(WKYT) – Gov. Andy Beshear announced Thursday, Feb. 26 that Kentucky’s recidivism rate has declined for the second year in a row, with 70% of people released from prisons over the past two years not returning to prison.
In Kentucky, recidivism is defined as re-incarceration within 24 months of an inmate’s release, with the state having a current rate of 30.32%. The governor’s office said the current rate is 0.49% lower than the previous year.
The governor’s office pointed to several initiatives the Beshear-Coleman administration implemented, such as launching 35 technical education courses in prisons across Kentucky to help prepare inmates for employment and establishing reentry centers in each state prison to deliver life-skills training.
Beshear said the announcement showed the need for a new reentry campus at Northpoint Training Center in Burgin.
Requested in Beshear’s proposed budget, the reentry campus would provide up to 400 inmates from across state prisons vocational technical education through KCTCS, the governor’s office said.
The reentry campus proposal is also the focus of House Bill 5, a piece of legislation with 57 sponsors that would establish the program, according to the governor’s office.