FRANKLIN TWP — Last week, more than 80 people assembled at The Atrium to learn about helping prisoners re-enter society.

The session was hosted by a handful of individuals that teamed up with The Lighthouse Foundation, which co-sponsored the event with the Center for Community Resources in Butler and Justice and Mercy Inc., a Pennsylvania-based volunteer group.

Calvin Lightfoot, who has served as an administrator in the region's various correctional systems, discussed the Allegheny County Jail Collaborative, a re-entry program implemented when Lightfoot served as warden of the Allegheny County Bureau of Corrections from 1996 to 2004.

As part of Lightfoot's model, the mentoring would occur along with a program that begins during incarceration and offers GED programs, as well as computer and job interview training.

A post-release program would offer a list of employers willing to hire ex-convicts. Trained mentors would provide transportation to and from interviews or help find affordable housing.

The Rev. Ed Carlson of Butler, a retired Presbyterian missionary, is among the citizens who teamed up with The Lighthouse Foundation with the hope of starting a similar program called Prison After-Care Ministry, which Carlson has shortened to PAC-MIN.

Carlson said support from the religious community is an obvious place to start, and the program was geared toward that demographic.

"The churches can offer a new set of friends, a good environment and a restorative fellowship," Carlson said. "And also they can recruit volunteers to be trained as mentors."

"The way to mentorship: The biggest contribution can be made by the churches," Lightfoot agreed.

Although church communities are sometimes leery of interacting with those perceived as dangerous, Lightfoot promoted the idea that a safer community results, since productive options for prisoners can decrease the likelihood of repeat offenses.

"This is not so much for the inmate's sake. Forget the offender," Lightfoot said.

"Let's talk about the victim that's going to be made when you don't put (the offender) through programs."

Lightfoot also suggested that staying in touch with released prisoners can provide a sense of security.

"You know where that person is," he said. "You know what that person is doing."

As part of his presentation, Lightfoot cited the nation's rising inmate populations since 1970. Since that time, inmate numbers have gone from 250,000 to 2.7 million in 2008, when tax payers will spend $60 billion dollars to house them. In 2010, $100 billion will be needed to house a projected 3 million prisoners, he said.

Lightfoot said programs are especially important at the county level because more prisoners re-enter the community from county prisons each year than from state and federal facilities.

After implementing the ACJ Collaborative, chaired by Lightfoot and directors at the Department of Health and the Department of Human Services, Lightfoot said the average jail population decreased from 2,700 to 2,200.

Hide Yamatani, a professor in the Center on Race and Social Problems housed in the University of Pittsburgh's School of Social Work, said conclusions of a three-year study at the university indicated Lightfoot's program saved money, mostly in reduced victimization and recidivism. The program was largely abandoned several years ago when county leadership changed, Lightfoot noted.

According to Yamatani's study, Allegheny County saved more than $5.3 million annually by the ACJ Collaborative serving 300 inmates per year. At 12 months post-release, the study also cited a 50 percent lower recidivism rate.

In Butler County, the PAC-MIN concept coincides with a plan announced at a prison board meeting in January, where Judge Tim McCune described plans for a county program to reduce recidivism and the prison overcrowding that sometimes results. The program, which would be implemented when the new county prison is operational, would be funded by state and federal grants, he said.

Having sought community participation by hosting the Lightfoot talk, PAC-MIN coordinators now will approach area Rotary clubs and chambers of commerce to compile an employer list. A mentor training program also is being planned, Carlson said.

Primary members of the PAC-MIN committee also include Paul Mabin, a field director for the Prison Fellowship ministry in Beaver; C.J. Mitchell of Butler; Ray Saelor of the North Main Street Church of God; and Wayne Rideout, a caseworker at Center for Community Resources in Butler.

Those interested in joing PAC-MIN should call Carlson at 724-287-3512.