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Morristown Magazine 63 Changing Lives Jail to Work program helping break the cycle of recidivism T he 3rd Judicial District Recovery Support Ser- vices is talking a major issue plaguing com- munities across the nation head on. People across the country are trapped in a vicious cycle of drug abuse, incarceration and recidivism. Even those working to improve their situation face amyriad of obstacles beyondwhatever demons they are battling. Penny Knight, the coordinator for the Third Ju- dicial District Hamblen County Recovery Court, said that housing is the biggest difficulty citizens newly released from pri- son encounter. “We’re trying to redu- ce recidivism for peo- ple from jail. Our No. 1 deterrent to recovery is housing because they’re coming from jail and most of the time don’t have resources for depo- sits or furniture, some don’t even have trans- portation. The city is actually also working on donating something from their retired fleet to help people get to work,” Knight said. “That’s another goal – one of our goals is to help productivemembers of society and that they’re A paiting by a participant in the Hamblen County Jail to Work program