INDIANAPOLIS -- A program used in jails and prisons throughout central Indiana is reducing the number of violent offenders who are repeat offending.
Violence Free Living teaches men about where their violent tendencies come from and how to properly handle their emotions.
"When it comes to physical violence, it's just what I've seen. It's what I did," said Davaris White, repeat offender.
White has found himself behind bars for resisting law enforcement, possession and violating probation.
"At first, it's like, okay I'm in jail. This is what jail is. And then I went to prison. 'Oh, is this what prison is?' Now it's like, hey, I'm better than this," said White.
Since 2010, Lucia Sheehan has worked with more than 3,000 men in prisons and jails throughout central Indiana.
"People think it's not me, it's not my family, it's not in my area, it's not in my neighborhood, when it really is. It really is," said Sheehan.
In addition to learning how to identify and understand why they make violent choices, Violence Free Living programs help offenders develop the required skills to change that behavior.
38 percent of the men who have gone through the program have not returned to jail.
Over the past three years, roughly 37 percent of people incarcerated in Indiana have re-offended.
Sheehan is expanding her Violence Free Living program outside of correctional facilities. Click here for more information.
