Typically, when correctional facilities reach the end of their useful lifecycle, or are rendered obsolete by modern replacement facilities, the buildings are demolished and their sites are redeveloped for new purposes. In other cases, political gridlock or delayed decision-making processes can simply leave the buildings to sit unoccupied.
However, one formerly incarcerated individual is leading an ambitious undertaking in transforming a shuttered state prison in rural North Carolina into a first-of-its-kind reentry facility.
Kerwin Pittman, Founder and Executive Director of Recidivism Reduction Educational Program Services (RREPS), recently purchased the Wayne Correctional Center near Goldsboro, N.C., which has been closed since 2013, and is initiating a renovation across the 19-acre facility to provide transitional housing and support services for those recently released from prison.
The Recidivism Reduction Campus will offer workforce development and job placement, education and vocational training, mental health support, case management and other critical services to individuals reentering their communities. Pittman also hopes to include space on campus for justice-involved youth to participate in career pathways, art and cognitive behavioral therapy, STEM education, and other social and emotional learning opportunities.
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