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Senate Clears Prisoner Bill
Gary Fields reports on prisons.
After three years of procedural and legislative delays, a prisoner re-entry bill first introduced in 2005 has cleared the Senate and is heading to the president’s desk.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.) on Monday lifted his legislative “hold” on the bill that had prevented any action on it for weeks; he had a number of concerns, including some on the cost and effectiveness of the programs. His Alabama colleague, Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, then placed his own hold on the bill, but lifted it on Tuesday.
Associated Press The Second Chance Act passed Tuesday evening, and is now expected to be signed by President Bush. The measure provides about $180 million a year in 2009 and 2010 for prisoner re-entry services to curb a recidivism rate that has held steady at about 66%, meaning that two-thirds of all inmates released annually from state and federal prisons re-offend or violate the conditions of their release within three years and are locked back up. Close to 700,000 people a year are released from prisons, according to Justice Department statistics.
The recidivism rate is one of the reasons the nation’s prison population has grown to more than 2.2 million from 501,886 in 1980. As a result, corrections costs are among the fastest growing expenditures for states. Annual criminal-justice expenditures for police, prisons, probation and courts have risen to more than $200 billion from $36 billion in 1982.
The bill provides more than $360 million in 2009 and 2010 to help prisoners return to society. Among the services it calls for is help for inmates in obtaining identification documents such as birth certificates and social security cards prior to release from prison. In addition, it provides federal funding for the development of programs that deal with substance abuse, family stability, job training and even offer financial incentives to employers who hire former prisoners. One key component at the federal level calls for the Bureau of Prisons to provide inmates with a sufficient amount of medication as they leave the facilities, in addition to helping them link to medical services.
One of the chief architects of the bill, Illinois Democrat, Rep. Danny Davis, said he hopes the bill, beyond the money, triggers a discussion at the state and local levels about incarceration and alternatives to imprisonment.
“We add this up and the impact will be far greater than just the amount of money that gets appropriated. We know it’s not a panacea,” he said. “It’s not close to any kind of panacea but our hope is this becomes a sort of trigger for a great deal of additional action.”
The bill’s passage comes at a time when states are grappling with rising costs and looking for ways to reduce prison construction. States like Kansas and Texas have all undertaken programs that emphasize drug treatment and cutting the recidivism rates as a way to save hundreds of millions of dollars in the coming years.
Washington Wire - WSJ.com : Senate Clears Prisoner Bill
Gary Fields reports on prisons.
After three years of procedural and legislative delays, a prisoner re-entry bill first introduced in 2005 has cleared the Senate and is heading to the president’s desk.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.) on Monday lifted his legislative “hold” on the bill that had prevented any action on it for weeks; he had a number of concerns, including some on the cost and effectiveness of the programs. His Alabama colleague, Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, then placed his own hold on the bill, but lifted it on Tuesday.
Associated Press The Second Chance Act passed Tuesday evening, and is now expected to be signed by President Bush. The measure provides about $180 million a year in 2009 and 2010 for prisoner re-entry services to curb a recidivism rate that has held steady at about 66%, meaning that two-thirds of all inmates released annually from state and federal prisons re-offend or violate the conditions of their release within three years and are locked back up. Close to 700,000 people a year are released from prisons, according to Justice Department statistics.The recidivism rate is one of the reasons the nation’s prison population has grown to more than 2.2 million from 501,886 in 1980. As a result, corrections costs are among the fastest growing expenditures for states. Annual criminal-justice expenditures for police, prisons, probation and courts have risen to more than $200 billion from $36 billion in 1982.
The bill provides more than $360 million in 2009 and 2010 to help prisoners return to society. Among the services it calls for is help for inmates in obtaining identification documents such as birth certificates and social security cards prior to release from prison. In addition, it provides federal funding for the development of programs that deal with substance abuse, family stability, job training and even offer financial incentives to employers who hire former prisoners. One key component at the federal level calls for the Bureau of Prisons to provide inmates with a sufficient amount of medication as they leave the facilities, in addition to helping them link to medical services.
One of the chief architects of the bill, Illinois Democrat, Rep. Danny Davis, said he hopes the bill, beyond the money, triggers a discussion at the state and local levels about incarceration and alternatives to imprisonment.
“We add this up and the impact will be far greater than just the amount of money that gets appropriated. We know it’s not a panacea,” he said. “It’s not close to any kind of panacea but our hope is this becomes a sort of trigger for a great deal of additional action.”
The bill’s passage comes at a time when states are grappling with rising costs and looking for ways to reduce prison construction. States like Kansas and Texas have all undertaken programs that emphasize drug treatment and cutting the recidivism rates as a way to save hundreds of millions of dollars in the coming years.
Washington Wire - WSJ.com : Senate Clears Prisoner Bill
