"Breaking into Prison": Nothing helps reduce the number of ex-convicts who return to prison, he says, like participating in religious programs while inside. Earning a high school equivalency degree in prison reduces the chance of returning by 4 percent. Having a job waiting on the outside is worth another 14 percent, he says, but participating in a religious program half the time they're locked up is good for a 36 percent reduction. "The national repeat offender rate is 67 percent — Louisiana's is down to 50," Downing says. "We must be doing something right.