Local woman wants to reduce number of repeat offenders in area

MARION - If young people coming out of prison have the support of the community behind them, they will less likely go back. That is the goal for one Marion resident.

However, that is often not the case for many young ex-offenders once they are out.

Many often have no one to turn to or are thrown back into similar situations that landed them in prison.

But Danielle Collier wants to change that. She wants to help young woman integrate by providing them with support and opportunities to jobs and higher education.

"When people get out, a lot of them don't know what to do or who to turn to," Collier said. "They often go back to what is familiar and that is what got them there in the first place. I've seen it time and time again."

According to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, 34 percent of inmates returned to prison in a period of three years.

What Collier wants to do is establish a mentorship program for young woman between the ages of 18 and 30-years-old who have been recently released from prison.

Those mentors would keep tabs on each woman, acting as moral support and working with them to find jobs, acquire GEDs or apply to colleges.

"Essentially we would be keeping tabs on them," Collier said. "We would be giving them that nudge."

She is trying to get members of her church, Christ Missionary Baptist Church, involved and has partnered with longtime Marion resident Stefanie Miers.

Miers said growing up in Marion, she has seen people she knew, or even grew up with go in and out of prisons.

"Everyone has a background, we are all going or working through stuff and these woman need the extra support," she said. "Our goal is to try to help everyone, but we are starting with woman because there really aren't programs for us here."

Intake data found that 67.6 percent of females entering prison in 2010 were unemployed and 88.9 percent had a history of drug abuse.

Collier said she first got the idea to start the program 14 years ago while working as an investigator with the office of pretrial services in Florida. While there, she was asked to do research about the state's recidivism rate.

"It was alarmingly high," she said. "The judge that I was working for at the time wanted to see if community programs for inmates would help curve that."

However, Collier moved to Marion before a program was established. She later worked as a guard at the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center, where she saw familiar faces coming back.

"Many fell through the cracks, you knew some of them would eventually serve in adult institutions," she said.

After leaving that job in 2008 after being injured, Collier sat on the idea until the daughter of a family friend was charged with possession of cocaine and destroying evidence during a drug bust in 2016.

Collier said she wanted to help the woman, who is currently serving a two year sentence at the Ohio Reformatory for Women.

"It just breaks my heart where she is at, because she is a very sweet girl," Collier said."I try to talk to her as much as I can and she told me that there are so many women in there that need help."

The program is still in its beginning stages. Collier said right now she is just looking into grants through the Second Chance Act Program.

"With the additional funds, I am hoping to hire a mentor coordinator and then expand the program from there," Collier said.

Corredon Rogers a lieutenant at Marion Correctional Institution and pastor at Christ Missionary Baptist Church, said that there are more programs geared for male ex-cons.

He said programs for woman are limited and more are needed in the community.

"They have our full support, it is something that is needed and needed now," Rogers said. "In my 24 year career, I've seen the same people come in and out more times than I can count, that includes people I went to high school with and it's mostly drug related."

HKarim@nncogannett.com

740-375-5154

Tweet me @Hasan_Marion