Program Example
California: Get Connected
Centerforce, Inc.
Get Connected is a multiservice demonstration project focused on health issues for inmates and their families at San Quentin Prison and the Central California Women’s Facility.
Program Established: 1975
Description
Get Connected provides the following services:
- Peer Education: Staff provide 30 hours of health and skill-building training to inmates who are interested in becoming peer health educators. Trained inmate health educators lead daily health education workshops for new inmates.
- Reentry Education: Centerforce staff, inmate peer educators, and community service providers conduct workshops on various health topics for inmates preparing for release.
- Prevention Case Management: Centerforce staff provide five months of intensive case management services to returning prisoners that includes development of an individual risk assessment and reduction action plan prior to release and postrelease support through facilitated referrals to communitybased service providers.
- Health Promotion Initiative: Community health specialists provide workshops and resource fairs for inmates living with HIV and/or hepatitis C as they prepare for release.
Outcomes
Centerforce staff are involved in a number of research projects testing the effectiveness of their interventions and adding to the general knowledge base on the health status of correctional populations. One evaluation of their peer HIV education program for male inmates found that program participants were more likely to use condoms and to be tested for HIV than nonparticipants. Studies also find a significant difference between the intervention group and nonintervention group regarding their perception of risk of contracting HIV. Finally, the inmates reported a preference for peer educators over other types of educators.Contact
Director of Programs, Centerforce, Inc.Phone: (415) 456-9980, ext. 112 Fax: (415) 456-2146
2955 Kerner Blvd., 2nd Floor, San Rafael, CA 94901
http://www.centerforce.org
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Related Information
Issue Area:
Physical and Mental Health