- Funding for a call to CARE has been provided by ESSA bank and trust and the Weiler Family Foundation.

Additional funding provided by the Monroe County Bar Association.

(melancholy music) - My father was in and out of prison and I ended up cooking crystal meth with him for about 10 years.

- I was in the street, like I was heavily in the streets.

That's all I used to do.

I used to sell weed all the time.

I was always a hustler and that's all, I that's all I knew, that's all I did.

- I got my neck slit.

Someone did try to kill me.

And then after that I went to jail.

- You come home, you have been disconnected with society.

So you got to re-adapt to everything in life, living life on terms.

- Good people who have made bad mistakes, horrible mistakes.

- Folks who go to prison, get out, can't adjust and go back.

If there was a way we could stop just one, it would be worth it.

- All people deserve this second chance, and this is where they find it.

- They were victims of the system themselves.

And this was a way to have part of the system, do something about it.

- Generally, we're going to be dealing with the defendant, who's had a lengthy criminal history.

They've already been convicted multiple times in state court, in the lower courts, before they become a target of a federal investigation.

(car passes by) - I remember when I first heard about cocaine, not cocaine, crack, and I was in junior high school.

On the way to school, a guy walked up to a friend of mine, the friend of mine, his brother's into all kinds of stuff, but we're younger.

And he asked him, because he knew him from his brother.

He said, "yo, you got your crack?"

He's like, "yeah, it's in the house."

And I'm thinking we in like eighth, ninth grade.

W-what the hell is crack?

You know what I mean?

He showed me, he got the $5 from the guy, cause it was just $5.

And so, you know what?

I'm doing The same thing.

I wasn't good at it though, not in Philly.

- I came from a very good family.

So I embarrassed everybody.

I remember everybody in my family secret squirreled, my grandfather's newspaper away because it said facing up to 20 years in prison.

(jazz music) - The people I grew up with, we was caught up in a lifestyle.

You know, it was hard to get out of the relationship when you trap.

- For so many years, since I was a kid, I was used to in and out of institutions, doing drugs, flop houses, the lifestyle that I was in that for the most part, I chose.

- A lot of us, when we're in our addictions, or in our criminal lifestyle.

We, we get attached to people that do... are doing the same as we are.

And there's a connection made there and you just get so used to it.

- You find excuses on why it's okay for you specifically, right?

- Like it's wrong to sell drugs, but you know, I'm doing it because I'm doing it for my family.

And you know, stupidly.

- A friend of mine, she was selling drugs.

When my money went down low enough, I was telling her something.

And she said, "Well, you, you want to get in?"

Thought you'd never ask?

(police siren sounds) - The Feds caught up with me.

- I was incarcerated for smoking marijuana and purchasing firearms, illegally.

- Conspiracy to distribute with intention, to distribute cocaine, crack cocaine, and heroin.

- Conspiracy to possess and deliver alpha-PVP, which was bath salts.

- I tried to sell drugs and I paid the price.

- I did about 18 months federal time.

And when I got out, they asked me if I wanted to be part of a CARE court program.

(somber music) - The experiences I had as a sentencing judge, I was always concerned for the well-being not only of victims, but the people who appeared in front of us for sentencing.

Especially those who were caught up in an addiction and who had made bad mistakes.

Whose lives were such that as it unfolded, made sense because they had no family support growing up.

They grew up in foster care.

- The way the public usually learns about a person who has committed a crime is through media accounts on television or in the newspaper.

They don't learn in news accounts about the life that these particular people have lived.

- If we were all judged on, on our worst day, you're judged on the worst thing we've done.

We'd all be in trouble.

- It can go so badly, so quickly.

When people get out of prison, they generally don't have any support system.

- Here's a four-year break where everything in your life is gone, it goes away.

And that's what prison is for people.

It means you have your money... is gone.

Maybe that the house, if you had one is gone.

- They have the same problems that anybody who's abruptly removed and then reinserted later, What do I do about a driver's license?

What do I do about a job?

What do I do about a place to live?

Who are my friends?

- We want these individuals to reenter society.

They're in the process of reentering society and they need to stand on their own two feet at the end of the day.

- It's just very difficult for people trying to reintegrate, even if they have the best intentions.

So what happens?

And the recidivism rates bear this out.

Is most people re-offend within a very short period of time because that's all they know how to do.

And that's all they can do to survive.

- In March of 2009, the middle district Pennsylvania court units got together and decided to come up with a re-entry court.

There were judges around the country, starting these re-entry courts and I learned about this at an educational program for judge, federal judges I had attended and talk to our chief judge at the time Yvette Kane.

She had also received information and had already started down the path.

- And we saw people coming out after decades in prison, lost everything that they had built before they went into, prison was gone.

And they were just beside themselves trying to figure out how to start over.

So we had a really high rate of recidivism as much as 65% among some offenders.

So a number of us were trying to figure out what we could do.

