San Diego is one of a few California counties that plan to avoid building more jails by keeping offenders from ending up back behind bars. That’s a tough assignment when jobs are scarce and many in this population have nowhere to live.
By Nicholas McVicker and Alison St John
Frederick Recupido, 35, recently arrived in San Diego after spending much of the last decade serving two terms in Tahachapi State Prison near Bakersfield.
“I had no place to go,” he said. “My family’s support is there, it’s just not as it used to be because this is the second time.”
Recupido was one of almost 70 percent of state parolees who don’t make it on the outside, and end up back in prison. His first prison term was from 2003 to 2009.
When he got out of prison the second time Recupido was determined to make a go of it on the outside.
He heard about a program in San Diego that works with ex-offenders, wrote to them from prison and was accepted. When he was released, he was given $200 “gate” money — just enough to buy a set of clothes and toiletries, and get himself to San Diego.
“If I was left to my own devices with no place to go, that little bit of money would have either got me under the influence or a criminal way of thinking would be to make more money with what I have,” he said.
Instead Recupido came to a house in City Heights run by a non-profit called “Second Chance.” He shares it with other post-release offenders who are working to get a foothold back in society. His rent is free for the first 60 days as long as he sticks with the program and stays clean and sober.
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