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.  

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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