What is the In-Custody Day Program?

The Gemma Day Program is a 120 hour integrated curriculum designed to target the specific needs and challenges of the female reentry population. Research has shown that interventions that are offered in-custody or those that bridge the institution and the community were more effective than those administered in the community alone.

The curriculum assists individuals to identify their behavior patterns, their personal strengths and needs, the barriers that prevent them from achieving their goals, and the skills to access and utilize resources to help break the revolving door of incarceration. The Gemma Day Program utilizes the following principles, each of which address the unique needs of incarcerated women:

• Intrinsic motivation

• Centered on safety

• Connect to individual values

• Focus on practical needs

• Increase awareness

• Practice coping skills

• Reduce harm

• Connection is the key to safe, successful reentry

What specific services do Day Program participants receive?

• 120 hours of in-custody cohort programming

• Individual reentry planning meetings with a Continuing Care Coordinator prior to release

• Group reentry planning meetings with a Continuing Care Coordinator prior to release

• A completed co-created individualized Reentry & Wellness Plan

• Referrals to and when possible, enrollment into county and community based services

• Option to engage in Continuing Care Program upon reentry

Who is eligible?

Individuals who identify as female, who are sentenced, and within four – six months of release are ideal candidates

• Gemma seeks applicants who are interested in improving their health and reducing harm in their lives

• Because mandated participation is not trauma-responsive, Gemma strongly discourages mandated participation and reserves the right to decline applicants whose sole motivation is to comply with a mandate

• While it is a closed cohort model, there is a 1-week grace period for late enrollment for individuals who are recently sentenced and who are scheduled to be released prior to the start of the next session

• Gemma accepts all applicants who show interest and motivation to enroll in programming

• Participants may choose to discontinue programming at any time

What is Continuing Care?

Continued structure and support helps create a safety-net for individuals who are at high risk for relapse into harmful behaviors upon reentry. Continuing Care (CC) services are available for program participants for 12-months after their release as part of their participation in the Gemma Day Program. The Continuing Care team works to assist the participant build their network of support and sustainability beyond The Gemma Project. If at the end of the year, on-going support is still needed, services can be extended at no cost to the participant.

• Participants may choose to utilize the CC services of their choice including:

  • individual and/or group case coordination

  • individual and/or group therapy

  Participants are encouraged to enroll in the structured 12-week CC program which includes individual and group case coordination and therapy all of which is focused on stability in the twelve Reentry & Wellness Plan goal areas: 

  1. Behavior Commitments

  2. Coping Skills

  3. Basic Needs: e.g. food, medication, transportation, clothing

  4. Housing/Shelter

  5. Employment and Income

  6. Money Management

  7. Recovery

  8. Social Support Network

  9. Physical and Behavioral Health

  10. Education/Training

  11. Probation/Parole/Children & Family Services/the courts etc.

  12. Community Service/Engagement e.g. recovery, faith-based, cultural, etc.

  13. What is Continuing Care?

Does Gemma Work?

YES! We’re so glad you asked!

• An independent evaluation of the original Gemma Program showed a 30% recidivism rate compared to a local and national rate of 70%. That’s a BIG DEAL!

• The Gemma Project is committed to providing effective programming and services, specifically designed to meet the unique needs of women and preventing them from continued justice system involvement.

• We are collecting data and studying the impacts of our direct service program on our path to continuous quality improvement and look forward to sharing our results.

• Evaluation, analysis of outcomes, and sharing results publicly are key components of our site replication model in sites across the country.

• The Gemma Project is also committed to supporting the research that shows that recidivism alone is an incomplete measure of success and that in order to accurately capture both behavior change in individuals as well as safety or risk in the community, we cannot solely rely on binary measures to tell the story.