OPERA -- Oregon Prevention Education Recovery Association

Debra Gilmour, Executive Director

Tim Hartnett, President; CODA

Barbara Seatter, Vice President; Cascadia

Ann-Marie Bilderback, Secretary; Prevention & Recovery NW

Don Ziegler, Treasurer; Serenity Lane

Rick Treleavan, Immediate Past President; Bestcare Treatment Services

Eric Martin, Member at Large; ACCBO

Sheila North, Member at Large; Depaul Treatment Centers

Subcommittee Chairs

Richard Drandoff, Professional Development; ChangePoint, Inc.

Judy Cushing, Prevention; Oregon Partnership

Bart Murray, Rural Representative; New Directions

Tanya Pritt, Youth; Milestones

Phyllis Stewart, Cultural Diversity; NARA

Policy

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Senate Subcommittee Conducts Hearing on Federal, State and Local Reentry Initiatives; Witnesses Testify in Support of Continuum of Education, Employment, Housing, and Addiction Treatment Services in Prison, Jail and Community

On Thursday, September 21st, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Corrections and Rehabilitation held a hearing, “Oversight of Federal Assistance for Prisoner Rehabilitation and Reentry in Our States.” The hearing was led by Subcommittee Chairman Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Ranking Member Richard Durbin (D-IL); additional Subcommittee members who participated in the hearing were Senators Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Sam Brownback (R-KS).

Witnesses providing testimony to the Subcommittee were: Regina Schofield, Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs; Mason Bishop, Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration; Robert Bogart, Director of the Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives at the Department of Housing and Urban Development; Cheri Nolan, Senior Policy Advisor on Criminal and Juvenile Justice at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA); Roger Werholtz, Secretary of the Kansas Department of Corrections; and Diane Williams, President and CEO of the Safer Foundation, Chicago, IL.

In general, the Senators in attendance at the hearing expressed their support for programs that aid individuals who are reentering the community from prison or jail. Senator Coburn emphasized that people who have committed crimes and have paid their debt to society should be encouraged to succeed and stay crime-free. Noting the high rate of recidivism among formerly incarcerated people, Senator Coburn cited the prevalence of alcohol and other drug use by people in the criminal justice system and lack of drug addiction treatment services in the institutions. Senator Coburn expressed his strong support for drug addiction treatment, asserting that treatment offers hope and a real chance to people with addiction histories. In addition, Senator Coburn highlighted the importance of providing education, vocational education, and employment services to people in prison and reentering individuals. Senator Coburn also raised the issue of legal and policy barriers that people with criminal records face, discussing the critical need for housing for reentering people. In particular, Senator Coburn expressed that the Department of Housing and Urban Development could change some of their rules and regulations governing public housing for people with criminal records so that people could have a safe place to live once they return home from incarceration.

Senator Durbin began his comments by noting that the number of people incarcerated in the United States continues to rise and that approximately two-thirds of people coming out of the criminal justice system commit additional crimes and end up cycling back through the criminal justice system. Senator Durbin expressed his support for providing people in prison with educational services, including Pell Grants so that they can obtain the skills and requirements necessary for employment upon release, noting research that people are less likely to commit crimes if they receive educational services.

Senator Durbin voiced his concern with the current policy that precludes people in prison from receiving Pell Grants for educational classes. Senator Durbin also spoke of the prevalence of untreated drug and alcohol addiction among people in the criminal justice system, and emphasized that people with drug and alcohol problems need treatment. In addition to discrimination that people with criminal records experience in employment, Senator Durbin also discussed the overrepresentation of people of color in the criminal justice system. Senator Durbin expressed his strong concern with the disproportionate representation of African American men in the criminal justice system and the impact it has on entire communities; he cited a recent study conducted in New York City which found that African American men without criminal records were less likely to be hired than Caucasian men with criminal records.

Senator Brownback expressed his strong support for mentoring, and his belief that it eases the isolation that people face while they are incarcerated and are separated from their families and communities. Noting that most of the two million incarcerated people in the United States will be reentering home, Senator Brownback expressed his strong willingness to work to keep people from recidivating. Chief sponsor of the Second Chance Act reentry legislation, Senator Brownback expressed his hope that the legislation would pass through the Congress this session. In his comments, Senator Sessions spoke in strong support for drug courts, emphasizing that drug addiction treatment services in combination with accountability measures are extremely effective.