- The state courts have done a good job, particularly here in Pennsylvania with DUI courts and drug courts and veterans courts.

This is a model that works.

It's court assisted re-entry.

- The program is designed to help people who are leaving prison and reintegrate them into society.

- To help people.

When they first come out, particularly after serious sentences to re-acclimate, into become responsible members of the community.

- We give them that little pep-talk at time of sentencing, but then what do we do to follow through?

And that was my concern that we weren't doing enough to follow through.

- You hear the phrase, you know, well, he's paid his debt to society and he's out and that's it.

But to someone who is served a jail term and come out of prison, that's, that's not it.

- Look, we're going to protect society.

We're going to try to get victims made whole, and we're going to lock up the people that need to be locked up, but when it's time for them to get out it behooves all of us to make sure that they can do that successfully and not re-offend.

That's the goal.

- The model of the paradigm that we follow is a team approach that consists of, of a judge, prosecutor, federal public defender, probation officers, and court staff.

- Everybody in the program is a volunteer.

So we're volunteers on the court side and the participants are all people who have chosen to participate.

They've made a commitment to try to make it this time.

And some of them have failed in the past, but they, they're committed.

- An inmate goes from prison to a halfway house.

Now, while they're in the halfway house, they're still under the jurisdiction of the bureau of prisons.

- And we have this thing called supervised release.

When a man or woman finishes their prison sentence minimum, they become eligible to be returned to the community.

And they go back to the original sentencing judge who supervises them in the local community.

And the idea is that we'll have a better sense of who the person is and what the person needs.

- There term of supervised release is cut a third, if they complete the program successfully.

Some people come in just for that reason, they want to get off supervised release early.

Some people surprisingly, they don't care about that.

They want to meet their goals, whether it takes them three years or five years.

- The judges involved, the probation department is involved.

The prosecutor is involved.

The public defender is involved.

Virtually everyone who was involved in sending them to prison.

- And it's an interesting concept because criminal prosecutions in particular is an adversary system.

- You have people here who are sitting in this room, looking at a judge that made the decision they were going to go to jail and looking at the prosecutor who fought for them to go to jail.

And then their probation officer who's basically babysitting them or monitoring them constantly.

- That's tough.

And you know, I can recall, and an individual coming into our program and our, the prosecutor who prosecuted him, it was tough at the time.

- You put me in a program that's supposed to help me.

I'm supposed to believe now that you're trying to help me.

Yet, you sitting me in a program with my judge and my prosecutor.

- When we're in that room, those roles shift, and we become a team that collaborates and supports and cares about one another.

- It takes a little while for them to understand that we are genuine and that this is not another prison program.

This is reintegration into our community with assistance from the community.

So they are seeing individuals who are stepping up who want to be mentors for them.

- Before I began the program, I was Rotarian and Harrisburg and learned that there are significant contributions that they can make.

And they were just waiting in the wings, waiting to be asked.

- We believe in serving the community and serving people.

And it was one of the, one of the service projects that rotary developed.

- I saw something that was local and something that I felt it was needed because I felt that individuals need a second shot.

- I thought it was so important for the program participants who are leaving prison.

People who read that indictment and said, it's the people, it's the United States versus the individual to feel like the community is forgiving them and welcoming them back and extending a hand to help them readjust.

- When we talk about one what's going on with us, and we have problems 9 times out of 10, one of the people from the community, they might come up and say, "listen, I can help you with that."

- And there isn't a problem that is brought to us that somebody can't handle.

Karen Snyder began her work as a social worker and ultimately became the secretary of public welfare.

She was the first person I went to when I decided that the program was missing that one human component, Karen Snyder got dental care for people.

We had a young woman in the program who was losing her job because she couldn't carry the heavy trays in the restaurant where she worked.

Karen talked to her and decided she has a back problem.

She called a friend of hers at one of the major hospital systems and demanded that this young woman get an MRI and all of the medical treatment that she needed.

And she was back at work in a matter of weeks, the federal bar association that works very closely with our court has a Karen Snyder fund.

The lawyers are able to donate to that organization.

And when our participants get to a place where they have a special need that we can't otherwise assist with, that's the go-to fund for them.

For a special transportation need, or we've had people who are out on the street, literally because they can't pay the rent.

That's what the Karen Snyder fund does for them.

We miss her a lot and, and the other mentors really have followed up and followed in her shoes.

- And a lot of them think of the, of the judicial structure and think that we're part of the judicial structure.

We're not a part of the jud... we're a support to the judicial structure.

- I tell them about my experience and I think parts of my experience, they can identify with, you know, the community that you grew up in.

And when I say grow, I grew up in the projects, okay.

But my parents always said, "You're going to college."

And every kid does not get that type of support for one reason or another.

- And we're trying to help them navigate their lives.

So they become productive citizens, again.

The second chance.

- Mentor, we'll talk to the participants, try to reach out to them, to let them know.

