Rehabilitation program at Pittsburgh-area jail gives tablets to inmates: "A second chance at life"

UNIONTOWN, Pa. (KDKA) -- A rehabilitation program giving tablets to prisoners is a first in Pennsylvania. The Fayette County Jail hopes those tablets prepare the inmates for freedom and keep them from returning. 

This program was launched only a month ago and is already making a world of difference in one inmate's quest for a new life with the help of a tablet.

Jason Hice knows that sound all too well. He's called the Fayette County Jail home on and off for the last 20 years. 

"I'm incarcerated because I chose to go down a road that I ultimately shouldn't have and got arrested with counterfeit money and drugs and guns," Hice said. 

In the past, Hice would get arrested, do his time and once released from jail, return to the same life of crime. He calls it a vicious cycle he says he could never break because no one ever cared.

Until now.

"I've never had the opportunity for rehabilitation before," Hice said. 

"I'm thinking this is going to give me a second chance at life," he added. 

It's called I.G.N.I.T.E., which stands for Inmate Growth Nationally and Internationally Through Education. It's a voluntary jail rehabilitation program that Hice says saved his life.

Inmates are given a tablet that can be used from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. After only one month, Hice has completed numerous programs including culinary, personal development and analyzing and interpreting poetry, just to name a few. 

"That's what it's all about. Reduce recidivism, end generational incarceration and instill hope and values in the people who come out of this place. We hope to send them back into the community better than when they arrived," said Fayette County Sheriff James Custer.

In a recent study by Harvard, one month of I.G.N.I.T.E. reduces weekly jail misconduct by 49%, reduces three-month recidivism by 19% and one-year recidivism by 23%.

By reducing the rate of rearrests, the study shows over $500,000 used toward inmate incarceration costs was saved. 

"They're here for punishment but they're not here to be punished. Once they're in here they might as well use their time productively," said Fayette County Jail Warden John Lenkey.

"I do believe this is the future of corrections and rehabilitation without a doubt there's no question about that," Lenkey said.

Hice has become somewhat of the poster child for the I.G.N.I.T.E. program inside these prison walls. He proudly dons the blue uniform synonymous with the program and eagerly promotes it to any of the 164 inmates who ask.

"I pray this reaches at least one person," Hice said.