Buffalo

 It is a massive but low-profile building, nestled within the community of Alden some 20 miles east of the city of Buffalo. But it is quite different from the hundreds of quaint residential homes that sprinkle the area. Its 180 or so residents are rather unique as well. Opened in 1992, this one-story building measures more than 20,500 square feet and can provide overnight lodging to as many as 132 people. Its residents commute to work by mass transit, just like the many residents of the community. But that is where the similarity ends 

These are male state prison inmates nearing the end of their sentences and anxiously preparing as best they can for release back into the community, and their shared home is known as the minimum-security Buffalo facility. 

Unlike maximum-or medium-security state prisons, minimum-security facilities such as Buffalo have no perimeter walls or fences, rolls of razor ribbon wire, barred windows or yard towers. Buffalo�s security staff are not Correction Officers, known by their distinctive uniforms; they are Community Correction Center Assistants and wear civilian attire. 

Counselors, community center assistants and Division of Parole employees are more of an integral part of the daily regiment at work release facilities such as Buffalo, interacting closely with inmates who are among closest to release in the prison system. That means they bear especially close monitoring as they �test the waters� leading to release, as staff scrutinizes them for how well inmates are prepared for release into the community.

That said, Buffalo�s role has expanded beyond that of a typical release facility, making it unique not only in the community but in the Department as well. It serves as a general confinement prison, work release facility and residential treatment center for inmates with substance abuse issues. Buffalo focuses that overall mission  into involving inmates in continuous temporary release through  structured, closely supervised  community programs. The goal is  to place inmates in close proximity to  or within the county in which inmate plans to reside upon parole  or expiration of maximum sentence.

The temporary release program has existed across the state, including  here in western New York, for approximately 30 years. Its premise is that by preparing inmates to find jobs, monitoring their employment and other outside activities while overseeing their search for residences, the state can increase number of successful releases, thereby reducing crime on our streets.

Work release reduces recidivism

Various studies have documented that this bridge between facility incarceration and release is a solid one. Based upon the most re cent study of male inmates, those released in 1998 and tracked three years, those men who successfully participate in work release return to prison at a rate of 28 percent, compared to 43 percent return rate among all other male inmates.

But the program is a double win for New Yorkers: not only does it contribute to safer streets, but the per capita cost of a work release facility is approximately one-third of the tax dol lars required to support a traditional prison.

Inmates are expected to find full-time employment; gain  work experience and learn job skills; earn and save money they  that  can spend when they�re released; contribute to the finan cial support of their families; participate in therapeutic programs  with various community agencies and reestablish family ties. In effect, they are monitored as they begin living as pro ductive and responsible members of society, learning where and how to access the support systems that will help them succeed.

To be eligible for consideration to participate in the temporary release program, an inmate must be within 24 months of  merit time or parole eligibility, conditional release or maximum expiration of sentence, and must be physically, mentally and emotionally capable of  seeking and maintaining steady, gainful employment. 

However, inmates meeting those conditions for consideration are denied if they have been convicted of absconding or escape offenses; have outstanding warrants, or are serving sentences for certain violent felony offenses. 

Nearly 5,800 inmates participated in temporary release programs last year. Eighty-two percent participated in work release and 13 percent received furloughs, with the balance taking part in educational release; industrial, medical or community service leave, or to make a deathbed or funeral visit. 

Under temporary release, eligible inmates may be granted the privilege of leaving their respective facility for a period not exceeding 14 hours in given day for any those programs. 

Buffalo�s inmates, like their counterparts at other temporary release facilities throughout the state, basically participate in work release. Most of the inmates who are assigned to Buffalo were sent to prison from that part of the state and have families in western New York. They find jobs and work in Erie and neighboring counties. It is those inmates� intention to return to those communities upon their release from prison.

All inmates housed at Buffalo commute to and from the facility on public mass transit buses that stop directly in front of the prison on a scheduled basis.  

