More programming capacity inside
Education, job readiness, recovery support, life skills, mentoring, parenting, and release preparation can begin while participants are still reachable.
Reentry support for facilities & agencies
Break the revolving door — before and after release.
Compassion for Lives partners with jails, sheriffs, detention centers, and correctional agencies to provide structured reentry programming before release and practical support after release — helping participants build skills, stability, and a real next step while giving facilities a stronger bridge back to the community.
In custody
Classes, mentoring, recovery support, job readiness, and release preparation while participants are still reachable.
At release
A practical handoff so people leave with a plan, a connection point, and a next step.
After release
Community follow-through for housing, education, employment, recovery, and family stability.
12,000+ people served through facility and community reentry work
The challenge
Without support at release, even good reentry plans fall apart
Most people in custody will be released. Whether they come back is shaped by what happens before release, at the handoff, and in the first days back home. When there is no structure around that moment, facilities carry the repeat pressure and people return to the same barriers.
62%
Rearrested within 3 years
Nationally, more than six in ten people released from prison are rearrested within three years, which keeps pressure on facilities, families, and communities.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics
< half
receive any programming inside
Fewer than half of incarcerated people receive education or instruction while in custody. That gap is where reentry preparation can begin.
Source: RAND Corporation
$800/mo
to hold vs. ~$185 to supervise
In Louisiana, holding one person in a local jail runs about $800 a month versus roughly $185 to supervise them in the community. Better reentry work helps address both human and public costs.
Source: Invest in Louisiana / LA DOC
What changes for your facility
Reentry support becomes a coordinated process, not a loose referral
Compassion for Lives gives facilities a structured way to prepare people before release, connect them at release, and keep support moving after they return home.
A clearer release handoff
Participants leave with a plan, a connection point, and support that can continue after the facility door closes.
Real support after custody
Mentoring, housing connections, education completion, employment preparation, benefits navigation, recovery support, and family stability help the plan survive outside.
Progress your team can review
Attendance, milestones, handoffs, participant progress, and outcomes can be organized in a way facility leaders can understand.
How we work
The handoff is the model
The same mentors, the same plan, and the same team carry support from in-custody programming through release and into the community — so preparation does not disappear when custody ends.
Why Compassion for Lives
You need a partner who can operate — inside the facility and across the handoff
The work has to fit real correctional settings, real release barriers, and real community follow-through.
Built inside real facility and community work
We deliver alongside Bossier Parish Maximum Jail, Caddo Juvenile Justice, the City of Shreveport, the City of Bossier, and local recovery and service partners. The work is grounded in real people, real release barriers, and real follow-through after custody.
Staff who understand reentry realities
Our clinical lead is a licensed LPC and LCSW with experience delivering substance-abuse education, career readiness, and reentry preparation in correctional settings. Our substance-abuse work uses the evidence-based Living in Balance curriculum.
One partner across the handoff
Five coordinated programs connect education, work, behavioral health, housing, family support, and mentoring before and after release, giving facilities a clearer path from custody to community.
Local proof
Post-release support has to exist outside the jail
Our work in Northwest Louisiana shows what that looks like — agencies, recovery partners, educators, and service organizations moving together after release.
City of Shreveport
Caddo Juvenile Justice
City of Bossier
Bossier Parish Maximum Jail
Common Ground
New Day RecoveryFoundation for Christ
Christian ServicesProject Celebration
We help facilities replicate this proven model in their own community.
What we help you evaluate
The right program starts with your facility
A useful conversation should make the path clearer for your staff, your participants, and the community people return to.
Where people lose momentum
Enrollment, release planning, housing, employment, family pressure, recovery needs, and reporting gaps all shape what support should come first.
What your facility can support
Schedule, staffing, referral flow, security requirements, current programs, and release planning rhythms all matter.
What should be measured
The first step should include who to serve, what support to provide, and what progress your leadership needs to see.
Let's talk
Bring reentry support into your facility
Tell us about your facility, your release process, and where people are losing momentum. We'll help you think through the right programming, handoff, and follow-through.