Governor says plan will help prevent Virginians from returning to prison

RICHMOND, Va. -- Governor Glenn Youngkin (R - Virginia) announced Wednesday an initiative to help formerly incarcerated inmates successfully return to society and avoid going back to prison.

Some 10,000 adults and juveniles in Virginia are released every year into supervision and about half of those people will be reconvicted and return to life behind bars.

Youngkin said his plan would help stabilize that returning population and dramatically lower that recidivism rate.

WTVR

How?

He said pulling together the more than a half-dozen pillars of support across government will achieve that goal.

"There are many inputs, but six consistently contribute to success: a job, secure housing, health care, partnership, which we might call supervision, we might call mentorship, we might call accountability, we might just call relationship, and mental health and substance abuse treatment if needed," Youngkin said.

The Governor said his efforts at transforming the reentry system began in April of last year.

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