Last month the president signed the Second Chance Act, which aims to reduce repeat offenses and help prisoners rejoin their communities. Support for Second Chance was refreshingly bipartisan in Pennsylvania and around the country. In a historical shift, the legislation cast a wide net to address reentry not only for the 700,000 people released from prisons each year but the 9 million men and women exiting local jails.

This distinction is crucial -- the jail population can't be overlooked when considering correctional reforms. Nationally, jails process as many people in three weeks as prisons do in a year. About 95 out of every 100 people leaving lock-up are released from local jails, not state or federal prisons.

Prisons and jails face different challenges and opportunities that require distinctly different responses. The average prison stay is 2.5 years. In jails, about 80 percent of inmates are out in less than a month, leaving little time for treatment programs or job training. And while prisoners have already been sentenced for serious crimes, 60 percent of the jail population awaits trial and conviction.

Another difference: Released prisoners are normally supervised by parole officers. Not so for those let out of jail, though jails have a high-needs population very similar to prisons. Sixty-eight percent of the jailed have substance abuse or dependency problems, 60 percent lack a high school diploma or GED and 16 percent grapple with serious mental health problems. In the year before incarceration, 30 percent had been unemployed, another 30 percent were underemployed and 14 percent were homeless.

But most jails don't have the time or capacity to tackle inmates' deep-rooted problems. This is where community organizations come in. Since jails and their inmates are local, services provided on the inside can continue on the outside.

Why would local agencies want to get involved with jail inmates? For starters, agencies such as workforce development and family and child welfare services are already working with the jail population and their families. Some 64 percent of women and 43 percent of men booked in the Allegheny County Jail between 2003 and 2005 received services from the Department of Human Services, and 72 percent of chronic offenders -- those booked five or more times over two years -- were also clients of at least one DHS program. Repeat offenders tend to be heavy users of human services.

This insight hasn't escaped Pennsylvania. Allegheny County Jail Collaborative interventions begin in jail and continue after release, thanks to more than two dozen community-based organizations. Jail, probation and social service providers work together to assess clients' risks and needs. Case managers create re-entry plans with inmates 60 to 120 days before they're released and follow individuals up to a year after release. And it seems to be working.

A University of Pittsburgh evaluation suggests this approach is reducing crime and saving money. Recidivism among 300 participants in the local jail re-entry initiative dropped by 50 percent, amounting to annual savings for Allegheny County of more than $5.3 million. Allegheny County's success shows what's possible, and the benefits reaped would expand exponentially if the approach were taken to scale in the county and the country.

Multiplying such gains will require changing the way local governments, community organizations and jails take responsibility for preparing inmates for their transition home. This is no easy feat considering that there are 3,365 independently operated U.S. jails. But dotting the country are jurisdictions -- large and small, urban and rural -- where community agencies have banded together with local jails to reduce recidivism, increase employment, reduce homelessness and improve public health.

If Congress funds the authorized $320 million for the Second Chance Act, it could speed adoption of local re-entry collaboratives. But even small, low-cost changes can make a difference, such as providing released inmates with information about service providers in the community and making sure they leave with proper IDs.

Stints in jail can be much more than temporary time-outs. They represent opportunities to intervene in 9 million lives, start dealing with pressing risks and needs, and reduce repeat offending.

Allegheny County is ahead of the curve here. Jails partnering with community-based organizations can make a dent in the populations in jails, in numbers of homeless and in unemployment rolls -- creating safer, healthier communities for all of us.