Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson is pushing to integrate the IGNITE program in jails throughout the country. It uses educational programs to prevent re-incarceration.
For two years, Harvard and Brown Universities have conducted a study in the Genesee County Jail to see if the program works or not. They’ve released a 92-page study.
“A 92 page study that’s all the statistics, all the graphs, everything, says IGNITE works,” Swanson said. “So much so, they did an overview sheet. Number one, one month of IGNITE reduces weekly jail misconduct by 49%. That means assaults between inmates and assaults on staff. We track all the data, all the instances of violence in the jail, because we have a violent population.”
In 2010, there were 576 acts of violence in the jail. In 2018, they had 210. In 2023 there were 11. Researchers estimate that the program saves around $5,600 per person per year.
