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LAPLACE — The St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office recognized nine inmates who successfully completed the Opportunity Now Re-Entry Program at a graduation ceremony May 20, 2021 at the Sherman Walker Correctional Facility in LaPlace.

Warden Gordon Jeffcoat and Assistant Warden Geo Giovingo congratulated the graduates on their accomplishments in the program and stressed that they should continue to work hard as they rebuild their lives.

Opportunity Now is the only re-entry program with built-in job placement, case management and follow along services in the state. The local program is a collaborative effort between the St. John Sheriff’s Office, the Louisiana Workforce Commission, Louisiana Rehabilitation Services and the Louisiana Department of Corrections to provide work readiness, job placement and other self-sufficiency services to qualified inmates.

Re-Entry participants are required to successfully complete three months of intensive work readiness and life skills training. The courses are designed to help inmates make better choices and to cope with a variety of issues they may face upon re-entering society.

Sheriff Tregre, who started this program within the SJSO in 2014, said he is proud of the Opportunity Now partnership with the Louisiana Workforce Commission, Louisiana Rehabilitation Services and the Louisiana Department of Corrections.

“These agencies, working together, are assisting in the rehabilitation of inmates and helping inmates transition into society to become productive members of society,” Sheriff Tregre said. “I’m very pleased that this program gives people a second chance to do the right thing.”