Reintegrating into society, Warren County Regional Jail preps inmates

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Recidivism is something many both in the community and in the legal system try to fight against, the Warren County Regional Jail has been leading the charge on that front and we got to see it first hand.

It may not be known in the community, but Warren Regional Jail started something back in 2017 called pre-release classes, an effort to combat recidivism. Jailer Steve Harmon told News 40 that when he came into his position, he wanted to focus on as few returning inmates as possible.

Harmon said when they first started exploring the idea of offering a class they noticed inmates didn’t have many things that they would need to lead a successful life outside of the jail walls like a driver’s license or social security card. The classes were and still are voluntary for the inmates as well as the community partners the jail brings in to offer resources to the inmates like sober living homes, job searching tools, and getting their GED or social security card.

Speaking to one inmate after the class, he said he had ended up in jail more than once, but this was his first time attending the class meant for those 30 to 60 days from release.

The class is completely free, once a month in a room of the jail filled with inmates and people who give up a few hours of their day to offer them words of encouragement as well as some information on where to turn in order to start making life better for themselves.