New California group forms to aid inmates’ return to society

By DON THOMPSON
Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The most populous U.S. state not surprisingly has the most people being released from its prisons and jails. And now it has what organizers said Thursday is the nation’s first statewide coordinated effort to help them reintegrate back into the community. The newly formed Re-Entry Providers Association of California includes some of the state’s largest reentry service providers. They plan to jointly lobby state and local government officials on behalf of former prisoners. California typically releases as many as 35,000 people each year who have completed their jail sentences or been paroled from prison. But even that number soared as jails and prisons released thousands more inmates during the pandemic.