Roy Keeler had treated prisons like a revolving door since he was a teenager.
But when granted parole in July 2008 after serving 31/2 years of a 20-year sentence on burglary and drug charges, Keeler, 37, reported to the Dalton Parole Office and realized he needed to change.
At the Dalton office, instead of feeling like a name on a list to be scratched off by officials, he was welcomed into a group whose leaders also had been through prison and understood his challenges, he said.
"In prison you know what you got to do, when you got to do it," he said. "Once you get out, you have all this time on your hands, so it's real easy to get right back in [to prison]."
BY THE NUMBERS* 210: Parolees released to the Dalton Parole Office in 2010* 71: Percentage completing the parole program since it was created in 2007* 66: Percentage completing the parole program before 2007Source: Dalton Parole Office
Now a program hailed for making the Dalton parole office successful is being eyed by the state as a model for other parole offices, starting in Macon, Ga.
Project Destiny, which helps recent parolees readjust to the community, is being recognized by the Georgia Board of Paroles and Pardons as one of the most efficient programs in the state at helping former inmates get back on their feet.
Involving more than 30 faith-based and civic organizations in Whitfield County, Project Destiny relies on "just about every segment of the community," Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles Chairman James Donald said.
State officials are meeting with local leaders and churches in other communities, asking them to form similar organizations, but no state funds will go toward the groups, Donald said.
"This is a community initiative, so the state cannot pay for the faith-based programming," he said.
Project Destiny began in 2007. Since then the Dalton Parole Office, which handles parolees from Whitfield and Murray counties, has seen a 5 percent increase in the number of parolees who complete their parole terms without any felony violations. Such violations would send them back to jail, Chief Parole Officer Beverly Parker said.
"The difference, I think, is having a caring community," Parker said. "[Parolees] are learning that the community ... wants them to be productive citizens, so it gives them an incentive."
Project Destiny helps by providing parolees with a complete guide to local employers, medical providers, food banks and churches that partner with the group.
"A lot of these folks get out [of jail] with nothing but the clothes on their back," Parker said.
Prisoners Anonymous, one of the organizations within the Project Destiny group, is where Keeler began his group therapy. Now, 21/2 years later, he is co-teaching a class.
"Most people that don't have to come back, they keep coming back," he said.