BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Officials in Louisiana hope to reduce the number of inmates who return to prison after additional crimes.

The Advocate reports that prison officials hope a renewed federal grant on recidivism will allow them to build on the success from the last decade when former inmates returned to prison at decreasing rates. State officials plan to bring back a program that focuses on inmates with both mental illness and substance abuse problems as they completed their sentences.

The revised Second Chance Act program will work with prisoners returning to the Baton Rouge and St. Tammany areas both before and after their release. The state's recidivism rate among high-risk and high-need inmates who returned to prison within three years dropped 12 percent between 2004 and 2014, according to a national justice organization.