115 Empire Street
Providence, RI 02903
USA
Come to a very brief screening of ‘9 Yards‘ a documentary about the program 9 Yards dedicated to ending the cycle of incarceration, and a Q&A with program coordinator Nick Horton. There also will be a presentation of the Songs From Within album by Jonah David. Jonah had recorded an album of music with inmates at the Rhode Island prison. The songs were written in a songwriting workshop during the summer of 2012, and recorded with musicians from the greater Providence community (since recording devices weren’t permitted in the prison).
9 Yards started July, 2013 with 15 men in Medium Security prison in Rhode Island. For 9 months in prison, services will focus on individualized education and occupational training, behavioral change, family therapy. After release, participants will be immediately placed into part-time jobs, provided with fully-subsidized supportive housing, case management, mentors, and wrap-around services. The program will provide support for at least 6 months with the goal of moving clients onto the path towards skilled employment and higher education. The program is a controlled study and results will be evaluated 1 year after release.
For more information contact Nick Horton, 9 Yards program coordinator, at 401-781-5808 ext. 127 or nhorton@opendoorsri.org
- Most programs just work in one risk area and do not address all risk factors. 9 Yards provides a large amount of support in all risk areas, including education, employment, housing, behavioral therapy, mentoring, and addiction treatment.
- Most programs just work in prison or outside of prison. 9 Yards provides support with continuity, working for 9 months in prison and at least 6 months after release.
- Most programs work with the easy to serve. 9 Yards follows the well proven principle that reentry programs should work with high risk individuals, not low risk ones, to have the best chance of preventing future incarceration. The program criteria was developed to hone in on people that need support but also have the potential to succeed.
- Most programs do not take advantage of incarceration. While incarcerated, people have a lot of time to begin the process of change. 9 Yards demands that they put that time to use and provides them the tools to do that.