St. Cloud Times

Program helps former inmates transition back into society
By Kari Petrie - January 13th, 2007

In Joe Gibbons' small St. Cloud office, a stack of applications pleads for help.

Poor handwriting, rough grammar and misspellings are frequent, but the message is clear — please help us make the transition from prison to the community.

The Central Minnesota Re-Entry Project finds clothing, housing and employment for former inmates. Gibbons is director of the program that serves Stearns, Benton, Sherburne and Morrison counties. He's also its only employee.

The program launched in September 2005 has found early success in its mission to curb recidivism among prisoners. With 49 former inmates served, only two have re offended, Gibbons said.

Gibbons works with inmates leaving county jails and state prisons. He has been a mentor for 18 years and mentors 12 people.

Nationwide, about 67 percent of people released from prison are rearrested within three years, according to the Re-Entry Policy Council, a national nonpartisan group that provides information to governments as they look at re-entry issues. In Minnesota, about 35 percent of prisoners re-offend within three years of release, Gibbons said.

"There's a real difference," Gibbons said, referring to the work done by his program and similar ones in Minnesota.

A growing program

The next step for the program is to find and train volunteer mentors to work with inmates. The mentors spend a year with the inmate before the prisoner is released. The mentor's role is simple.
"They're not their banker. They're not their Realtor. They're not their lawyer," Gibbons said. "They're just their friend."

His goal is to have about 30 mentors, and several people have signed up. Volunteers undergo nine hours of training before they are assigned to help a former inmate.

It's important that potential mentors are trained to just say no when they're asked for favors.
"These guys will con the socks off you if you let them," Gibbons said.

The program relies on community funding. It will need money to continue. In 2006, the program received about $44,500 in donations from a variety of groups and individuals.

Gibbons hopes to increase that number so he can hire staff to help the mentors.

While the program continues to grow, Gibbons said his mission remains the same.

"If we don't employ them and if we don't give them a place to live, they're going to re offend," Gibbons said.

Those in need

The type of inmate who is chosen to participate is one who wants to make a change, Gibbons said. Inmates go through an application process that includes an interview. Gibbons looks at their needs, but the most important thing is simple: "They have to have a change of heart," he said.

Initially, Gibbons wouldn't work with sex offenders or dangerous criminals.

That changed once he saw the need.
"We look at the individual and not at the offense," he said.

When leaving prison, inmates have little in their possession, not even identification, Gibbons said.

They look to him for help in finding what they need to get their lives on track — a place to work and live. Most have children that they hope to have a relationship with, Gibbons said.

Difficulties

Programs such as the St. Cloud area's Crime Free Multi-Housing make it especially difficult for former inmates to find housing. Housing complexes that are a part of that program do not rent to felons.

"That's the toughest problem," Gibbons said.

There are other options. Some halfway and sober houses cater to people fresh out of prison. But those situations aren't perfect either, he said.

"They fill up pretty fast," Gibbons said.

Gibbons also has a list of employers who will offer jobs.

Jeff Polleis is the program resource coordinator at Stearns County Jail. He runs the jail's Release Advanced Planning, or RAP, program and works with Gibbons.

RAP is very similar to the re-entry project. But RAP works with offenders who are most likely to re offend and helps them find medical care, housing and employment, Polleis said.

Programs like those are successful in keeping inmates out of jail, Polleis said. In the old days, jails would send offenders straight back out into the world.

Officials would say we know you're homeless, taking medication, don't have an education and don't have a job, Polleis said.

"I also know you'll be back real soon," he said.

Now, programs help them find jobs, a place to live and set up appointments with doctors to keep offenders on medication.
"(We) thought, 'Let's finally do something,' " he said.

Success story

That same thought went through the mind of Todd Mickelson, one of the men Gibbons mentors. He served 15 months in Benton County Jail after a drunken-driving offense and was released in May.
Mickelson, who grew up in Sauk Rapids and now lives in Duluth, said he owes a lot to Gibbons — including the clothes on his back.

"I would hate to think what would happen if I didn't have (Gibbons)," he said.
Mickelson has gone through treatment and is approaching a year of sobriety. He hopes to get a job doing automotive detailing, for which he went to school.
But to reach that goal, Mickelson knows he still has a ways to go. And he knows Gibbons will be there to help him through it.

"He wouldn't give up on me," Mickelson said. "I'm glad I met the guy."