TURNAROUND: PRISON PROGRAMS HELP CONVICTS REFORM

It's difficult not to be skeptical when we hear of convicts who have
"found" religion and turned their lives around. But it does happen.

An Oklahoma City program around since 1994 is helping felons kick their
addictions, find work and establish stable lives outside prison walls. Hand
Up Ministries, recently profiled by The Oklahoman's Dawn Marks, is a
privately funded residential program that requires former inmates to be
Christian.

They must attend Bible studies twice a week and church once a week. Many
enter the program straight out of prison and stay for a year or more. That
time gives them an opportunity to get treatment for substance abuse, find a
job and get their lives on a path different from the one that landed them
in prison.

The uncertainty of life after prison is what leads many inmates to lapse.
Programs -- private and public -- that give current and former prisoners a
chance to turn their lives around lessen that risk. A Department of
Corrections study earlier this year found that prison substance-abuse
programs drastically lessen recidivism for male and female prisoners. Drug
court programs for first-time offenders also have proven successful.

The state's Career Tech system recently obtained a $1 million federal grant
to expand occupational training in three prisons. The money will aid in
finding jobs for inmates. Current training varies from construction to
manufacturing to computers. System officials said their work may include
relocating released inmates to take them out of crime-infested neighborhoods.

The answers to cutting recidivism are as varied as the felons' backgrounds
and upbringings. There's no magic bullet or single program that's
guaranteed to succeed. But it's important that private and public programs
continue to find ideas that work in turning felons into productive members
of society. Such programs make us all safer.