There's honest way of doing things.

- For some of these men and women, this will be the first time in their adult life that they have met more than once with another adult where they weren't planning a crime.

- People, make decisions for a lot of reasons.

And I'm not going to go there.

I'm saying, "Hey, this decision was made.

How can we help you?"

And how can you help yourself?

(busy street sounds) - I was brought in on an individual's conspiracy.

Drug conspiracy, did not see how the whole association and conspiracy, how one is easily tied to an ongoing concern until it actually happened.

This case kind of had very little to do with me and any alleged drug activity.

But a man, one must be wise enough to know that when you look in the mirror, you can lie to anybody, anyone, even your mom, if you put a straight face on.

So when you're looking at a mirror, you know, you had, you have to deal with those realities.

I said, listen, man, you have not given yourself the best chance to succeed, survive, or elevate.

I didn't sign up to be in prison or to have to try to face the government and a federal indictment and to prove my innocence.

I wasn't so humble in the very beginning, I was angry.

My sentence was 360 months.

My release date was 2027.

When I went into the law library, I seen a group of men and they were older gentlemen.

They were all in unbeknownst to myself for life or sentences that were tantamount to life.

And they referred to themselves as the firm.

I said, I was wondering if I can get a little guidance on challenging a conviction and sentence.

You're sentence stays the same, unless you can convince the United States court of appeals for the third circuit that you are correct.

And the government and its opposition, a challenge is wrong.

John Watson versus the United States of America, United States Chief US district court judge, Yvette Kane.

She heard the case.

I had those convictions, overturned indictment dismissed.

As my sentence went from 360 months to 46 months.

She said, Mr. Watson, maybe there are individuals like you, who may not have the knowledge to have learned the law, the knowledge to have done what you were capable of doing.

It was important that it did not end there.

(inspiring music) - John Watson, who's my little cousin, stepping into the community doing the things that he's doing now, owning his own businesses, and then reciprocating back into the community, giving back and mentoring also young people there in Pennsylvania.

His growth has meant so much to the family and particularly to himself.

(inspiring music continues) - I am on the back end of my bachelor of science in criminal justice, illegal studies.

I have an associates of applied science in paralegal studies.

I am a certified family recovery specialist.

I am owner of a business that was there to help individuals that didn't speak English as a first idiom (inspiring music continues) There's more of a community thing going now in the world than ever before.

And we must be inclined to do our part as individuals, you know, and that's what this thing's all about.

To have had the opportunity to meet Judge Vanaskie, Judge Kane, a USA William Houser, to put myself in the proper position to help other individuals.

(inspiring music) I believe it's my calling, I believe it's all of our calling (inspiring music) - Everyone comes together as a group.

The way we do it in Scranton is that we sit around the conference room table.

- It's sort of like a focus group session or a therapy session group therapy session, judge Mahal, check calls on a person and say, "Hey, how are you doing?"

What's happened in the last month?

- Harrisburg court is a little bit more formal.

We hold the court in the courtroom where many of these people were actually sentenced.

- And In Williamsport, we do a hybrid.

We meet in a conference room and I wear my robe.

- If there's been anything, that's been a challenge to them, where they're at, in trying to meet their goals.

- The opportunity for the participant to explain to the judge or the CARE team, what maybe is, you know, their struggles or maybe their successes, because too often judges only hear about the bad things.

But we, as a team, we'd like to hear about the good things too.

- And a lot of that is just based on how comfortable they are.

They share things that maybe they don't want to tell the probation officer.

They'll come to court and share a family problem or a financial problem.

- You know, if someone has children and the children have been sick, they're sort of day to day struggles that we might talk about as a group.

- If there's something negative or something, that's an obstacle we're trying to get them that help, whether it be something we can do within the team or within the mentors or going to an outside agency and making a connection for them.

- I think the intimacy of the way we do things helps.

And I think that when you meet with someone on a regular basis, you can begin to see them as a human being.

- It's really easy to look at someone who committed a crime and just think criminal.

Or to look at someone who is addicted to drugs and just think addict.

- And when you can see them as a human being, and that works both ways, that's for the participants and for the team members, you see somebody as a human being, it's much easier to relate, much easier to develop trust.

- We'll help them as long as they want to help themselves.

There has to be the incentive to help yourself.

You have to accept responsibility for what you've done and what you're going to do going forward, no matter how difficult the obstacles are.

- When they are released, we talk to them and say, you know, this is a voluntary program.

It's up to you.

You have a job to do I have a job to do, let's get there together.

- I'm glad I said, yeah, I almost said no, but like I said, I'm institutionalized and I'm not used to telling these people in authority, no.

You know what I mean?

So even though I had the option to say, "nah, I really don't want to do it."

I said, "you know what?

I could try to do this on my own, or I can accept the help" and I accepted the help.

It was really just as simple as accepting the help and not wanting to go back.