For the convenience of the state, Buffalo also includes in its facility count some inmates on temporary release who are physically located as far north as Jefferson County, east to Herkimer County and south to Delaware County. These offenders must present themselves regularly to the Department�s Day  Reporting Centers in their regions. They must comply with all the same rules and regulations demanded of all other inmates in the temporary release program.

Work release inmates are typically employed 40 hours a week. On their off hours, they routinely run personal errands or  go to school or church like most New Yorkers. However, as assigned, 
they must also attend AA, NA and any other self-help groups in the community. Or, they return to the facility to attend such programming under the oversight of staff and/or community volunteers. 

The work release program in Buffalo has documented many successes over the past decade. The unemployment rate among work release inmates assigned there averages only 9 percent � considered very low given the sporadic previous work experience of most inmates and the fact that they are inmates seeking employment. Yet most inmates enrolled in the program are able to get jobs in the local community within four weeks of beginning their job search. 

More than 160 new employers hired Buffalo work release inmates last year, affirming the success of the program while providing inmates with an incentive not to run afoul of the law. Employment positions vary based upon inmates skills and aptitude, but they include custodial service, general construction, food 
service manager, sales, machine operator and other jobs. 

Inmates pay taxes, support families 

Besides providing inmates with the work ethics and job skills to succeed on the outside, there�s the financial factor. The total gross earnings by Buffalo work release inmates last year was $736,199. Of that, $124,968 was withheld from their paychecks for federal and state income taxes; $37,830 was paid in Social Security taxes and $105,516 was deducted for room and board. 

Inmate work release wages must be surrendered to facility staff, who then deposit the money into the inmate�s account maintained by the facility. Besides deducting taxes and room and board, deductions will also be made for child support and other restitution, where applicable. The inmates receive weekly 
personal expense money the majority provide their  families with some fi nancial household assis tance. Money that the inmates  are able to accumu late in their accounts al lows them to begin parole  and release into the com munity often a step ahead  of other inmates released  from non-work-release facilities. 

Former inmates have  described the program as �a second chance at life,�  helping thousands of inmates  to make the difficult transition from incarcerated felon to  law-abiding citizen. 

Inmates aren�t the only winners under the Department�s temporary  release program. Communities throughout the state have  also have benefited thanks to the leadership of Governor Pataki. 

In January 1995, Governor Pataki issued an Executive Order  barring from temporary release any inmate convicted of committing  a violent act. 

That has resulted in a 79 percent reduction in the number of  inmates participating in temporary release each year, from  27,937 in 1994 to 5,797 in 2002. 

The average daily participation in work release also declined, 
by 74 percent: from 6,300 in 1994 to 1,652 in 2002. At 
the same time there�s been a: 

� 91 percent decrease in program participants arrested 
for any crime, from 1,968 in 1994 to 171 in 2002. 
� 98 percent decrease in program participants arrested 
for violent felonies, from 359 to seven. 
� 91 percent decrease in the cumulative number of absconders, from 3,682 to 343. 

Making efficient use of limited beds 

Because of the sophisticated manner in which the Department uses work release beds, it is not necessary to keep an empty bunk at work release facilities for each inmate, as is required everywhere else in the system. 

Some Buffalo work release inmates head out of the facility each work day for up to 14 hours and return each night to the dorms to sleep. They�re working for much of the time they�re out and spend the rest of their time in such approved activities as attending school or self-help meetings. 

For others, the arrangement is different. Some sleep two consecutive nights at the facility and spend the other five nights sleeping at home on a furlough basis. Some of them are furloughed on Wednesday afternoon returning on Monday night while some others depart on Friday and return Wednesday night. 

Before being allowed to be out of the facility for five-night stretches, all potential furlough residences are investigated by parole officials for suitability and must be approved by the facility�s Temporary Release
Committee. If the residence is not deemed suitable, the inmate can try to locate another residence that passes muster; if not, he must return each night to the facility until an appropriate residence can be designated. 

