitment and
collaboration across systems. IDVAAC’s leadership has been critical to
date.”
For Rita Smith, executive director of the
National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the initiative has been
invaluable in teaching that communities can’t just write people off
because of a violent past. “SRI works with communities, domestic
violence victims’ advocates, and former perpetrators to form programs
that allow these offenders to be safely reintegrated back into their
communities.”
Impact
The Safe Return Initiative has held dozens of national conferences,
community forums, and town hall meetings across the country, in addition
to Williams’s own schedule of speaking engagements. People working
across different areas (e.g., corrections, drug abuse prevention,
victims’ advocacy) have become aware of the need for holistic treatment
programs for both former prisoners and their spouses and intimate
partners.
In addition to training programs and curricula, SRI
has developed several DVDs that show how individuals and communities can
help prevent domestic violence and reoffending. One of the DVDs, Safe
Return Initiative: Prisoner Reentry and Domestic Violence, won a
2006 Telly Award for excellence in film and video production.
For more information
Oliver Williams, 612-624-9217,
owilliam@umn.edu
