Susquehanna County Re-Entry Coalition meets for debrief, strategizing

12-17-25

By Lauren Royce, Editor

NEW MILFORD — The newly formed Susquehanna County Re-Entry Coalition hosted its first meeting on Dec. 11 at the Susquehanna County Public Safety Building. Virginia “Ginny” Smith, head of the organization, led the meeting and fielded questions that arose from the re-entry simulation that took place Oct. 28.
Reflecting on what can be done to help people re-enter society after incarceration, local dignitaries and residents mainly wondered about how to better the transportation system. In the re-entry simulation, it had been the biggest roadblock to success after “prison life.” No bus token, no ride to pay restitution or get to the food bank. The hassle of simply surviving pointed to the lack of easy transportation in real life across Susquehanna County.
“That re-entry simulation was really good to show the problem with transportation,” said Dylan Capwell, “but it’s not even realistic because with that bus token, even if you have the bus token, where does the bus come pick us up?” After personally living incarcerated and having no license, Capwell said he was personally familiar with the difficulties of getting to and from appointments, and being a parent on top of it. “If you don’t even have a bus system, that coin is useless,” he said, especially in rural areas such as Brackney. Many incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people do not have licenses, and without a valid license, it leads to people like Capwell having to drive illegally to make court-ordered appointments.
“When I was at Susquehanna County Correctional facility, I was able to take them to the DMV and get their license,” Smith said. “I can’t do that now, so that’s another thing Emma and I have talked about that we’re going to work on is how we can help them.” Many times, documentation like social security and licenses are lost, and Smith knows it’s a process to start over.
Emma Sherwood is a re-entry case manager with Susquehanna County working with Smith to fully realize the coalition’s potential, and providing guidance.
Magisterial District Judge Greg Scheer asked how short term incarcerated folks can be helped.
“People who are incarcerated say a longer term, they are able to get the training and maybe figure out who their connections might be,” Scheer said. “But what about the people in short term? That’s a challenge then because if we’re not able to reach them and teach them in that short period of time they might be in, then we’re going to lose them and they’re going to go back in.”
Smith said that through work with the public defenders office, she is able to see who is on probation. But sometimes those on probation move in and out so fast, so it may be an area for community support to step in.
Another question that came up was how to coach released people and support them mentally. Smith said she would be working with other entities such as Scranton Counseling, Friendship House, Integrative and Step by Step to help the coalition become a solid resource for those who need it in the county. Smith said her goal is to connect incarcerated people with mental health resources while they’re serving sentences.
“Scranton Counseling is now going to do some counseling sessions at the (Susquehanna County) courthouse on Tuesday afternoons,” Smith said, “so if transportation’s an issue, they can meet with them there.”
Another question came up from Roxanne Custer, who ran her own sort of halfway house six years ago helping people return to normal life after prison. “They’re all God’s people,” she said, and she felt called to help them get back on their feet. She asked if employers would be trained how to work with recently released people and vice versa.
“I think the other thing is educating the employers,” Smith said. “These people are not used to coming to work on a daily basis, they’re not used to working an eight hour day. So it’s going to take a little bit to train them, teach them and be willing to work with them so I think that’s another piece we can look into going down the road.”
People asked things such as if It would be possible to make more of these locations more of a one stop shop. Smith said it’s something the coalition is considering, including possibly working with churches to facilitate services like in the simulation.
One other idea was that the Susquehanna Community Rec Center could also be revived so people can have an active outlet. Commissioner Alan Hall said there still had to be millions of dollars invested in order to get it up again. “Theyre still in the process of trying to do something, right now they’re re-analyzing what the cost is the build,” Hall said. “The numbers they had were about four years old, so they’re still short about nine or 10 million dollars to make it happen.” Not impossible, but a long road to get there.
Going forward, meetings will take place the second Thursday of each month 11:30 a.m 1:30 p.m. with lunch provided at the Susquehanna County Public Safety building.
The next item of business was the Unsheltered Point In Time (PIT) Count. On January 21 from 7-9 p.m., teams across the townships and boroughs will take a count of how many people are homeless in the county. This includes Montrose, south Montrose, Springville; Great Bend/ Hallstead, Susquehanna, New Milford/Gibson/Lenox and Forest City.
Tiffany Benedict, director of the Women’s Resource Center (WRC) will serve as a chair alongside Smith in the coalition.
Benedict said while the entirety of the county can’t be canvassed in one night, it’s important to have ideas ahead of time where to find people. Then, resources on how to get safe housing can be distributed to them. Socks, hats, gloves, hand and foot warmers, packaged food and hygiene products are sought after items that will be given to those found during PIT count. Volunteers to help distribute are needed. To sign up to volunteer, contact Tiffany Benedict at 570-278-1800 or email Tiffanyb@wrcnepa.org.