The program is called Nine Yards, as in the “whole nine yards,” and offers inmates with felony convictions workforce training and counseling while still incarcerated. When released the men in the program are offered transitional supportive housing to provide additional stability and a group environment.
Conducted by a Harvard PhD student, the report finds that men in the program, called 9 Yards, reduced their collective crime rate by 40 percent, as compared to men who did not participate in the program.
Nationwide, men with similar records are often re-convicted at a rate of about 75 percent over five years.
Nick Horton runs the program out of the Rhode Island ACI, through the local non-profit Open Doors. He said the men are closely monitored following their release.
“They have ankle bracelets on, they go to drug treatment if necessary, and many of them actually live in our transitional housing for up to six months, and so we provide sort of a group supportive environment,” said Horton.
Horton said the results are not necessarily definitive, because the sample size was small, just 24 men, but hopes to expand the program.
“We pour millions and millions of dollars into incarcerating people who come out and very quickly and at very high rates, reoffend,” said Horton. “And there could be a way to prevent that and we think that this program has been able to pilot that successful prototype.”
The program offers vocational training and counseling to convicts while in prison and supportive services when they are released.
The report’s release coincides with the graduation of the second group of men taking part in the Nine Yards program.