- And everybody's different way, right?

Like everybody had their own path in life and what they were trying to accomplish.

And I felt like CARE court really kept you focused on that.

- If I don't have the education, if I don't have the, you know, the trade, if I don't have these things that are available for other people, you know what I mean?

I had that when I went to job Corps, I got a certificate in brick masonry.

I actually did that.

I do it in jail.

I go to jail and I'm a brick layer.

You know what I mean?

I came home.

I was a drug dealer.

That's how it was.

- Having a record, it's a little harder to get a well-paying jobs to get out on my own.

- When you're first coming home from prison and you're stressed out about yet another job saying, "oh, you can't, we can't hire you until 2021."

And you're like, "oh God, it's 2016."

What are you talking about?

That's hard to deal with.

It's not easy.

- We have to help them find gainful employment and then employment that can be a stepping stone to something better.

- When I was in New York, I, I worked for UPS, was making a very decent salary and I came to Pennsylvania.

I got persuaded by some people that I thought were my friends to get involved in some things that I shouldn't have gone, mainly delivering packages.

And it kind of grew from there.

So totally my fault.

I mean, I don't blame anybody.

I ultimately made the decision to get myself involved in that.

But if I really think about to the root cause it was, it was definitely the money issue.

I didn't want to start from, from the bottom.

And then, you know what?

This situation has taught me that I had to start from the bottom anyway, later in life, you know?

So.

- Dennis came out of prison and went to the halfway house and got a job at a local factory meat plant place that anyone in a halfway house could get.

- I was first released on a Tuesday.

On Wednesday, I went to a temp service.

They sent me over here.

I started as a temp and I just knew that this is something that I can be good at.

I work for a company called Crowd Cow, online e-commerce service for high-end meat, organic meat.

And I'm a manager of fulfillment.

- He worked hard there.

He stuck out.

He eventually just kept getting promoted.

- And Dennis said that he wanted more.

He wanted to catch up on missed time, missed opportunities.

- Continue to move forward progressively and not look backwards.

Always remember, you know, but not go backwards.

- I never asked Dennis what he did, what his crime was.

Wasn't important.

What was important was what he said in that first meeting, which was, he had a family that he wanted to take care of.

He wanted to make up for that lost time.

And he wanted the opportunity.

- My wife, she's amazing.

She always knew I was going to be okay.

And especially with all the programs I've taken, my son is older, he's 15.

So he kind of saw the whole transition and you know, I'm his father and he loves me.

And I'm sure he's disappointed in the decisions I made, but he's happy that I, I've changed.

Like I've ultimately came home and try to make a, you know, a positive out of a negative basically.

And my daughters are young, she's seven.

So she was like, you know, not even one years old when the whole situation happened.

So she thinks, just thinks that daddy was on timeout for doing something wrong... yeah.

CARE court kept me solid.

You know, "Hey, keep doing what you're doing.

Keep being patient.

Stay positive."

And it was true man.

I mean, every step of the way, every time I, I gained another inch, I always remembered, you know, like Mark in the back of my head, "I told you, man, just stay positive.

Keep doing it, keep doing everything you're doing."

And he was ultimately right.

- The big part that Dennis does, is he gives back.

Dennis is the person that is now carrying on the legacy of giving back and bringing people on and giving that second chance.

- Being in my position, I get to do the hiring as well.

And I do have a few people that have been second chances and they've been phenomenal.

What's most important to me is trying to touch lives, you know, pay it forward.

You know, who can I help?

You know, who can I give the little help to say, "Hey man, you can get through this just a little bit more time.

You know, you can get through this."

I'm about to make three years being home officially.

And if you would've told me three years ago that I'd be where I am today, I would've never believed you.

No matter what, I would not have believed it.

- The adjustment from prison to community after you've served your sentence is much more difficult than the adjustment going from the community to prison.

- Once upon a time, that was the only place that I could survive at.

That's the only place that I felt comfortable at.

That's the only place that I was happy.

And at peace when I was in jail.

- You know where your next meal is coming from.

You know where you're sleeping every night, someone's telling you where to be, what to do.

And at what time.

- Prison itself is a separate social and economic environment.

And we use an, an Arabic term enjoying (Arabic) We enjoy in the right, we go against the wrong.

So many factions, many groups, you know, whether it be the bloods, the crips, the vice Lords, a gangster deciphers, they agreed.

There should be certain rules and lines drawn where individuals are able to live or co-exist amongst one another in a situation that we were more or less forced to live with.

- It goes quick.

It might not go quick to people out here, but in there... cause everything is routine.

You know, you wake up at a certain time.

You go to work at a certain time and you go to eat at a certain time.

You go to yard at a certain time, you go to bed at a certain time.

You know, everything is routine.

- You see people doing that for 5, 10, 15 years.

They become so used to that, that now the thought of coming out of prison and being on your own is extremely overwhelming.

- There's no growth in there.