As they progress closer to their parole eligibility dates, work release inmates normally graduate to what is called �day reporting� status: they live at an approved residence on a full-time basis. They are required to report to one of seven designated day reporting centers in western New York twice a week. There, they meet with their Parole Officer and either a Department security employee or counselor. Their progress 
in the community, on the job, in treatment programs and at home is documented, and they�re subject to drug testing as a contingent of their higher level of freedom and accompanying responsibility. 

While Buffalo is primarily a work release facility, it does offer additional programming equally designed to help reduce recidivism. Several of the inmates who have been granted temporary release head into the community on weekdays to go to school while others are assigned to outside alcohol and substance abuse treatment and counseling. 

Buffalo is also one of just two male facilities in the state to offer a drug relapse treatment program. This is an intensive 60day program for inmates who are participating in work release and/or a residential treatment program but test positive for drugs or report drug use. Inmates can and have been removed from temporary release and returned to a regular state prison for drug use. But participation in the relapse program is based on the facility Superintendent�s individual review of such infractions and the Superintendent�s decision to waive an inmate misbehavior report in favor of treatment. 

The inmate must sign a memorandum to participate in the program and to stay off drugs. Violation of that memorandum is an automatic ticket back to a traditional prison. 

The goals of the relapse program are similar those of the other treatment modalities offered to all inmates: individualized treatment plans, education, development of a drug-free lifestyle and coordination of discharge planning. 

Buffalo also offers a specialized DWI offender program.  This intensive program requires inmates with documented histories  of alcohol abuse to receive regular group counseling in  the facility. When the inmates are out in the community they�re  also required to regularly attend AA and other self-help counseling  sessions. Depending on the inmate�s scheduled date of  release he will move through program phases and then participate  in the community service leave program. 

Buffalo was first accredited in 1995 by the American Correctional  Association, affirming that it meets nationally acceptable  standards in its management and operations. The  process of accreditation is also important statewide because it  requires all staff to gain a fuller understanding of their facility�s mission and to refamiliarize themselves with all the details and  demands of their individual responsibilities and how they mesh  with facility operations. Buffalo has been reaccredited triennially  since and is up for another reaccreditations next year. 

Many lend a helping hand inside and outside 

The dedicated efforts of Department and other staff from a  variety of disciplines are vital in ensuring the success of those  inmates assigned to Buffalo. 

But they don�t do it alone. 

Enter concerned community individuals who want to try to ensure the success of the inmates when they�re released into their communities throughout western New York and elsewhere. 

Registered volunteers come in to meet and speak with inmates, often operating under the supervision of, but separate from, facility staff. Their offerings are varied and geared toward providing inmates with even more tools and skills. The volunteers conduct AA, NA and other self-help groups and provide other services. 

They, along with staff, try to help inmates forge bonds with community agencies to help ensure a smooth transition, be it setting up job interviews or making sure of a continuum of treatment. 

Just as volunteers are a part of Buffalo, Buffalo employees play a key role in area communities. They unselfishly dedicate their time and energies to help others, young and old. They sit on municipal, school and other community boards, serve as soccer and Little League coaches, help out at their local houses of worship, collect and clear debris from area roadways and donate food and other items to the needy. 

Unlike many other minimum-and medium-security prisons throughout the state, Buffalo does not have any regular supervised community service crews performing needed work in local municipalities at no cost to taxpayers. But that�s not to say they haven�t provided various local communities with big assists in times of need. 

After Buffalo was buried under a blizzard that dumped nearly seven feet of snow on western New York in December 2001, supervised crews from Buffalo and other state prisons in the region quickly took to the streets. 

At the request of local emergency management officials, supervised inmate crews from Buffalo, Collins, Gowanda, Lakeview, Orleans and Wyoming worked just under 19,000 hours to find and dig out buried fire hydrants to ensure the safety of local residents. 

They also cleared walkways leading into public buildings as well as intersections and bus shelters. 

Over the part few years, supervised community service crew inmates from Buffalo have worked in various other capacities as well. 

They have, for example, shoveled snow from the playing field of Ralph Wilson Stadium prior to NFL games hosted by New York�s only professional Buffalo�s barracks are similar to those in medium-security prisons. football team, the Buffalo Bills.

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