Program that helps prisoners likely to end

By: Associated Press//October 24, 2013//

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STEVENS POINT, Wis. (AP) – A program that supporters say has been effective in keeping low and medium-risk offenders in central Wisconsin from returning to jail will likely end.

Stevens Point Journal Media reports the Volunteers in Probation program pairs offenders with mentors who help re-integrate them into the community after their release. Portage County officials are cutting money in 2014 as part of an effort to balance the budget. It will likely close at year’s end.

This year, the county spent $50,000 on the program, which is run through Justiceworks, a nonprofit that helps offenders adjust when they re-enter society.

Portage County Executive Patty Dreier said a Wisconsin corrections model being developed with state money will accomplish many of the same things, although the new effort will focus on medium- to high-risk offenders.

Information from: Stevens Point Journal Media, http://www.stevenspointjournal.com

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