You can't better yourself.

All you sit around is be, and be mad at the world.

Be mad at yourself.

There's nothing in there that can help you get out of that mindset.

You just stew in your sorrows.

And then all of a sudden you go home.

- Sometimes plans are sort of sketchy about what supports they'll have being charged and convicted of a federal crime.

Often serving a very long prison sentence, which may or may not have been rehabilitative in any important sense.

- I felt as though a few of the people in there didn't want to better themselves.

They wanted to just to stay stagnant and stay where they are.

Cause I guess their life was doing good for them before.

So they wanted to continue that same lifestyle.

- And as soon as they get out, they plan on going.

right back to where they where.

- It is easy to lose sight.

Once you come home, I noticed that, you know, especially the first six months to a year, it's like once you're comfortable being home, then that's where you kinda like fall off of where you want to go in life on your path and CARE court definitely brought you back.

I feel like every week, if you had a bad week, you know, work was (bleep), home was (bleep), that kinda like, you know, you got to tell, talk about your feelings.

Maybe you got pointed into a few different directions and you stayed on track.

And that's really what I liked.

- Imagine going into jail at 22 years old and coming out at 40.

- We've had individuals who have come back into our program and said, when I went to prison, the iPhone didn't exist for all this technology didn't exist.

Can you imagine coming out and not seeing all these advances?

So there has to be some sort of reprogramming.

And, but there also has to be some sort of safety net someplace where they can interact with others who are in the same situation as they are.

- It's like a family, it's a family that's been through the same trials and tribulations that I have been in.

- And it really is a community.

And that's what so many people are lacking, when they come out.

(jazz music) - Before I got arrested, I was living a life without structure, a life with no rules, a life that was either going to end me up in jail or dead.

And I winded up in jail.

So I was charged with manufacturing and funneling drugs from New York city to Pennsylvania.

(soulful vocals) - I have a mom, well I had a mom, my sisters and my parents live in New York.

So it was like, she didn't really know.

Until it was that call, like, "Hey, I'm in prison."

- Siquana got involved with the criminal justice system at a young age.

She was in and out of prison a few times.

- I came home and I was one of the first people to start CARE court.

And I was in CARE court.

I was doing pretty good.

And then we'll be like, you know, hanging out and getting along me and expressing ourselves and getting help.

And you know, then I just drifted away.

I started dating someone, picked up all my bad habits again, which was like moving too fast.

Not thinking using drugs, wanting to party, wanting to hang out, not sleeping.

Up, up, up, up, up.

So I would be, you know, alone crying and seeking drugs, trying to get high.

- Shortly after that, she did get in trouble again and actually ended up back in prison.

- Within 62 days of me losing contact with CARE court, I got arrested.

I didn't even last long.

- She served her revocation, her violation of supervision and came back and came immediately back to the CARE court program.

Asked for a second chance in the CARE court program.

We discussed that as a team, and we, we decided to let her back in.

- You know, I messed up and not one person mentioned it, you know?

And I know I've disappointed a lot of people when I was in CARE court the first time, but I was given an opportunity with a clean slate to, to move forward.

They help you get your goals accomplished.

You want to get an apartment.

You want to get healthcare.

You want to get food stamps.

You want to get a job.

- Siquana since she joined the second time, has really flourished.

She, she found what I think is her calling, which is being a commercial truck driver.

- I got my CDL license class A.

(soulful music) - I tell her she's crazy.

I could never do that.

But that's her calling.

- My grandfather was a truck driver and my mother's youngest brother was a truck driver.

And so she was like, you know, that's good.

You know, this really good.

It's going to keep you in the right track.

Keep you traveling, you know, let you see the world, meet different people, you know, and just be careful.

Be careful, be careful.

So she's like, be careful, be careful.

My mom, she passed away in December and she travels with me.

She's like my guardian angel, she keeps me safe.

Keeps me company so I'll be like, "listen mom, this is your song."

And I'll turn it up real loud for her.

(soulful music continues) - You can see a change in her from the first time around.

- It's just so many positives, was those that you get from this program.

If you want it, you have to want it.

- They were really trying as hard as they could to get back on their feet.

And all they needed was somebody to open up the door and just a very small way for them.

If you're not taking care of your citizens, that chance of recidivism is greater.

And putting folks back in the jail is a costly exercise for society.

We put together the first private public partnership in a re-entry program in the United States.

It was unknown as to what role a bank might play in a re-entry program.

But as judge Vananskie went around the room and talked to each of the participants and there were probably 10 participants at the table, five participants all had the same problems.

I can't get access to credit.

I can't get a checking account at my bank.

I can't get a credit card.

I can't get a debit card.

I was sitting across the room and judge Vananskie yelled across the room to me, "Hey Gary, do you hear the problems these folks are having?"

And I said, "yes, judge.

I do."

And he said, "do you think you can help them?"

and shot back at him, "Yes, I think we can help."

