Santa Clara Co. Opens New Reentry Services Center For South County

GILROY (BCN)

The Santa Clara County Office of Reentry Services opened its new resource center in Gilroy this morning to expand the amount of aid that can be offered to people after incarceration.

The new South County Reentry Resource Center, located at 8425 Murray Ave., will offer resources to individuals in the Gilroy, Morgan Hill and San Martin areas, according to county officials.

The center was set up due to the hardships that those coming from the southern part of the county were facing to get to San Jose for reentry services. The new center in Gilroy offers many of the same resources such as substance use screenings and assessments, behavioral health, primary health care and psychiatric services.

Probation support and faith-based services like food, housing and community connections will also be available to people at the center.

County officials said the center replaced a pilot program center in San Martin that began in April 2015 as a response to concerns of residents.

"There were high arrest and conviction rates in these areas for low level offenders who had been recently released from custody or were serving the remainder of their sentences under mandatory supervision by probation departments," county officials said in a statement.

The county's original reentry services center in San Jose was established in 2012 to comply with the 2011 California Public Safety Realignment Act, which focused on reducing overcrowding in California prisons.

According to the county, the San Jose center has helped more than 10,000 residents re-entering the community from jail or prison since its founding.

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