Domestic Violence Prevention

Approximately 5.3 million women ages 18 years and older are victims of intimate partner violence, resulting in more than 2 million injuries and 1,300 deaths each year (National Center for Injury Prevention and Control). 

The Number One goal of the Michigan Prisoner Re-Entry Initiative is Public Safety. One service area of the MPRI is domestic violence prevention. In addition, the Northwest region wanted to expand our work to support victims and survivors of domestic violence, and hold men responsible for their behavior. MPRI is partnering with the Women's Resource Center to increase awareness, encourage responsible and healthy family relationships, and support families with safety planning and supportive services.  

Women's Resource Center (WRC) partners with the Michigan Department of Corrections and the Northwest Michigan MRPI Steering Team to provide a seamless transition for men at risk of committing domestic violence.  

OUTCOMES of Domestic Violence Awareness Month

We are working to:

• Increase safety for partners and children
• Undo negative modeling and trauma for children
• Strengthen positive visions of manhood and fatherhood

Women's Resource Center and MPRI Partnership
WRC and MPRI are in partnership to prevent domestic violence and encourage responsible fatherhood supports. We seek to:

• End violence against women
• Encourage child well-being
• Foster responsible father involvement
• Provide social services for low-income men and women
• Support healthy family relationships
• Create greater community safety

WRC staff members go to Pugsley Correctional Facility and provide prevention and treatment services which help men identify the triggers for their aggressive behaviors and alternatives to violence as ways of reducing the likelihood of them becoming violent in the community.

At the same time, WRC helps family members develop safety plans prior to the prisoner's release. In this way, the family is part of the re-entry planning process for the returning citizen.

Pugsley correctional staff, the parole agent, and WRC staff work together with the prisoner to help the prisoner create a Transition Accountability Plan that considers not only what the prisoner needs upon release, but what the family and the community needs.

The goal of all members of the transition team is to improve community safety by preventing crime and promoting the success of former prisoners.