In October 2012, 285 BUILD leaders voted to focus on issues related to re-entry and recidivism. At the time, people were routinely being released by Lexington’s detention center into the community without an ID. Given that identification is necessary to get a job, find housing, open a bank account, and other basic tasks, this was a critical gap in the criminal justice system. BUILD discovered that the state of Indiana had developed the best program in the country for ensuring people were issued IDs before being released, and wanted the Fayette County Detention Center to follow the Indiana model. On April 16 2013, BUILD brought out 1,680 people to its Action Assembly. BUILD used that power to negotiate and win commitments from the Fayette County Circuit Court Clerk and the Director of the Fayette County Detention Center to develop a program to ensure inmates have a state-issued photo ID prior to their release. Out of 41 inmates who are in a designated re-entry program, 21 have received assistance in getting IDs prior to their release to date.
