Comprehensive Healthcare Re-entry Program for Ex-Offenders (CHRP)Click here to view the CHRP Program Brochure
Almost 100 ex-offenders per month are released into El Paso County. They leave prison with only $100 and a limited supply of medications. Former prison inmates face incredible challenges to be able to reintegrate into the community. Many are without family, healthcare, social support, or financial resources. Complicating matters, as many as 75% are homeless, 20% suffering from mental illness and most (80%) need substance abuse treatment. However, people may have trouble accessing needed community services because services are fragmented, hard to find or non-existent. Hanging over them is the possibility of being returned to prison, which occurs in over 50% of the cases. Click Here to view the CHRP Media Kit  • The average time on parole is 15 months. Colorado’s current recidivism rate of released offenders returning to prison within three years is 53.4%.
• As many as 1 in 5 prisoners suffer from a serious mental illness, and women are 3 times more likely than men to be seriously mentally ill.
• Up to 80% of the current state prison populations (23,066) are in need a substance abuse treatment. Former prison inmates face a much higher risk of death in the period right after their release, particularly from drug overdoses.
• About 300 patients reside in community corrections (ComCor, Inc.) halfway houses, and another 150 are in the transitions programs. Those on inmate status are not eligible for government healthcare programs (i.e. Medicaid, Colorado Indigent Care Program), so there is an ongoing need for healthcare resources, especially for women. It costs Colorado upwards of $100,000 per year to incarcerate one person, and the current recidivism rate is over 50%. In his article, “The Jails Are Full,” EPC Sheriff Terry Maketa writes, “Jails have not traditionally focused on treatment, rehabilitation and reintegration, yet ironically, it is a given that these inmates will return to society at some point. Recognizing this fact and understanding that jail has become a revolving door, focusing on reintegration programs must be a priority.”
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