In the one year pilot and the six month extension which followed, Getting Out By Going In partnered with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to study the effectiveness of the first Coordinated Community Collaboration Reentry effort for Los Angeles County.  The pilot was called GOGI Campus and studied the effectiveness of a full emersion custody program followed by continuum care post release.  In this pilot, participants in the in-custody curriculum were supported with community volunteer efforts and on-going work with RapidChange Therapy certified Life Coaches during and after their release from custody.  In addition to serving the women when released to their communities, those women who were transferred from the jail to California prisons and drug treatment programs were provided written counseling, GOGI workshops and GOGI books to reinforce what was termed as the “GOGI Culture Shift.”

While the recidivism rates are under analysis by independent statisticians, all indications are that the “GOGI Culture Shift” presented in the GOGI Campus post custody services were the key to reducing recidivism.  “Providing and having the inmate participate fully in alternative cognitions and behavior is the successful reenty,” said Coach Taylor, founder and executive director of Getting Out By Going In.  “GOGI Campus provided that necessary alternative culture.  Our experience with LASD has proved that incarcerated women can and do change lifelong patterns of addition and illegal activities when the GOGI Culture Shift is experienced.”
Coach Taylor explained the reason for the initiative’s success, “The Sheriff of Los Angeles County, Leroy Baca, is a visionary who is dedicated to the safety of our community through assisting individuals in making positive choices.  Because he focuses on the potential within our community for good, GOGI was able provide services which strengthened the competencies of the detained.  This was an essential step in shifting cultural norms and expectations of the released individual.  In our campus, it was with regularity that uniformed staff would sit with our women and engage in open communication.  We appreciate the opportunity offered to us by Sheriff Lee Baca and we are grateful for his support of the successful reentry of detained individuals.”

Getting Out By Going In has expanded its services to the women and families who participated in the pilot study and a replicable initiative is being developed for additional settings of incarceration. GOGI workshops are currently offered to inmates at California prisons with some of the classes and workshops being presented by former GOGI Campus participants.