Better Together · Criminal Justice

$44,000 a year
to incarcerate.
$240 to intervene.

5.6 million Americans are under correctional supervision. 71% of released prisoners are rearrested within five years. Untreated mental illness, trauma, and isolation drive that number — not lack of accountability. Better Together creates the licensed behavioral-health bridge that supervision and reentry systems have never had.

5.6M Under Supervision 71% Five-Year Rearrest Rate 756K With Mental Illness in Custody $44K Annual Incarceration Cost Patent Filed
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The Economic Argument

The math makes itself.
$44,000 vs. $240.

This is not a compassion argument, though compassion is warranted. It is a fiscal argument. Every person who cycles back into custody costs the system $44,000 per year. A full course of BTG group therapy — 8 sessions at $30 — costs $240. If it prevents one reincarceration, it pays for itself 183 times over. The question isn't whether to fund intervention. It's why intervention is still this rare.

Annual Cost to Incarcerate
$44K
per person per year (federal; state avg: $42K)
Bureau of Prisons FY2023 cost-of-incarceration fee. State averages range from $25K (Alabama) to $69K (California). Local jail costs average $47K annually per the Vera Institute. 71% of released prisoners are rearrested within five years. 46% return to prison.
183× the cost of BTG intervention
BTG Full Intervention Course
$240
8 sessions × $30 per person
Structured, clinician-supervised group therapy. Documented. Measurable. Continuity across supervision and reentry. If one in 183 participants avoids a single year of reincarceration, the entire cohort pays for itself. Evidence suggests far better outcomes than that.
Break-even: 1 in 183
5.6M
Adults under correctional
supervision (2023)
71%
Five-year rearrest rate
for released state prisoners
756K
Incarcerated people
with mental illness
7.6M
Annual local jail admissions —
repeated intervention points
Five-Year Recidivism — Released State Prisoners
Rearrested
within 5 years
71%
Returned to
prison within 5 yrs
46%
With mental illness
(prison)
37%
With mental illness
(jail)
44%
Market Opportunity

1.5M justice-involved adults
with mental illness.
$37M at 10% capture.

The direct revenue model is intentionally conservative. The larger public value comes from fewer failed handoffs, fewer avoidable jail days, fewer revocations, stronger reentry support, and reduced recidivism. A single prevented reincarceration at $44K pays for 183 BTG intervention courses.

Market LayerCohortCurrent StateBTG Relevance
Community supervision3.77MProbation / paroleLargest reachable population
State + federal prisons1.25MYearend custodyReentry + facility groups
Local jails664K32-day avg stayShort-stay triage + diversion
Custody with mental illness~756K37% prison; 44% jailImmediate clinical-fit cohort
Probation with mental illness~792K21% benchmarkCompliance + support target
BTG 10% capture~155K8 sessions × $30$37M direct revenue

Conservative model using point-in-time MI cohort. Reduced recidivism value not included — this understates total impact significantly.

Proposed Justice Pilot
Referral Base
10,000 justice-involved
probation, reentry, jail, diversion
BTG Pilot Scale
500–2,000 participants
6–8 group sessions
Measured Outcome
Recidivism reduction
documented continuity
fewer failed handoffs
Reincarceration Savings Calculator
Justice-involved participants 1,000
$30K
BTG intervention cost
(8 sessions × $30)
$5.5M
Savings if 0.5%
avoid reincarceration
How it works — six steps
01
Justice referral. Entry from probation, parole, jail release, reentry teams, diversion courts, public defenders, behavioral-health courts, or facility programs.
02
Sage triage and fit screen. Short intake checks need, risk, group suitability, substance-use overlap, language, schedule, release status, and immediate safety concerns.
03
Dynamic group matching. Matched by issue, acuity, supervision status, reentry stage, language, and trauma profile — not by crime type or custody status.
04
Licensed clinician-led group. Structured support for anxiety, depression, trauma, family reconnection, and reentry adjustment. Clinician supervises and can override at any moment.
05
Compliance-safe documentation. Attendance, engagement, escalation flags, and clinician notes support reentry planning. Sage is not a surveillance tool. Documentation supports care, not supervision.
06
Escalation and continuity. Higher-risk participants route to clinician review, crisis resources, case management, substance-use treatment, or coordinated agency handoff — with full session history.
Important Principle
Better Together is a voluntary, therapeutic support system — not a supervision tool, not a compliance monitoring mechanism, and not a risk assessment platform. Participation is confidential within the clinical relationship. Sage is not an extension of probation or parole. This distinction is essential to therapeutic trust and clinical effectiveness. Partnering agencies must maintain this boundary.
Where BTG Plugs In

Six justice system entry channels.

Better Together connects to existing justice pathways — it doesn't require building new infrastructure. Each channel has a different argument and a different decision-maker.

⚖️
Diversion
Behavioral Health Courts
Mental health courts and drug courts mandate treatment participation. BTG group care qualifies as a mandated treatment option — structured, licensed, documented, and continuity-tracked across the supervision period.
🏛️
Supervision
Probation / Parole
3.77M adults on probation or parole — the largest reachable population. Probation officers with high caseloads cannot provide behavioral health support. BTG gives officers a structured referral pathway for clients showing mental health or compliance risk signals.
🚪
Reentry
Prison / Jail Release
The first 72 hours post-release are the highest-risk period for recidivism and overdose. BTG group enrollment at the point of release provides immediate community connection and structured support before isolation and stress trigger cycling.
🏥
Facility
In-Custody Programs
Short-stay jails (32-day average) need interventions that start inside and continue post-release. BTG's persistent identity means the relationship survives custody transitions — the same Sage, the same history, on the outside.
🏘️
Community
Reentry Organizations
Nonprofits, faith organizations, and community reentry programs serve justice-involved populations without clinical licensure. BTG provides the licensed clinical layer these organizations cannot staff independently — at a price they can access.
💰
Federal Funding
Second Chance Act / DOJ Grants
The Second Chance Act and DOJ's Bureau of Justice Assistance fund reentry and recidivism-reduction programs. BTG's documented outcome model and licensed clinical delivery qualify as evidence-based practices under these grant frameworks.
Sara Whitley, LCSW Clinical Architect · Better Together · Compliance & Review Board

$44,000 to incarcerate.
$240 to intervene.

We're not asking for a policy commitment. We're asking twenty minutes to show you what this looks like for your system, your population, your reentry challenge.

Request a Demo → btgx.com
864.477.7991 · sara@b2gx.com · btgx.com · better-together.health
Source Basis
DOJ/BJS correctional population, prison, jail, prisoner mental-health, and recidivism reports; SAMHSA criminal and juvenile justice behavioral-health summary; Pew probation mental-health analysis; Federal Register FY2023 Bureau of Prisons cost-of-incarceration fee ($44,090); Vera Institute jail cost benchmark ($47,057 annual avg). Key figures: 3.772M on probation/parole; 1.853M incarcerated; 1.254M state/federal prisoners; 664.2K local jail inmates; 7.6M annual jail admissions; 37% prison and 44% jail mental-illness estimates; 21% probation mental-illness benchmark; 71% five-year rearrest rate and 46% five-year return-to-prison rate for released state prisoners (BJS 2023).