- Most banks are not interested in lending money to convicted felons for obvious reasons, but we think our people are worth taking a chance on.

- And so we put this program together that would provide small loans to re-entry folks that would help them buy a car, get some education, find housing.

- In order for that offender to qualify.

They need to complete a financial class.

- It's tough for somebody who's been out for a long time to understand how it is that you would open a bank account and how you would open a savings account?

And what do you need to borrow money?

- I get in contact with the participant and we schedule the financial literacy training.

- So I talk to the, you know, the CARE court they sent me over to interview with the lady from the bank.

She came out, she got on the computer, went to some classes.

- Once that's done.

Then we arrange for whatever the need is for.

90% of them are usually car loans.

They need transportation to and from work.

- I was able to get a loan through their bank and you're able to get, I think it might depend, but up to $15,000.

- And not only did she get a car, but she paid it off on time as promised.

We also have a relationship with the Eastern district court now, and they have a program called the STAR program.

So the CARE program is in the middle district.

The STAR program is in the Eastern district and we do have a relationship with them as well.

- You know, we all know how hard it is when an unexpected expense hits us.

But for someone who has next to nothing, is coming out of prison.

If their car breaks down and all of a sudden they can't make it to work, not only does that mean that they might lose their job, having a job and maintaining employment is a term of their supervisor lease.

It's a term of their probationary period.

So now they've got that added stress that if I can't get to work and I get fired, I may end up going back to jail.

- If someone is facing a financial hardship, having that ability may prevent them from feeling so desperate that they end up relapsing.

- These people were really trying to figure out how they could make a go of it, trying to get back on their feet, trying to become responsible members of the community, productive members of their communities and find their way back into society.

- When you give people those types of opportunities, you know, they're, well-intentioned, they want to change their life.

It can put them on a trajectory of, you know, being a really a productive member of society.

- I was a single parent.

I was going to college and I was a member of narcotics anonymous.

And I had like five and a half years clean, but I started feeling about the lifestyle and I started doing things within the lifestyle.

And that was like selling drugs.

- That happens a lot.

And you know, I I've been doing this.

I've been a probation officer, 20 years.

It nothing's personal.

I get it.

They get out, sell drugs, they're back in the lifestyle.

- It was something that everybody did.

You know what I mean?

It was just snow, Philadelphia, you know, not everybody, but 80% either sold or used.

- We're all humans.

And we do stumble.

There's a young man who was involved with CARE, creating his own business.

We even helped him with the University of Scranton, the small business center, helping giving him help with his business plan and things like that.

Unfortunately, he, he also went down a different path and is now back in, in incarcerated.

- Do I believe that they are worthy of a second chance?

Absolutely.

Are they able to accept that second chance?

Absolutely.

Will they all succeed?

No.

- We had one fellow who I thought he's doing all the things we need to do right up until I got the call that he had been involved in an armed robbery in Youngstown.

Where he and another fellow got in a car and went over to rip off a drug dealer and got caught.

- We had one guy who was doing really well.

He was working two jobs.

He had goals.

He was back with his girlfriend.

He was doing great.

Couple of months later, he was arrested by the local police.

And he had a cooler full of marijuana and a shotgun in his house laying right next to his baby's crib.

Did that bother me?

Yeah.

Bothered me.

But this is, this is our job and we have to move on.

- That doesn't mean we're going to quit because one guy didn't make it.

- It's common to see someone that had a drug issue before they were incarcerated to maybe get involved with drug trafficking.

- You see a large percentage of the people from, from my perspective, anyway, that they're, they're dealing with drug addictions, but that's maybe more like a symptom than the actual problem.

- When life starts to get stressful again, when the things that happen in families start to happen, that is their coping mechanism to the stressors of life.

And so once you're outside, you then often have access to those things, again.

- I wanted to get out of it, but I was just so deep into it.

My depression fueled my addiction, my addiction fueled my depression.

And I just couldn't seem to get myself out of it.

I didn't know how to get myself out of it at the time.

I was just so far deep into it that I just, just let it all go.

- I was running around hotel room to hotel room and living that kind of life where you're constantly looking over your shoulder.

Your friends are no longer your friends.

You're in a room with 50 people, but you never feel so alone because once the drugs and the money are gone, so are they.

- Probably about 12, 13 years I used before I got in trouble and went away and was able to get myself back together.

That's a long time though, so the damage was done.

And thankfully, once I came home, I was able to recompose myself and start over again.

- The bureau of prisons does a great job of treating alcohol and drug dependent people while they're incarcerated.

They do a great job while they're at the halfway house of running classes.

- R-DAP, I was in the R-DAP program, which helped me start thinking a little bit more rationally rather than trying to escape reality and not deal with my problems.

- Almost all of our participants are drug-related crimes or drug-related convictions.