Assistant Attorney General Schofield discussed the costs of criminal activity and that reentry programs seek to help people to live crime-free in the community. Ms. Schofield discussed the SVORI (Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative) program and some of the lessons learned by implementing various aspects of the program. Citing SVORI as an example, Ms. Schofield highlighted the importance of faith-based and community organizations, neighborhood residents, local police, state and local government officials, corrections staff, probation and parole officers, addiction treatment providers, and others all working together to ensure that efforts to help the reentering individual are comprehensive and coordinated. Ms. Schofield emphasized that providing reentering individuals with mentoring, job training and employment services helped people to reenter successfully. Ms. Schofield also said that the Department of Justice was taking what they had learned through the SVORI program and applying it to the President’s Prisoner Reentry Initiative, and expressed that she, President Bush and Attorney General Gonzales believe that reentry is one of the most pressing criminal justice issues today.

Deputy Assistant Secretary Bishop of the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration acknowledged the barriers to employment that people with criminal records face, asserting that the fastest growing jobs require degrees and that a high percentage of people with criminal records lack the educational requirements to obtain these jobs. In addition to supporting educational and vocational education services for incarcerated adults, Mr. Bishop also expressed the need for young people to receive these educational services. Mr. Bishop also noted the huge number of people who will be retiring from the workforce and the need for additional workers, including formerly incarcerated people, in the American job market. In his recommendations to the Subcommittee, Mr. Bishop cited the importance of providing reentering individuals with comprehensive transitional services, including job development and placement services, and emphasized that employers should also be brought into the process.

In his testimony to the Subcommittee Robert Bogart, Director of the Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, expressed that comprehensive solutions can leading to self-sufficiency and dignity for formerly incarcerated people. Mr. Bogart cited the importance of wrap-around services, as well as mental health and job training services and transitional housing to help the reentering person successfully return to the community. Mr. Bogart emphasized the need for strong partnerships between state and local agencies and officials with community and faith-based organizations.

Cheri Nolan, Senior Policy Advisor on Criminal and Juvenile Justice at SAMHSA, discussed the costs of crime and the impact of recidivism on communities. Ms. Nolan asserted that there is a strong connection between achieving public safety by supporting public health efforts, such as mental health and treatment services for addiction to alcohol and other drugs. Ms. Nolan noted the high number of people who were using illicit drugs at the time of arrest and expressed that SAMHSA sought to help support states and localities with providing treatment to people with addiction histories who have been involved in the criminal justice system. Ms. Nolan cited the need for and effectiveness of addiction prevention and treatment services and recovery support services; in addition, Ms. Nolan discussed success with jail diversion programs, drug courts and drug treatment courts for helping people to become healthy and crime-free.

Diane Williams, President and CEO of Chicago’s Safer Foundation, began by acknowledging that reentry has often been perceived as a state and local issue, but asserted that the federal government has a vital role to play in helping providers serve people with criminal records. Emphasizing that state and federal agencies need to be working more closely together, Ms. Williams expressed her support for the Second Chance Act and its provisions for helping to improve planning and coordination of reentry efforts. Ms. Williams discussed how complex the issue of reentry is and how complicated reentering people’s needs are. Highlighting the importance of expanding educational services, vocational education, employment options, drug addiction treatment, housing, and case management services for formerly incarcerated people, Ms. Williams argued that reentering people need multi-faceted solutions. In particular, Ms. Williams cited research that education and employment have the greatest impact on recidivism.

Among the recommendations Ms. Williams offered to the Subcommittee were: to ensure that federal assistance is comprehensive and directed towards community-based groups that are in a position to provide coordinated services, to focus on hard outcomes such as employment and educational attainment, to reinstate access to Pell Grants during prison, to include a transitional jobs component to the President’s Prisoner Reentry Initiative, to encourage the Department of Labor and Department-funded state agencies that review labor shortage projections to coordinate with prison systems, and to increase the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, which provides an incentive for employers to hire, train, and retain job seekers, including “qualified ex-felons,” who often experience barriers to employment, from $2,400 to $10,000.

Roger Werholtz, Secretary of the Kansas Department of Corrections, noted that although spending for the criminal justice system continues to rise, recidivism rates are also increasing. Mr. Werholtz discussed the importance of collaboration and coordination among federal and state agencies, and spoke in strong support of the federal government’s role of providing technical assistance and training to agencies overseeing and programs serving reentering people. In addition, Mr. Werholtz cited federal grant programs such as SVORI and the Violent Offender Incarceration/Truth In Sentencing (VOI/TIS) program as having significantly influenced state level correctional practice and state sentencing policies.

Additional information about the Subcommittee’s reentry hearing, including full witness testimony and additional member statements, can be found at: http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearing.cfm?id=2072.