For some inmates returning to society, “maintaining sobriety and a crime-free life may be all that they can accomplish,” says Melissa Alexander, a Missouri federal court administrator who evaluated the Kansas Treatment Re-Entry Assistance Court (KAN-TRAC). The court in Wichita is one of about two dozen federal programs designed to help people stay out of prison once their sentence ends, helping federal convicts integrate into society, reports the Wichita Eagle.
The one-year program, which started in 2006, is voluntary and subjects participants to intense supervision and strict rules. One participant, convicted of possessing a firearm while trafficking drugs, was sentenced to five years in prison and three years probation. “Having a job has not been a part of my life,” he told a judge. Now, he wants to help support his family as his wife goes to school. Annelies Snook of the federal probation office pointed the man to a company that had been hiring people on probation. Employers can get state tax credits for hiring convicted felons and qualify for free insurance to protect them against losses including by theft, forgery, or embezzlement.