In January, the state of Montana requested bids from contractors to build a 120-bed, medium security prison. These plans are now on hold – a response to decreasing recidivism prison officials are attributing to prison reentry programs.
Nationwide, about 700,000 inmates are released from prison every year. Two-thirds of those will eventually return to prison, with about half doing so within three years of release. However, programs like Prison Fellowship’s InnerChange Freedom Initiative (IFI) have been able to drastically reduce the recidivism rate by offering a value-based cirriculum and job training for inmates, and by providing mentoring and support for these individuals upon their release. To learn more about IFI, visit https://www.www.www.prisonfellowship.org/pf-resources/reentry/ifi.