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 Sharing Our Stake in Maryland's Public Safety | September 2013 |
The Public Safety Stakeholder
 An E-publication of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services for our Criminal Justice and Community Partners |
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Did You See Us
In The News?
Recent sightings of our public safety efforts in your local media are updated daily on the DPSCS homepage
Recent headlines:
SoMdNews.com 09/19/2013
Thanks for feeding the hungry
MyEasternShoreMD.com 09/05/2013
Stop Hunger
The GW Hatchet 09/02/2013
Student helps bring inmates' stories to life at Kennedy Center
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DPSCS' mission is to protect the public, our employees and those under our supervision.
Governor Martin O'Malley Lt. Governor Anthony G. Brown
DPSCS Secretary Gary D. Maynard |
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Education: one of the key components that has driven down recidivism more than 7 points in the last 6 years, to 40.5%! Check out our Facebook to see more pictures! |
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This Month's Featured Stories:
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 | keeping communities safe |
Fewer Inmates Returning to Prison Thanks to Partnerships, Skills Training, Treatment, and Programs
The recidivism rate---the rate ex-inmates are returning to prison or community supervision for new crimes within three years of release--- has been driven down, from nearly 48% in 2007 to 40.5% in 2012. Making this possible are innovative partnerships and information sharing with other state agencies which have increased the number of inmates receiving drug treatment, mental health services, job skill training, and educational services.
Since 2007, DPSCS has entered into multiple partnerships---particularly with the departments of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, Health and Mental Hygiene, and Natural Resources---in a concerted effort to create a more efficient system of delivering programs and services to offenders, and to create opportunities for inmates to improve themselves.
DPSCS Sec. Gary D. Maynard speaks Monday during a press conference about Maryland's recidivism rate, which recent efforts have driven down. He is speaking at the Occupations Skills & Training Center in Baltimore, which is run in partnership with DLLR.
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 | believing in human capital |
For the past few months, DPSCS has been working with Department of Human Resources (DHR) to train Community Supervision staff on how to use DHR's Service Access and Information Link (SAIL), a web-based screening and application tool to help eligible citizens apply and learn about various social services offered by the State of Maryland.
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 | public safety works |
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Public Safety Works (PSW) is a restorative justice program of the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS) that provides employment skills as well as an opportunity for offenders to give back to communities they have harmed - a powerful and significant tool of rehabilitation.
DPSCS partners with other state agencies, municipalities and non-profits to help them accomplish jobs that might otherwise not get done because they are not funded. Projects range from small community revitalization efforts, to projects that are improving the sustainability of Maryland's natural resources.
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Additionally, a departmental reorganization is eliminating barriers between DPSCS corrections and supervision disciplines, allowing custody and community supervision to work together, focused on offender reentry. And a $15 million investment into a state of the art Offender Case Management System, is helping the Department to deliver offender programming and services more effectively than ever before.
Making better connections to community-based programming partners also plays an important role. In Baltimore City, the Department has pioneered a localized model of re-entry, which uses wrap-around offender services inside and outside prison walls to prepare inmates for their return to society. Community partners, like the Living Classrooms Foundation, Center for Urban Families, Marian House, Patrick Allison House, and Community Mediation Maryland, work with us daily to make sure the re-entry services being offered out of the Baltimore City Pre-release Unit ultimately help offenders become successful upon release from prison.
"Marylanders are safer and fewer people are becoming victims because we have invested in technology, focused on maximizing drug treatment, educational and job skills training resources," said DPSCS Secretary Gary D. Maynard. "We have also harnessed the power of inter-governmental partnerships, and began building more effective partnerships with non-profit and community service providers."
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DPSCS is now registered as a Community Based Organization, enabling Community Supervision staff to help register former inmates transitioning back into the community for social services through SAIL.
It is a resource point that provides a streamlined application for critical benefits needed by many offenders - who are eligible - returning to the community for Family Investment Administration (FIA) benefits. These include the Food Supplement Program, Medical Assistance, and the Maryland Energy Assistance Program, among others.
Because it simplifies the FIA process, which can be an overwhelming task for someone just released from prison, by utilizing the SAIL program with the help of Community Supervision staff, offenders can gain much quicker access to the resources that can mean the difference between becoming ultimately successful upon leaving prison, or ending up back behind the fence.
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Some notable projects include the reclamation of the state's oldest African American cemetery, the Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Baltimore's Cherry Hill. Inmates have planted over 1.2 million trees across the state as a part of the O'Malley-Brown Administration's Smart Green and Growing initiative. Since 2011, DPSCS inmate PSW crews have gleaned more than one-million pounds of produce in a unique effort between farmers, DPSCS, and the Maryland Food Bank. And PSW crews have helped harvest and plant more than 50-million oyster spat in the Chesapeake Bay.
PSW is also a bridge to meaningful employment for this population, helping to develop basic everyday skills needed to be an effective employee such as learning to respect a supervisor and working as a team.
Praise for PSW has come from citizens, elected officials, our partner agencies and the offenders who get a chance to do something positive for society prior to their return. To find out if your non-profit or municipal or county agency can benefit from Public Safety Works, call John Rowley at (301)573-7175.
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