NEAR SHAFTER, CA - Reducing crime in Kern County was the goal of an event at Lerdo Jail Friday morning. Administrators brought in organizations to help inmates serve their sentence, then serve the community.
Any inmate with a year or less left of their sentence, was able to walk through the re-entry fair Friday morning. Lerdo officials said that meant 40 percent of its inmates were introduced to tools to help them succeed beyond the bars.
Daniel Long has only been in Lerdo 75 days, but Friday he said he felt he had made a change.
"I don't want to die in here," said Long. "I don't want to be in jail. It's not fun. I don't like orange. I don't even like this color."
Long is one of 400 inmates to go through the jail's first every re-entry fair Friday morning.
"We like to say we care. We take an interest by seeing successful programs work and bringing the resources in," said Lt. Greg Gonzales who manages programs and the population at Lerdo.
Those resources were 20 community-based programs that help felons get back on their feet. The programs include Bakersfield Adult School, Child Support Services, Social Security Administration, Garden Pathways, Flood Ministries and more.
"What I'm hoping is that they get out of jail and seek those people out in the community," said Lt. Gonzales.
For Daniel Long it's a means to a way out of his lifestyle of addiction and jail time.
"I was kind of surprised. I didn't know there was going to be as many resources as there was," said Long.
The fair also provided hope to repeat offender Tommy Rhoades.
"I've been in and out of here for way too long," said Rhoades.
Now, it's just a matter of making sure Rhoades and Long use these resources.
"I want to be a productive member of society. I have a lot of goals I want to accomplish," said Rhoades.
Based on Friday's success, staff said they plan to have a re-entry fair every six months.
