Second Chance Women’s Re-entry Court

The Second Chance Women’s Re-Entry Court is an alternative sentencing program designed to provide evidence-based, gender-responsive, trauma informed, and culturally competent treatment services to women, including those with children, who are charged with felonies and facing imminent incarceration and/or prison. Treatment is designed to break the cycle of substance abuse and crime and to positively impact the children of women offenders who are at high risk of continuing the intergenerational patterns of drug abuse, criminal behaviors, and neglectful parenting.

Participants are place on probation for three years and enrolled in an intensive six-month minimum residential program followed by up to 12 months of outpatient treatment, and then with an additional six months of after car services. Women may bring with them into the residential treatment program up to two children twelve years of age or younger. Child development specialists work directly with the children and interface with the Department of Children and Family Services regarding reunification plans, where appropriate, thereby positively impacting the next generation. Treatment is provided by the Prototypes Women’s Center in Pomona.

Participants are chosen by the criminal justice partners, including their lawyers, the District Attorney, and judge who presides over the Second Chance Women’s Re-Entry Court. The program is a specialized drug court model combining intensive supervision, mandatory drug testing, mental health treatment where needed, positive reinforcement, appropriate sanctions and court-supervised treatment to address the issues of substance use disorder, mental illness, and criminal activity. Participants who successfully complete the program and graduate can petition the court for early termination of probation and dismissal