Analysis of the program “Getting Out and Staying Out”
Abstract
The ‘Getting Out and Staying Out’ program has received a lot of attention in the recent past for the role it has played in reviving and rekindling the lives of young males of New York who have served time in prison. This paper sheds more light on the role that the program has played in the by looking at the factors that have facilitated its success, doing a SWOT analysis and providing recommendations that could be implemented to improve the service delivery of the program. The paper also suggests the considerations that prospective studies could use to evaluate the success rate of the program or use the steps the program has taken to improve and alleviate the weaknesses and threats that currently accrue to the program.
Introduction
Getting Out and Staying Out (GO/SO) is a program that was initiated back in 2003 by Mark Goldsmith. Goldsmith established GO/SO to minimize the rate of recidivism of the youthful males who have served time in New York City’s biggest penitentiary institution, Rikers Island. The goldsmith’s initiative was easy: convey successful citizens of the country to Rikers Island in a bid to tutor the youthful individuals, provide them with realistic advice and any sort paraphernalia that the young males might need to construct industrious lives in the conventional world. However, the efforts of the program wouldn’t end after release like the prison programs. Instead the successful citizens would continue to instruct the young males when they go back to their areas of residence. In brief, they would continue to provide them with the tools to get out and then to stay out and live a happy, successful, and criminal-free life.
GO/SO was established as to counter the intensifying number penitentiary inmates in New York and the deficiency of plans in the city that could help ex-convicts in their switch back into the places of residence and to fight the elevated recidivism rates which was roughly two-thirds/ 66% (Brown et al 2002) in the city.
SWOT analysis
In general, the strengths of the program include reduction of recidivism rate in New York, averting drug/alcohol dependence among youths, improving the family associations, developing young male’s mode of physical presentation, building constructive relationships with other successful members of the society and neighborhood volunteering. Standardized interview surveys and focus groups in prospect assessment researches could be used to evaluate the realization of the outcomes. This is addressed by attending to the deficiency in of literacy dexterity that leads to the persistent redundancy of the inmates who have just been achieved. According to Statement of Need Center for Economic Opportunity (2007), attending to this will reduce recidivism in a huge margin.
Weaknesses of the program are that the program runs on charity and donations hence controlling the budget of the program’s operations become problematic at times. The program also depends on volunteer staff such as social workers and counselors who might be unavailable at times due to responsibilities outside the programs. Another weakness is that the program needs successful people to volunteer to mentor inmates which sometimes become hard especially because they might be forced to visit the prisons to mentor the inmates. The successful citizens might fear that mentoring the inmates would help the inmates study their lives hence giving them a chance to plot on the easiest way to rob them.
The opportunity that presents itself to the program is that due to its past success more and more organizations are willing to provide financial support to its operations and at the same time more coaches and professionals such as counselors are willing to volunteer
One of the threats of the program is that there is a risk of some of the clients going back to their previous criminal lifestyles when they go back to their places of residence due to pressure from peers. Another threat is some of the clients might take advantage of the program to study some affluent individuals who are contributing in a bid to rob them
Recommendations
The program ought to look at additional coaching methods to so as to try and improve their success rates as a result of giving partakers of the program with the most proficient individualized consideration. The additional methods should ensure the coaches of their security and also have promise of better success rates.
Statistics on several of the program’s expected results (e.g., keeping partakers off drugs/alcohol, etc.) aren’t presently gathered in an official way or preserved in an electronic statistics plan. Implementation of this would help the program get additional information concerning its results and advance and enlighten its decision-making. The program ought to conduct an investigation on longer-term partakers to acquire feedback on the efficacy of its elements and suggestions for prospect implementation. The program should also consider seeking technological help in a variety of vicinities such as gathering data, investigation, as well as eminence reassurance protocols for data entry
Conclusion
As was agreed to its establishment, the GO/SO corresponds with the CEO mission and the key CEO criterion. Currently, the data gathered points out that the program is realizing a number of its short-term objectives and advancing towards several of its long-term objectives. Several of the program’s long-term outcomes require further assessment techniques so as to address their accomplishment. Presently, the program has a huge load of physical layout records concerning its objectives and results, but the data needs electronic maintenance for better evaluation and results present and in future.
References
Brown, D. Maxwell, S. Dejesus, E. Schiraldi, V. (2002), Barriers and Promising Approaches to Workforce and Youth Development for Young Offenders. Baltimore, MD: Annie E. Casey Foundation.
New York City Department of Correction CEO Contract (2007). Getting Out-Staying Out FY 2008 Scope of Work. New York.
Statement of Need Center for Economic Opportunity (December 2007), Strategy and Implementation Report. New York: Center for Economic Opportunity.
