The needs of the more than 11,000 state prison inmates released in Alabama annually are so great that the state can’t meet them, and neither can the churches called on for help by Gov. Bob Riley, says the Birmingham News. A new partnership between the state and the faith community will focus on turning around the lives of about 1,000 newly released inmates a year, or about 9 percent of the total.
The Community Partnership for Recovery and Reentry will try to identify inmates who have the best chance of benefiting from aid, and will refer them to churches and other participating organizations. The churches have been asked to provide services ranging from housing and child care to cash assistance as part of the program announced by Riley in March.
Link: http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1215591432104140.xml&coll=2