San Juan County Targets Recidivism

San Juan County officials hope a new reentry resource center at the Adult Detention Center helps those released from detention have success after serving their sentence. You're watching the Local News Network brought to you by Home 2 Suites and Boon's Family Thai BBQ. I'm Connor Shrieve. The new Reentry Resource Center in the San Juan County Adult Detention Center helps connect released people with service providers to help them succeed upon release.

So it was, the inspiration came from the Leadership San Juan Group that had a dream of providing more resources to detainees upon release so that they know what they can expect when they are released, some of the services that are available to 'em in our community, that they know that they're not alone when they're coming out of here.

The project aims to reduce recidivism by closing a gap in information for newly-released individuals. Sunny Rodriguez is a case manager and social worker for the Office of the Public Defender and says, resources in the center are based on feedback from former detainees.

With my job, I get to talk to detainees almost on a daily basis, and my job is to advocate for them and learn what the barriers are and address those. And a lot of them was like, the second we leave, we don't have a ride to wherever they need to go.

That includes transportation, behavioral health services, and phone charging among others. Things that San Juan county manager Mike Stark says, are often taken for granted.

When you leave the facility here in San Juan County, your property is put in a property storage box. You come out, good chance your cell phone's dead. And we all take that for granted, that having a charged cell phone, that whether you're someone that's been detained or not, you need to have that as a way to connect with the outside world to connect with resources.

The Support Center is a joint initiative between the county and Leadership San Juan, which proposed a cell phone, charging station, information about vital services, and a video explaining the process following release. Stark Credits Leadership San Juan for making the idea a reality.

It's inspiring to see that we've got individuals in our community who see a problem, bring forth a solution, and not just bring forth a solution, bring forth the resources to make it happen. The cost to San Juan County to make this available local government that much because of that group, that made it all happen. So that to me is unique, it's special, and it just makes me so proud to be here in San Juan County and call this home.

Now after release, detainees have a place to charge their phone, watch a five-minute informational video, and read brochures with information about housing, transportation, mental health services, public defenders, and more. Advocates, hope the center provides those released a better baseline for success after serving their sentence. For more information about this and other stories, visit Farmington Local News. Thanks for watching this edition of The Local News Network. I'm Connor Shrieve.