LANSING - As a parole officer in Detroit, Russ Marlan saw a pattern among parolees that ended with half of them landing back behind bars. 

"They wouldn't have an ID, a place to stay, a job, or transportation," said Marlan, now a press officer for the state Department of Corrections. 

"Even if they did find a job that day, they wouldn't see a paycheck for two weeks, so it's not hard to figure out what's going to happen.  They do what they need to and end up going back to prison."

The Michigan Prisoner Re-Entry Initiative began a year ago, and early numbers are promising, according to the department. Out of 700 people in the program, about 120 have been returned to prison, roughly 17 percent. 

By comparison, of the 11,000 paroled each year on average, 48 percent return to prison within two years, said Marlan.

"Although our recidivism rate is 10 percent lower than the national average, we still think that it's too high," he said.

Elaine Wood, deputy director of the Traverse City-based Northwest Michigan Council of Governments, said the initiative is going well. 

 "The community is very committed to making transitions successful," Wood said.  The council oversees the program in nine rural counties: Antrim, Benzie, Crawford, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Leelanau, Missaukee, Otsego and Wexford.

Under the initiative, transition teams meet with parolees before and after their release.  The program helps prisoners get a driver's license or state identification card, arrange transportation, find housing and search for a job.

 The goals of the initiative are to promote public safety by reducing the threat of harm from ex-inmates and to increase the success of offenders making the transition from prison to society, the council said.

Terry Jungel, executive director of the Michigan Sheriffs' Association, said, "The failure rate of people on parole is staggering.  We do have an obligation to do something."

The initiative benefits both the community and the parolee, Jungel said.  "Every time we have a criminal, we have a victim, and fewer criminal means fewer victims."

Barbara Levine, executive director of the Citizen's Alliance on Prisons and Public Spending, said that although the group supports the concept, "it is not a total answer to reducing the prison population."

There's a cost factor too.  According to Marlan, it costs the state about $117 million a year to keep parole failures in prison.

The re-entry initiative involves a three-phase model for getting ready, going home and staying home.  The goal is that every inmate released will be able to succeed in the community.  A major measure of success is a reduction in crime.

Marlan said that in the future all released prisoners will go through the program.

Jungel said the state's sex-offender registry neither helps nor hinders a parolee's transition into society.  "It's just a requirement that would be transitioned into the model to comply with the rules and regulations of society, and one of those rules is to register."

The Senate Appropriations Corrections Subcommittee has approved the Corrections budget for 2006-07 that includes the prisoner re-entry initiative. 

Last year, eight pilot jurisdictions covering 16 counties participated in the program.  This year, seven more areas, including Oakland County, will be added, and the rest of the state will be brought in next year.

"Michigan's really on the cutting edge of this," said Jungel, "Michigan could be a leader nationally if this initiative is successful."