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This story was corrected on June 2, 2010. An explanation of the correction follows the story.

Montgomery County is one of two jail systems chosen for a federal study on how families can improve the likelihood a person will not return to criminal activity after release from jail.

"In our 40 years experience, we have recognized the good value that families play in the successful return of individuals after incarceration back into the community," said Stefan LoBuglio, chief of the county's prerelease and entry services division.

The U.S. Department of Justice awarded a grant to the Vera Institute of Justice in New York City, a nonprofit research organization, for the "Close to Home" project. The institute chose the Montgomery County Department of Correction and Rehabilitation and the Green Lake County Sheriff's Office in Wisconsin for its pilot program.

"[Montgomery County has] long been a leader in the jail field and particularly in thinking about how to get people back into the community," said Margaret diZerega, director of the Vera Institute's family justice program. "When we had the opportunity, we just had to work with them."

Researchers will look at reentry in a rural setting in Green Lake and reentry in an urban environment in Montgomery County, she said.

"A few years back we conducted an assessment of work at the [Montgomery County] Prerelease Center [in Rockville] to understand how staff is engaging families," she said.

This will be the institute's first chance to go back there to work with staff to build on their findings, she said.

Vera Institute staff will look at the county's case management forms to see if different questions should be asked, interview men and possibly women in the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Clarksburg and ask their visitors questions about the difficulty of maintaining contact with people in jail, she said.

High recidivism rates have troubled officials for more than 50 years, LoBuglio said.

The goal is to find the right tools to help staff at jails and prerelease centers foster a more family-focused approach. The Vera Institute will look at how families can be involved to help reduce recidivism, as well as ways to identify when families are part of the problem, he said.

By asking the right questions, case managers can find out what family and other social supports will be available for an inmate, he said. Family can help case managers by identifying resources in the community, such as drug treatment programs, and seeing that the released person gets to them.

Family and friends are in a better position than a case manager to find a convenient health clinic for a released inmate, diZerega said.

"Our approach is, people by and large are connected to family and friends already," she said. "Those are relationships they'll continue to draw on."

Success is measured by increased participation in the work force, families, communities, schools and religious institutions, the Urban Institute wrote in a May 2008 study, "Life After Lockup: Improving Reentry from Jail to the Community," coauthored by LoBuglio.

"Our assumption is that successful reentry strategies would translate into public safety gains, in the form of reduced recidivism, and the long-term reintegration of the formerly incarcerated individual," the study states. "There are financial and social benefits associated with both public safety and reintegration improvements."

County correctional staff will receive training and tools that have been found through scientifically based studies to be effective in reducing criminal activity and drug use and in increasing employment rates, LoBuglio said.

"When staff can identify the things that motivate people to change behavior, [the former inmate is] more likely to be successful," diZerega said.

The study began in early May and will continue through the end of the year. The Vera Institute received a federal grant for $330,000 for the study. Montgomery County will not receive any money, just the institute's expertise.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the name and coauthor of "Life After Lockup: Improving Reentry from Jail to the Community."