Parallel Workshops
Corrections systems around the world are under pressure. Rising populations, aging incarcerated individuals, and increasingly complex needs. California's experience over the past decade offers one answer to how structured, community-based reentry can actually work: reducing recidivism, cutting costs, and easing strain on state prison infrastructure while increasing public safety and successful reentry. Since 2016, Amity Foundation has operated the Male Community Reentry Program (MCRP) in partnership with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and since 2021, the Female Community Reentry Program (FCRP). These voluntary, phased programs allow eligible individuals to serve the final portion of their sentence in a structured community setting, with advancement tied to demonstrated accountability and growth. Independent evaluation and internal CDCR data both show meaningful, lasting reductions in recidivism for men and women alike, alongside real cost savings compared to traditional incarceration. Every new community facility opened effectively offsets a prison housing unit. This presentation explores that model and the cross-sector collaboration spanning corrections, workforce development, healthcare, education, and housing that makes it run.
As President and CEO of Amity Foundation, Doug Bond leads all facets of the organization, overseeing dozens of contracts in California and Arizona, including four residential campuses serving over 500 people with histories of criminal justice system involvement, addiction, and homelessness per day. Bond first went to Amity in 1983 after being in several foster homes and was reunited with his father who had been incarcerated.
Bond has been instrumental in expanding Amity’s California services, which have increased from serving 2,000 to over 47,000 people each year. He has helped to ensure that men and women with lived experience have the same opportunities he has been given. Under his leadership, Amity now provides in-prison services in all 31 prisons throughout the state of California, and has implemented significant state and county contracts serving Los Angeles County to coordinate post-release services for individuals returning to the community from state prisons, as well as youth coming out of the juvenile justice system. He has also led the development of new California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) initiative to provide enhanced care management for the justice involved population in five southern CA counties. Finally, Bond also served on the design and management team for the Just In Reach (JIR) jail project funded through the Department of Health Services which works to serve some of the most at risk for recidivism and homelessness. Finally, Amity is currently developing 300 units of permanent housing and over 200 more beds for residential services throughout the state.
Ryan Souza is a Sacramento-based attorney, lobbyist, and consultant with deep expertise in health and human services, criminal justice, and labor and employment.
Mr. Souza’s background spans both local county and California State Government, including direct work with State agencies, the Legislative Analyst’s Office, and the Department of Finance. Prior to founding his own firm - which provides lobbying, consulting, and legal services - Ryan lobbied on behalf of local counties through the California State Association of Counties, served as Associate County Counsel for litigation coordination at the County Counsels’ Association of California, and led criminal justice technical assistance efforts to improve local probation programming. Before that, he spent over a decade at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), where he was twice appointed Deputy Director over the Division of Rehabilitative Programs, overseeing budget and legislative policy, administration, technology, and community-based programming. Earlier in his tenure at CDCR, he held several positions within the Budget Policy Branch, including Chief over Institution Field Operations and Assistant Chief over Technical Operations, serving as the department's subject matter expert on budget, policy, and stakeholder coordination across Health Care Services, adult institutions, contract beds, juvenile justice, and state budgeting processes. In that role, he helped guide the department through complex fiscal periods, including championing expanded health care services under federal receivership, navigating state furloughs, and advancing rehabilitative programming initiatives.