And most of them are in some sort of counseling already as terms of their supervised release and what CARE court can do, what we're really good at doing is partnering with community organizations that help ease the types of events that might cause a person with an addiction to be facing a relapse because of some stress in their life.

- Another group that we partner with is Pyramid healthcare.

They're able to do a drug and alcohol assessment on people.

- Yeah, if you take a look at somebody that's in treatment with us for 30 to 60 days, we're able to really limit some of those stressors that they would have out in the community.

And then the minute that they're leaving, there's some anxiety associated with leaving treatment and going back out into the community and that recidivism rate goes up and, you know, they could potentially be re-incarcerated.

So it just drives down the possibility of them being successful.

- Often, addiction is kind of a substitute for proper mental health care.

So we see a lot of drug use used to self-medicate.

- It's hard to treat the mental health disorder and the substance abuse.

Sorry, you can't, you've got to treat them both in order to have some success, long-term success.

- If you don't treat both of them, it's, you're just going to be that gerbil on the wheel and never get off of it.

- You don't know what someone's trigger might be.

That might cause a relapse.

And so to the extent we can provide supports with them, that they can avoid that and make your life a little easier.

I think that's one of the really great things about our program.

- I had a relapse, I think my, within my first year of doing the CARE program.

- I think in her mind at first, she knew that a relapse was inevitable.

- It happens.

And I was so nervous and I regretted it so much.

And I don't, even to this day, know why I let it happen, but I did.

And believe it or not, my PO was the first person I called.

- She never felt like she had to hide anything from me or the group.

- When I did it, the feelings I had, the people I was with, it was just like, I picked up right from where I left off.

And it wasn't a good feeling.

- The program is only going to work for you, if you're honest about what's going on in life.

If you're struggling, you need to say, "Hey, I'm struggling.

What can you do to help me?

And how can I help myself?"

- What she may have lacked in self-confidence at the time she, she made up for in, in knowing that we had her best interests in mind.

- Back up and move on from it.

And I've been good since.

So I'm happy.

- You pick up the phone and call your probation officer or you call your counselor or you call whoever you need to, to try to get the support you need so that you don't end up using again.

- The basic building blocks for an individual who has just been discharged from prison and is now on supervised release are number one, housing, stable housing.

- When you ain't got nowhere to live, you going to do some things.

They don't like people with criminal records, especially a criminal record like mines.

So I was having problems, finding an apartment.

- Lackawanna county housing authority was able to get a group of apartments, put aside just for the CARE participants.

- And one of the guys, he said, "You already having problems?"

And I said, "yeah," he said, "we'll help you" because they were there and they helped me.

- Creating safe havens, clean environment for individuals to realistically be able to survive in.

This is some of my trucks and work trucks parked different places, being a certified plumber and carpenter.

It allows me to kind of like see things on, you know, ground level.

We're working on the Beatrice house.

I'll take you through and show you some of the efforts that we've made to date.

Each living area has a different dimension.

There'll be 14 women here.

With the space and everything along allows us to have more but 14 was a good number.

Our 501-C3 is sober women assistance program, geared towards parenting, drug and alcohol dependency, and their education.

So GED preparation has always been a component that's there.

One thing kind of like ties into the other because it's about re-entry now.

- Housing, a job, being able to interact with people.

I mean, it's, it's not no one thing particular.

- Because of our ability to have public private partnerships, our individuals have benefits that others coming out of prison don't receive.

- North Hampton community college, then my employer agreed that we would be part of this consortium to provide support services, to individuals who are participants in the CARE program.

- They have the resources to get you connected with somebody that will help you with that.

- Advising counseling, financial aid, career services, and tutoring and things like that.

- I'm going to Lackawanna college, business administration.

- Higher education is recognizing that it's incumbent upon them to reach out and help individuals who are emerging from incarceration.

- As an educator, I believe that part of our responsibility is to provide uplift for individuals.

- It's a matter of the participants, recognizing that there is some value in getting engaged in a, in a learning situation.

- Lot of times, if a student is not successful in college and go back to the community and they don't have much opportunities, sometimes some of them go in the wrong direction.

- But they want to further their education.

If they're looking at trying to get into some sort of different degree program or a different line of work that may help them better themselves.

- From program to different schools, Johnson's college.

I went to Johnson's college to be a welder, and I went through CARE court.

- The more education you have, the more likely you are to be a good citizen of the community in which you live, the more likely you are to be a contributing member of your community.

And it also helps us as a society, understand that we all come with different aspects, different perspectives, and it's incumbent upon us to learn how to work with each other and how to be supportive of each other while still recognizing we all may not agree on things.

- Gina started getting in trouble later in life.

She already had a high school diploma.

She already had a bachelor's degree.

- Graduated with my bachelor's degree in healthcare administration got married, got a divorce.

When I got divorced, I kind of went a little crazy on drugs and alcohol.

I got two DUIs out in the New York Jersey area came back to the area in my 40s and relapsed into the cocaine.

