NAMPA — October may seem like an unusual month to graduate, but for 27 participants in the Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC) and GEO Reentry Services’ Nampa-Caldwell Connection and Intervention Station (CIS), their caps and gowns were no Halloween costume.
The monthslong program, designed to reduce recidivism among the previously incarcerated, sees more than 2,000 probationers and parolees each year statewide. With stations in all seven of Idaho’s judicial districts, it involves cognitive behavioral interventions, employment training and establishing community connections to break the cycles of addiction and criminal activity.
The Nampa-Caldwell CIS opened in 2021. A 2022 GEO program outcome report estimated that participation lowered offenders’ risk assessment scores by 36% in Idaho, correlated with a similar reduction of the likelihood of reoffending.
“You guys have put in the time, the effort and been honest, and I always ask those three things of everybody that comes through our program. I hope that you can look at your loved ones and say that you’ve made honest changes in your life,” program manager Socorro White told the fall 2024 graduates at Wednesday’s ceremony, held at the Idaho Hispanic Community Center. “To reach that finish line, you guys are working on long-term sobriety. You’re working on getting full-time employment.”