NCJ Number
116787
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 51 Issue: 2 Dated: (April 1989) Pages: 16-18,20
Date Published
1989
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article reviews J. Bryan Riley's contributions to the Federal halfway house program in Massachusetts and interviews him regarding current concerns and future directions for the halfway house and community-corrections movement.
Abstract
Riley has been the only executive director of Massachusetts Half-Way Houses, Inc., (MHHI), a private, nonprofit halfway house firm established in 1965. MHHI has expanded to eight residential services and several support services, serving 235 offenders and still growing. Clients are mostly adult males. They are required to participate in a full-time vocational program involving work release, school, or a training program. The MHHI Federal credit union aids clients in establishing credit or repairing poor credit ratings and also teaches them financial management. Clients are also required to become involved in a weekly recreational activity and donate at least 2 hours a week serving needy persons or groups in the community. Riley acknowledges that the maintenance and expansion of halfway-house programs and other community corrections efforts are difficult. Overcrowded prisons inevitably result in overcrowded halfway houses, and neighborhoods resist the establishment of new halfway houses in their areas. This difficulty, according to Riley, will probably lead to an increase in electronic monitoring of offenders, thus precluding the need for residential facilities to house offenders. This approach, however, may reduce counseling services to clients. Another significant problem is the shortage of qualified persons seeking employment in halfway houses.