ASPIRE: Access to Programs and Services to Inspire Reentry and Empowerment

Programming in county jails is challenging, especially in California. We share how the San Mateo County (SMC) Sheriff’s Office has implemented, grown, and sustained jail programming and case management since the launch of ASPIRE in 2016. We focus on the key components of jail programming at the county level: safety and security of the facility; coordination and collaboration across all jail staff; classification of inmates for programming; collaborating with justice partners and stakeholders, and more. We reveal how the SMC Sheriff’s Office successfully bridged in-person programs and reentry services pre-COVID-19 to a virtual platform by July 1st of 2020. We offer insights into how we expanded the ASPIRE program model during the pandemic. Finally, we speak candidly about the roadblocks we have faced and the work we have accomplished, thus far, in flattening the bureaucratic silos that continue to impede the delivery of programs and reentry services to the justice-involved population.