And it was a rough relapse for five years.

And then I wound up with my federal charges, conspiracy to drug trafficking.

- She had very little when she was arrested and went to prison.

And when she came out, she had a lot to deal with.

- There were times that I didn't want to go on with my life anymore.

I remember when I first got incarcerated in 2013, that I wish I was dead.

Like there were times I would sit in that jail cell and look for a place to hang myself.

During my addiction, I stayed away from my mom.

She stayed away from me.

I remember when I was in prison, I got a card at, a letter at one time that said, I have two children, not three.

Take care, Barbara.

You know, she stopped sending me "love mom" while I was in jail.

My heart just shattered.

And I knew at that point, that's when I needed to change.

- When you go to prison with nothing at rock bottom spent several years there and then are expected to come out and start picking up the pieces, that becomes very difficult.

- That's where the CARE court program really came into play because it was a huge support system for me coming out of federal prison.

- So Gina's, needs were very specific.

I need to appear in court in New Jersey.

I need to start paying off this fine, which I can not afford.

I needed to start paying off these Pennsylvania fines, which I cannot afford.

Just to get my driver's license.

From there, I need to get a car, from there I need to get a job.

- And it's like, I can't do this.

How am I going to do this?

And then you just, you take it one day at a time, you know, you just have to do it.

And sometimes you have to break it down to one second at a time.

- She was deliberate in her, in her goals.

And she started checking them off one by one.

- I said to myself, okay, you have a bachelor's degree and I want to succeed.

So that's when I chose to go to Penn state.

CARE Courts to help pay for the class at Penn state.

And I pay, they paid half and I pay the other half and I went and became a certified recovery specialist.

I'm really grateful to Scranton counseling for giving me the chance of getting back into the workforce.

Now, working at CleanSlate, I'll be working in Scranton counseling part-time and the Radisson part-time.

So I'll have three jobs.

So I'm now a workaholic, I guess you could say.

- I can tell she's she's going to be all right.

- It's one step at a time, right?

- It's very helpful.

When someone is new to see someone graduating.

- I've been dealing with this for so long that it's like a big part of my life.

That when they actually, when he actually told me that I was graduating, this was just like, I'll believe it when I see it.

- We make it a big deal.

We get up and say something and the judge always pulls out the goals and says, here, here's what you handed me on the first day.

Here's what we did to get you there.

- I'm standing up there at the podium.

And the judge is like talking to me and saying how impressed she was.

Proud of me, of what I did, and I'm just like a thousand things going through my head right now.

Like, is this really happening right now?

Like, am I really about to be done with everything.

- They can move on from perhaps seeing themselves as someone on the other side of the United States of America, right?

They were once the United States of America versus whoever they were, but that's over now.

- We have a three-stage program.

And at each step along the way, they get this challenge coin.

And it's the U S attorney who gives it out and rewards them and applauds the progress that they've made.

- A thousand people want to tell you, no, you only need one person to say, yes, that's all you need.

- My prosecutor, who was part of my CARE court.

He took like a new assignment where he went to like another country and they kind of have a celebration for him.

And that was like amazing for me because he gave me such a speech before he left.

You know, like he said, he remembered me from day one, you know, from when I was arrested.

To like always now, I mean, he almost had me in tears.

I'm not gonna lie.

It felt good.

You know.

- I've been going to the camp for the past couple of years at Lewisburg to talk about CARE court and I never use your names, but I talk about all of the things you're overcoming.

And that's when the inmates really listened.

And you guys are inspiring all of them and all of us as well I just wanted you to know that.

- It creates an amazing foundation when you first get out of jail to have people.

I mean, let's, let's face it.

A federal judge is you don't get much better than that.

If they're rooting for you.

- I know I'm not going back to the jail.

I couldn't say that before.

It was like, yeah, if it happens, it happens, you know, you know, I'll be all right, but now I know I'm not going back.

- But if I'm with somebody and trying to show them how to stay out of jail, that moment I'm staying out of jail.

- People have actually come back to me and said, thank you for your experience and strength and a hope because without it, I wouldn't have gotten sober.

And I wouldn't have gotten the help that I need it.

- To all of the people that are really trying to pull their lives together after being incarcerated.

It's a wonderful thing to be where you are today.

And it's a thankful thing.

- Everybody counts and I don't believe anybody is perfect.

I believe that we strive to be perfect.

- The way I was living was killing me.

And I would have been in a grave by 30.

Now I plan on being able to grow and see my daughter and have kids, and the normal lifestyle is fine by me.

- No, they had programs and only thing people were doing.

It was lip service, but I come here and I, and I hate to say it sometimes that these people really do help you in this CARE court program.

They truly do help.

Well, I don't know if they help them, they help me.

(upbeat music) - Funding for a call to CARE was provided by ESSA bank and trust and the Weiler family foundation, additional funding provided by the Monroe county bar association.