YWCA McLean County's Labyrinth Re-entry Services has received a $505,704 state grant to provide services to men and women being released from three Central Illinois prisons.
YWCA will hire four re-entry specialists to provide care to men and women between six and 12 months of their release. The correctional centers of Logan, Decatur and Lincoln will each receive one specialist, and the remaining specialist will stay in McLean County to focus on post-release care.
CEO and President of YWCA Liz German says the new program will primarily focus on pre-release care, as the Labyrinth program has historically focused on assisting those who have already left the prison system. German said the program will put an emphasis on substance abuse and mental health.
“We’re going to be making sure that when they’re coming back to the community, they have the resources they need, they’re set up with doctors and other agencies that can help them make sure they’re successful,” she said.
German said YWCA applied for the grant because it fit so well into the services Labyrinth already provided, and it allowed them to return to the pre-release care they were only able to provide before 2020.
“We were looking for funding to keep doing what we were doing,” she said. “The pre-release is a great piece because prior to COVID, we were able to do a lot more pre-release … this is kind of a kismet opportunity to get back to doing some more of that and focusing more on that … proactive piece.”
Wellness Recovery Action Plan
German said the grant includes a WRAP, or the Wellness Recovery Action Plan, for each inmate. It is a chance to have them as ready as possible for re-entry to society before release.
“What we have learned and what data shows is that if you focus on getting people affordable housing, stable housing and gainful employment, they’re less likely to return to jail or prison,” German said. “So, to do that, obviously, your mental health and your well-being, that’s a key factor in making sure both of those are stable.”
When it comes to treating an inmate pre- or post-release, German said the correctional facilities make the call. They follow the grant’s priorities of release between six and 12 months and those with mental health difficulties, because it is more difficult to assist someone after they are already back in society.
“A lot of people don’t understand that when somebody is released, there are a lot of just basic, logistical things that have to happen, and if you don’t have somebody walking you through that process, you run into a lot of obstacles and a ton of barriers,” she said. “A lot of the actual aspects of working with clients can be similar in pre and post [release], the difference is the time.”
Labyrinth will work on providing identification, housing and a plan after their release. For housing, YWCA will keep one of its four transitional living apartments open for a rapid placement of a client.
Helping men too
The move to pre-release care is not the only change for Labyrinth. German said it is the only program of YWCA which did not already serve both men and women.
While Labyrinth makes the shift to treat men as well, German said treatment is not too different between genders.
“In general, we are looking at each person as an individual anyway and seeing what they specifically need, and so there’s not a whole ton of differences when you’re doing it in that way and looking at that more individualistic approach,” she said.
German said there are two special circumstances which women tend to face more often than men that specialists take into consideration — the first being children.
“If they had relationships with children or whether they’re minor children and walking down that road of custody and reconnection or even adult children,” German said. “That was a big emphasis in working with women, because women are typically the primary caregivers, especially if there are younger kids.”
German said the other issue YWCA tends to focus on for women is the possibility of domestic violence and sexual assault in their past. She said most of the women treated do have a history of those issues.
“[It's] making sure they have the services they need to deal with that issue and that trauma so that it’s not hindering them from moving forward,” she said. “Now that could still be true with men. Of course, men can be victims of both of those things as well. The percentages are just obviously higher with women.”
German said Labyrinth has a great success rate in reducing recidivism in McLean County, and her hope is to continue the trend as they move to adding pre-release care. McLean County’s rate is 48%, compared to the Labyrinth program’s range of 6% to 9%.
The Logan Correctional Facility, one of the prisons YWCA will send a specialist to, is not certain to remain in Central Illinois. Last year, Gov. JB Pritzker announced his intention to close the current facility and rebuild it in the Chicagoland area. It is still on target for closure.
Despite the future of the facility being unknown, German said it is not a concern of Labyrinth. She said they will carry on with business as usual.
“My guess is if that facility were to change and folks were moved to the other one, we would just spend more time at Decatur’s facility instead,” she said. “So, if we had to shift two people to one facility, we could do that, but as far as I know, nothing should affect us.”
The money comes from the Illinois Department of Human Services [IDHS] – Division of Mental Health.
