Since 1993, the Delaware Department of Correction has offered a Life Skills Program in its four state prisons. Each year, as many as 300 inmates (of the 5,000 housed inmates) enroll in the program, and nearly 85 percent of them graduate. The 4-month program has three major components: academics, violence reduction, and applied life skills. The…

The Orange County, Florida, Corrections Division provides unusually intensive educational and vocational programs to most inmates in its 3,300-bed jail. A staff of 70 full-time instructors provide the following services: adult basic education, preparation for the general equivalency diploma, vocational training, life skills development, women's…

This document profiles the job placement program for ex-offenders that the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) in New York City has implemented successfully since 1992. The document begins by describing the program's main components, which are as follows: (1) a 1-day recruitment and orientation program; (2) a 4-day life skills course; (3) an…

Texas's Project RIO (Re-Integration of Offenders), which was developed in cooperation with the National Institute of Justice, National Institute of Corrections, and U.S. Department of Education's Office of Correctional Education, began in 1985 as a two-city pilot program to place parolees in jobs. Project RIO has since expanded steadily and now…

The Safer Foundation in Chicago, Illinois, is the largest community-based provider of employment services for ex-offenders in the United States. Established in 1972, Safer has a professional staff of nearly 200 in 6 locations. Safer runs a private school, called the PACE (Programmed Activities for Correctional Education) Institute, at the Cook…