Empire State News, June 5, 2008, Thursday

Empire State News

June 5, 2008, Thursday

Empire State News

Australian officials visit prison program that helps inmates with developmental disabilities

STATEN ISLAND - Nine executive leaders from seven Australian non-profit disability group organizations visited Arthur Kill Correctional Facility on Staten Island today to learn about its “Inmate to Citizen” project, which helps inmates with developmental disabilities prepare for life after their release from prison.

The project focuses on “person-centered planning,” which involves identifying each inmate’s potential strengths and developing an individualized program that builds upon those strengths to prepare the individual for community living, learning and working upon release. Vocational training and the development of personal goals by the inmates themselves are part of the process.

The Australian officials toured Arthur Kill’s “Special Needs Unit,” one of three such units operated by the New York State Department of Correctional Services in which inmates with developmental disabilities are placed, and out of which the Inmate to Citizen project operates. The other SNU’s are located at Sullivan and Wende Correctional Facilities in Sullivan and Erie counties, respectively.

DOCS operates the Inmate to Citizen project in conjunction with The Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations Employment and Disability Institute and the New York State Division of Parole, and under the sponsorship of the New York State Developmental Disabilities Planning Council. The project is in its fifth year, and Cornell has received about $950,000 in funding for the project during that period from the DDPC.

Additional funding is being considered for improvements in discharge planning for inmates and collaboration with community organizations, initially in New York City, that could potentially assist or employ ex-offenders.