Redeeming time: SVdP Pre-release program helps prisoners prepare for new life

Mark Renick, program manager of the Reentry program, is with Stacey LaRoe, program manager of Reentry Career Development and Navigation. (St. Vincent de Paul of Southwest Idaho Facebook photo)

By Emily Woodham

Staff Writer

For more than 12 years, the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Southwest Idaho (SVdP) has had a reentry program for those leaving prison. When Mark Renick, program manager for the Reentry Program, left prison 17 years ago, he wanted to use his experience to help others.

His team at SVdP, which is a part of the “First Day Out” program, has all experienced incarceration. They approach each person they help with the understanding of the relief of being free and the fears of what is to come. Each former resident is given transportation to temporary housing and is given the opportunity to receive assistance with getting a job, clothing, food, access to mental health and addiction support, and finding permanent housing.

Stacey LaRoe joined the Reentry Program four years ago and is program manager of career development and navigation for formerly incarcerated residents. However, the bulk of her work is not when residents are released. LaRoe and her team reach out to residents while they are still in prison.

Currently, there are almost 9,000 residents in Idaho prisons. Idaho has the highest rate of incarceration per capita of any other democratic country in the United States. Although the crime rate is considered low in Idaho, 761 out of every 100,000 people are in a jail, prison, juvenile justice center or immigration detention center. The impact of the high incarceration rate reverberates from families to society, as one out of every 12 children has a parent who is incarcerated. These statistics are provided by SVdP, which works closely with the Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC).

“Education levels definitely reflect the risk of someone going into prison,” said LaRoe.

The connection between literacy and the likelihood of being imprisoned has been observed so consistently that many states use standardized test results in elementary schools to determine how many beds they will need in their prisons in the future.

“However, also connected with the risk of being incarcerated is whether a parent has been in prison. Because just like a disease that gets passed down from parents to kids, kids whose parents were in prison are likely to follow that pattern,” LaRoe explained. “Considering how many kids have a parent who has been incarcerated, that’s a lot of kids who are potentially on track to go to prison themselves in Idaho.”

The circumstances for people who become residents in prisons can seem hopeless. The longer a person is incarcerated, the more difficult it can be for them to return to society and function well, let alone thrive.

“Imagine being in prison for 10 years, and how much the technology has changed in just 10 years. Then imagine how much technology and society have changed in 20, 30 or more years. It’s like entering a whole new world when leaving prison.”

The hurdles that residents face when they leave prison contribute to the rate of recidivism — the tendency of people with convictions to relapse into criminal behavior.

“We want to make a resident’s transition from prison into society as smooth as possible,” LaRoe explained. “We realized that the best way to do this is to address concerns and prepare residents before they leave the prison doors through a pre-release program.”

LaRoe and her team began by teaching classes on how to secure a job, sometimes even before residents leave prison. Their classes address the many aspects of getting a job and keeping it, from résumés to appearance and communication.

About 18 months ago, Dave “Buck” Fry, a parishioner of Risen Christ Parish in Boise and a supporter of SVdP, became the pre-release facilitator for the IDOC and the Idaho State Correctional Center (ISCC). Fry wrote a manual and recreated the pre-release program.

Fry, who is a retired educator with decades of curriculum experience, came out of retirement to help with education in the Idaho prison system.

Although there are opportunities to further high school or higher education for residents long before they are released, Fry developed a specific program for residents that begins months before their release dates. His pre-release program incorporated the efforts and expertise of SVdP.

Residents are invited to participate, but they are not required to join the program. Those who decide to join are divided into cohorts of about 40 to 60 who attend six weeks of classes, which include the SVdP courses on finding a job, how to navigate questions about their past, money management and having a positive mindset. Fry’s program also has educators who specifically address mental health difficulties, self-care and maintaining healthy relationships.

Most recently, LaRoe began incorporating her training in trauma-informed responses.

“All residents have been through some sort of trauma,” LaRoe said. “They need to know how to deal with their triggers so that they don’t respond to those triggers in the old way, which is what probably got them into trouble in the first place.”

In 2024, SVdP gave 30 pre-release career development courses in several IDOC facilities in which 530 residents participated. SVdP also gives individual consultations to residents. Last year, 593 residents participated. Of those, 200 continued to use the post-release career development services at SVdP.

Because the pre-release program has been running for only three years, it is too soon to know the long-term impact of the SVdP program. However, among the residents who have been helped, the recidivism rate appears to be half of the usual rate of about 38%. Their efforts have been so successful that LaRoe and others on the reentry team presented a workshop on the pre-release program at the national St. Vincent de Paul conference in August.

A part of the success with the SVdP program is making sure that residents take responsibility for their part in ensuring their future outside of prison.

“We give everyone homework,” LaRoe said. “For example, they have to spend time on their own making a master résumé — a résumé they can refer to and edit as needed as they apply for jobs. They have to take the time to think about their skills. We also tell them to think about the skills they used that got them into trouble and how they can use those skills to do good. Everything is a learning experience.”

The homework is a requirement to make sure that residents have skin in the game, LaRoe explained. “If they don’t do their homework, I let them know that I’m only meeting with people who are ready to do work. If they aren’t ready, that’s OK. We want people to understand that we are not there to do the work for them. However, if they are willing to put in the work, we promise that we’re going to work with them.”

LaRoe believes their success also comes from a holistic and heart-centered approach. “We’re looking at pre-release from the perspective that each person has value just as they are. Maybe they can’t see it for themselves, but we want to find a way to allow that value to come out.”

Aside from donating funds to support SVdP and its programs, people can help through volunteering. LaRoe said her program is looking for community mentors in particular. “We need people who want to have crucial conversations with people in prison. It helps to end the ‘us versus them’ mentality. We also need volunteers in the office. Truly, all someone has to do is contact us and let us know that they want to help, and we’ll find something for them to do.”

To find out more about the reentry programs at SVdP, visit svdpid.org/reentry-services.