To that end, she helped secure a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Research also shows that offenders fare best on the outside when they run through some of the sticky situations theyвЂ™ll encounter ahead of time - such as talking about their prison time with a potential employer - and learn some problem-solving and social skills to help them navigate their new lives, says McKune. Studies show that many offenders tend to end up back in prison when they canвЂ™t find employment or if they have strained family and marital relations. вЂњBut we are slowly seeing a change, and you can see a difference in the inmates.вЂќ No going back вЂњHer mission is to prepare these men and women to go back out in the community and she always has that in mind,вЂќ says Larry Chandler, former warden of the Kentucky State Reformatory and a member of the stateвЂ™s parole board.вЂќ Thanks to McKune, he says, вЂњwe know we have to walk out the door a step or two with them.вЂќДЄccording to the most recent data, the state has already had a 5 percent drop in recidivism, from 35 percent returning to prison within two years of release in 2006 to 29.5 percent in 2008.ДЇocusing on transition and prevention вЂњis a cultural change for Kentucky in the way we do case management,вЂќ says Chandler. She is also implementing statewide training for probation and parole officers and classification and treatment officers in the facilities to identify offenders at risk for repeat crimes and help them get treatment ahead of time that can help them ease into their new life.ДЄnd perhaps most important, McKune is helping inmates maintain their sense of community while behind bars by creating opportunities for carefully screened and trained inmates to build confidence and help fellow inmates through work in hospice care and assisting with suicide watches.

Among her biggest changes: adding programs that help inmates find housing, health services and employment and re-establish positive relationships with family and friends after their release from prison. As assistant director of the Division of Mental Health and Substance Abuse for KentuckyвЂ™s Department of Corrections, McKune has refocused mental health services to concentrate on helping offenders prepare for life after prison. McKune, EdD, has her way, once inmates are released they wonвЂ™t be coming back.

The number of men and women behind bars in Kentucky is growing at one of the fastest rates in the country, but if Elizabeth W.

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