HUDSON – Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) Secretary Rick
Raemisch today announced the upcoming opening of the agency’s new halfway
house in St. Croix County, which will provide intensive treatment for
offenders under community supervision by the DOC who are dealing with
alcohol or drug addictions, including methamphetamine addiction. The new
facility, which will be called Exodus House, is opening under a contract
with Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan.
“At the Department of Corrections, we’re expanding the tools our agents
have to hold offenders accountable in the community and to provide
opportunities to succeed as productive, law-abiding individuals who do not
commit new crimes,” Secretary Raemisch said. “We are pleased to be
partnering with Lutheran Social Services, as well as with other
stakeholders in the community, to provide another option to help address
the need for alcohol and drug abuse programming.”
The DOC is investing $355,000 per year in the new facility and will be
the sole referral source for Exodus House when it opens this month. The
facility, located in the town of Hudson, will provide a four-month regimen
of intensive treatment, along with educational programming and work
experience, for up to 12 male offenders at a given time. An advisory board
with representatives from the DOC, local residents and other key
stakeholders will help guide programming at the facility. Referrals will
include DOC offenders who are primarily from St. Croix and Pierce
counties, and who are returning from correctional settings.
“Under Governor Jim Doyle’s leadership, the Department of Corrections
is making new investments in programs designed to help offenders be
successful upon their return to the community, which lowers recidivism in
the long run,” Secretary Raemisch said. “Our investment in Exodus House is
really an investment in crime prevention.”
LSS is a non-profit organization that offers a broad range of
community-based and residential services to people in more than 90
communities in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. Programs include addiction
services, adoption, foster care, counseling, delinquency intervention,
refugee resettlement, enrichment services for older adults and people with
developmental disabilities, and other programs and services for children,
youth and families.
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