A behind-the-scenes look at rehabilitation in a state prison

SOMERSET, Pa. — It looks like a hospital. In one room, a group of men are getting dialysis treatment. In a hallway adorned by picturesque murals of woods and animals, people scurry from room to room treating patients who need hospice-style care.

That’s what it looks like in one wing of SCI Laurel Highlands, a state prison in Somerset County that houses far more inmates who need medical attention than any other state prison in Pennsylvania.

About a fifth of the approximately 1,500 inmates here are getting medical treatment. The rest, though, are general population, and many are nearing the end of their sentences.

Because of that, officials at Laurel Highlands say one of their goals is making sure inmates who are about to be released are ready to return to society.

For instance, in part of the prison, inmates stay in pods with bunk beds, where they can watch television or read books. In that area, dubbed the Transitional Housing Unit, inmates get training on computers or public speaking or how to apply for a job.

Inmates have to apply to live in THU, and Laurel Highlands Superintendent Jamey Luther said they’ve seen inmates make progress there.

There are other programs at SCI Laurel Highlands, too, including a program where inmates train dogs to be emotional support animals.

During a tour in April, the Department of Corrections allowed a 6 News reporter and photographer to tour the prison and talk to certain inmates, although it did not allow 6 News to name the inmates or show their faces in video.

One inmate, who is working to train one of the dogs, said that it’s taught him how to take care of something other than himself.

“The discipline it takes and the patience it takes to teach these dogs It’s something I never really had to do,” the inmate told a 6 News reporter. “I pretty much spent my life getting in trouble, you know?”

That inmate said it also taught him empathy.

“Helping people is important to me now,” he said. “I spent my life hurting people.”

Other inmates in Laurel Highlands said that programs like THU and the dog program have truly helped them appreciate having a second chance.

The data

On top of those programs at this particular prison, the DOC has been working to shift the focus of the prison system from punishment to rehabilitation.

To that end, the department has been promoting a program since 2008 that offers shorter sentences to certain nonviolent inmates who stay out of trouble and meet certain criteria.

Dubbed the Recidivism Risk Reduction Incentive, or “triple-R-I”, the program has been given to 27 percent of all new inmates since 2008, with 78 percent of those inmates actually completing the program.

According to a DOC report filed in January, more than 24,000 inmates have started the program, and 20,607 have been released.

The program has decreased the prison population by nearly 1,200 inmates and saved the department more than $400 million, but the report indicates that success in general of the program has been mixed.

For instance, inmates who were certified as completing the entire program were approximately five percentage points less likely to commit another crime within three years compared to inmates who didn’t complete the program.

Inmates who completed the program were also slightly less likely to be in jail three years after they were released. After three years, 30 percent of inmates who completed the program were back in jail compared to 35 percent of a comparison group.

The report, though, found that “recidivism figures for RRRI paint a mixed picture” because inmates who were enrolled in the RRRI program, but who didn’t complete it, were actually more likely to be back in jail than inmates who weren’t enrolled in the program.

“Overall, the safest assumption from this data is that RRRI appears to neither appreciably lower nor raise recidivism rates compared to similarly situated non-RRRI sentenced inmates,” the report said.

There doesn’t appear to be specific data related to programs at Laurel Highlands, though, including the dog program and the THU.

Restricted housing

Back at Laurel Highlands, Jamey Luther, the superintendent, took 6 News to a part of the prison that looks and sounds like what one might expect in a prison: cells, bars on windows, white walls, inmates screaming at visitors.

That area is the Restricted Housing Unit, saved for inmates who break the rules or need to be separated from the rest of the prison.

In that area, Luther talked about concerns that the DOC focuses too much on rehabilitation and not enough on punishment or enforcement.

“A person’s punishment is being in corrections,” Luther said. “Being in a prison. So we don’t try to punish them more once they’re here.”

“When these guys eventually get out, they’re going to be sitting on a bus next to you. They’re going to be your next-door neighbor,” she added.

Most get out

One inmate, in an interview, also pointed out that the vast majority of inmates in the Pennsylvania prison system will at some point be released.

In fact, 61 percent of inmates who were committed in 2016 could be eligible for release by this year, and 85 percent of inmates will have finished their maximum sentence by 2026.

“How do you want them to be in society?” the inmate said. “How do you want them to be in the neighborhood? You want them to be better.”

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