Episode Details

The “Welcome Home Project”

http://www.tribaljustice.org/places/specialized-court-projects/re-entry-program/

Port Gamble S’Klallam Reentry Program

Awarded $1 Million from Department of Justice

Money to be used to expand Tribe’s “Human Dignity Model”

of reentry into Kitsap County Jail system

The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe’s Reentry Program has been awarded a $1 million grant from the Department of Justice’s Second Chance Adult Comprehensive Community-based Adult Reentry Grant  to expand their proven model into the Kitsap County Jail system. PGST is the only Tribe in the nation to be awarded money from this DOJ program during the current cycle.

This money will be used over a three-year period in a government-to-government partnership in creating the infrastructure to implement a robust Reentry program within the Kitsap County Jail using the Tribe’s successful “Human Dignity Model.” This includes the use of Risk & Needs Assessments, a critical tool that help Success Coaches create comprehensive and collaborative strategies as well as tailored support services with the goal of reducing recidivism, creating a Universal healing re-entry model, and creating a cultural shift with corrections.

Since 2013, PGST’s Reentry program has been helping Tribal members who have struggled with addiction and criminal justice issues reintegrate back to health and productivity. Unlike many reentry programs which tend to be punitive, focusing solely on avoiding re-arrest, PGST’s model helps the client attain the basic life skills, training, and well-being necessary for community involvement.

Program Manager Janel McFeat coined the term “Human Dignity Model” in describing PGST’s program; that is having Success Coaches who work closely and develop a connection with clients as partners while addressing a broad array of risk and protective factors facing formerly incarcerated individuals, including addiction, trauma, and behavioral health. While this methodology is unique throughout much of the United States, PGST’s Reentry’s program is guided by global best practices established by the United Nations for the treatment of the incarcerated.

This approach has offered impressive results: since the program’s inception, PGST has reduced recidivism by 81 percent with their target population.

“Reentry has helped illuminate an alternative way of thinking about how to support tribal members struggling with addiction and criminal justice issues in the community. Participants’ success is a testament to the ways in which the Port Gamble S’Klallam community fosters personal resiliency and, in turn, advances the well-being of the community as a whole,” said Christine Barone, Director, PGST Court Services, which oversees the Reentry program.

The success of PGST’s Reentry program began catching the attention of other tribes as well as governments and law enforcement entities who are struggling with similar problems. Lt Penny Sapp, with the Kitsap County Sherriff’s Department, recognized that PGST’s model could help solve the “revolving door” of inmates coming through the county’s jail system.

“(In the Kitsap County jail), we want to see people get the help they need,” said Lt. Sapp. “We see them come in and out of the jail, and we want them to understand why they keep coming back. We know it’s because they commit crimes, but we want to get to the root of the problem.”

PGST Reentry actually began working in the Kitsap County Jail in 2015 with funding from the DOC’s Second Chance Adult Reentry Demonstration Grant. This small trial was such a success that the county encouraged PGST to find additional funds for an expansion that would include core elements like Risk & Needs Assessment, Trauma Informed Care, Resilience Training, Cognitive Science and other evidence-based techniques designed to get to the root of the is