The last few weeks have taken me to conferences in Texas, Kansas, Florida, Iowa, Michigan and Georgia. Prisoner reentry was a major focus at each of these meetings. People across the country and at every level of government are seeking ways to better prepare offenders to return to their communities safely and successfully. The conferences attracted a cross-section of stakeholders in the criminal justice field: families of inmates, victims, pastors, corrections officers, probation officers, police and community activists. They were unanimous on two issues: One, we need to end the recycling of prisoners in and out of prison; and two, the government can’t do it alone – the church has to step forward to build relationships with returning offenders.

The movement to improve the preparation of inmates reentering society is gaining momentum at all levels: in local communities, in state governments and in federal agencies. The Department of Labor recently announced that it will give $19.8 Million to Faith-Based and Community Organizations for employment-centered programs that incorporate mentoring, job training, and other comprehensive transitional services.

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At the website of the Department of Labor’s Center for Faith-Based & Community Initiatives, you will find a treasure trove of information including videos of workshops on how to apply for funding, manage grants, and look for private funding. The site includes FAQ’s about funding and links to many related sites.

On the legislative front, Congressmen Rob Portman and Danny Davis have introduced the Second Chance Act of 2005, H.R. 1704, which has a broad, bipartisan group of co-sponsors. Senators Brownback, Specter, and Biden are expected to introduce a similar bill very soon.

The Portman/Davis bill provides:

• Demonstration Grants: Reauthorizes the Reentry Demonstration project with an enhanced focus on jobs, housing, substance abuse treatment/mental health, and children and families. The bill increases the funding for demonstration programs and creates performance outcome standards.
• NationalOffenderReentryResourceCenter: Establishes a resource center for local governments, states, service providers, faith-based organizations, corrections, and community organizations to collect and distribute the best reentry practices and provide training and support for reentry.
• Federal Taskforce: Creates a federal interagency taskforce to identify programs and resources about reentry, identify ways for government workers to better collaborate, and develop both interagency initiatives and a national reentry research agenda. The taskforce would review and report to Congress on the federal barriers that inhibit successful reentry. It would also recommend ways to improve the system.
• Offender Reentry Research: Authorizes the National Institute of Justice and the Bureau of Justice Statistics to conduct research about reentry.
• Mentoring Grants to Nonprofit Organizations: Establishes a grant program to help fund nonprofit organizations that provide mentoring and transitional services to adult and juvenile offenders.
• Carlie’s Law: Requires that federal felons who commit a violent crime against a minor child under the age of 16 automatically forfeit their probation or supervised release.

This legislation is the result of tremendous effort by groups that span the political spectrum. We had to abandon some of the bolder initiatives and accept the wording of Carlie’s Law in order to gain sufficient legislative support. However, the bill is a major step in our campaign to refocus our criminal justice system so that offenders can lead-law abiding lives.

You can find the text of the Portman/Davis bill at http://thomas.loc.gov/. Just type in “HR 1704” in the search box.

There are many more resources and links at Justice Fellowship’s Reentry Page.