NCJ Number
189678
Journal
Corrections Management Quarterly Volume: 5 Issue: 3 Dated: Summer 2001 Pages: 52-61
Editor(s)
Stephanie Neuben
Date Published
2001
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This article described an innovative program in New York City, La Bodega de la Familia, that offers a model for strengthening the relationships between offenders and their families.
Abstract
Large numbers of offenders are released from prisons and jails each year to community supervision. Most of these offenders return to live with family members. This article began with a brief description of the offenders returning home and the challenges facing them. Then, it discussed the positive role families play as a social support network for their loved ones. It continued by describing an innovative program in New York City, La Bodega de la Familia, that offers a model for strengthening the relationships between offenders and their families and partnering with community supervision agencies to improve compliance. Lastly, the article outlined how supervision agencies can work with families to improve outcomes for both families and government. Most offenders coming home are men, older, most likely to be convicted of drug offenses, and less likely to be violent offenders. Families provide social support, as well as an important anchor during a difficult transition from custody to community. The La Bodega de la Familia (the family grocery) program in New York City was testing the proposition that strengthening the families of substance abusers under criminal justice supervision will improve the success of treatment, reduce the use of jail to punish relapse, and reduce the abuse within families that sometimes accompanies addiction. The program was considered straightforward and strengths-based. La Bodega’s signature service is family case management, engaging the substance abuser, family members, supervision officers, and treatment providers in the identification and mobilization of a family’s inherent strengths and resources to build a network of healthy relationships to support the offender. Community-based organizations and local social service agencies can step into La Bodega’s role with training about family case management and advice about building alliances between the local organization and the supervision agency. A family focused approach can allow criminal justice practitioners and families to work together toward a common goal, supporting an individual’s success. References