Spring is a time for celebrating transition, and many BI Day Reporting Center participants nationwide are successfully transitioning from an evidence-based correctional program to community life. Each fall and spring, in conjunction with agency partners, BI organizes Transition Celebrations to mark parolee or probationer completion of day reporting programming. These positive events bring together program graduates, families, local corrections officials, program staff, and even state or local politicians who want to support these individuals.
At a recent Transition Celebration in Stockton, California, 26 parolee clients, many of whom are chronic offenders, successfully completed DRC programming as a last chance effort to stay out of prison. Through cognitive behavioral therapy, BI day reporting centers are designed to change criminal behavior.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s (CDCR) Division of Adult Parole Operations (DAPO), the agency funding and overseeing the Stockton DRC, was on hand to film the event. Watch it here (2 min, 42 seconds).
The goals of the Stockton Day Reporting Center include reducing the prison population by diverting individuals to community supervision and helping clients stay crime-free once released to the community. Many of these graduates entered the DRC after violating conditions of parole, and for many, they are “one strike” from life in prison. All 26 graduates are either employed or enrolled in community college.
To successfully complete the program and participate in the transition celebration, participants must complete Moral Reconation Therapy®, a cognitive behavioral program developed to reduce recidivism and change criminal behavior, stay “clean” for 90 days, and participate in 90 percent of their prescribed group meetings. DAPO opened the Stockton Day Reporting Center in May 2008 to ease prison overcrowding and reduce recidivism rates among adult parolees. The center supervises an average of 100 parolees daily.