The GEO Group, the parent company of GEO Reentry Services, recently honored the Franklin County Day Reporting Center with the Chairman’s Best in Class Award. The award recognizes Franklin County’s exceptional recidivism and graduation rates among participants.
The ceremony received great coverage in two local publications, The Herald-Mail and the Chambersburg Public Opinion. Click over to their sites to read the features!
The Franklin County DRC, which is managed by GEO Reentry, opened in 2006 and has served as a model for DRCs throughout Pennsylvania and the country.
The center has a recidivism rate of 18 percent—which means that only 18 percent of participants relapsed into their past criminal behavior—and a graduation rate that has never been below 60 percent. Kim Eaton, the center’s director, said that rate has even been as high as 80 percent.
When the DRC opened, there were only two other programs in the state, but centers have now been established in 12 counties, several of which are run by GEO Reentry as well. The Franklin Country DRC serves as a model for the new centers.
The Franklin County DRC provides a unique combination of intensive supervision, treatment and training to empower offenders to become productive members of their communities. By requiring that participants undergo evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy, GEO Reentry case workers can help participants target the root of their criminal behavior in the process of trying to change that criminal behavior.
The center also offers life skills classes—like college prep, job training, anger management and parenting courses—so participants are given the skills to pursue stable jobs and maintain healthy personal relationships.
GEO Reentry also runs day reporting centers in Allentown, Ebensburg, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Wilkes-Barre and York, which were opened in response to Pennsylvania’s initiative to reduce recidivism, lower incarceration costs and enhance public safety.
Learn more about why GEO Reentry’s approach is so successful.