Reentry News Clips
Justice Center staff regularly post reentry news articles and editorials from newspapers across the country. While we try to include articles on a wide range of reentry issues from varied sources, this list should not be considered exhaustive. If you would like to suggest an article for inclusion, please contact us at editors@reentrypolicy.org
In addition, please note that the listings featured below are links to articles in their original sources. The Justice Center is not responsible for maintaining these sources, and less recent articles may no longer be available.
Date7/1/2009: Washington Times (DC): Ex-offenders can't find jobs
The Human Rights for Ex-Offenders Amendment Act would make former convicts a protected class under the D.C. Human Rights Act in an attempt to shield them from discrimination.
7/1/2009: USA Today: Study could ease concerns over hiring ex-offenders
A study funded by the Justice Department concludes that over time accused robbers, burglars and batterers pose no greater risk to employers than job candidates in the general population.
6/30/2009: Austin American-Statesman (TX): Ruling gives courts access to prison trust funds
Texas state prison convicts could soon see their trust funds — more than $33 million overseen by the state — getting tapped to pay overdue court costs and related expenses. A recent Texas Supreme Court decision allows prison officials to withdraw funds from the inmate trust accounts without first notifying a convict.
6/28/2009: Contra Costa Times (CA): Parolee re-entry program to end
Solano County's parolee re-entry program will cease operations on July 1. Founded three years ago on a $600,000 state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation grant, the parolee re-entry program provided skills training, case management and support for about 900 parolees released into Solano County. The program has since depleted the funding and has been unable to obtain more -- despite Fighting Back Partnership's contention that the program saves the state money by keeping parolees from re-offending and returning to prison.
Salt Lake County is contemplating an innovation that would provide a "door No. 2" for nonviolent offenders suspected of substance abuse or mental illness who get nabbed on minor offenses such as disorderly conduct or petty theft. Instead of putting them behind bars, police could send those wrongdoers to a "receiving center" that would assess their situation and recommend treatment, offering them a better shot at rehabilitation.
6/24/2009: The Miami Herald (FL): Change sought in Florida prison system
A call by Florida's most powerful business lobby to halt prison construction and reform the criminal justice system is gaining surprising traction among policymakers in the wake of a deepening budget crisis and growing evidence that building new prison beds will not reduce crime.
6/23/2009: Sacramento Bee (CA): California lawmaker arranges improper deal on parolees
In what state Sen. George Runner characterized as a "side agreement" with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the prison and parole agency said it would limit assignments of released offenders into the Antelope Valley to those who had "historical ties" to the area. CDCR officials, saying that the deal violated the law, terminated the agreement this spring.
6/23/2009: Niagara Gazette (NY): Protest calls for changes to sex offender placements
At least eight Level 2 and 3 sex offenders live inside the Midtown Inn, all convicted of offenses involving children between the ages of 6 and 13. The building, formerly the Zodiac Lounge, houses the largest concentration of sexual offenders in Niagara County.
Leadership Rhode Island, in partnership with the Newport County Prisoner Reentry Council, has invited key Newport business and community leaders to a luncheon forum to address the topic of Prisoner Reentry.
6/21/2009: Providence Journal (RI): Employers encouraged to offer ex-cons second chance
An estimated 27,000 men and women are on either probation or parole in Rhode Island. Most of them are in the northern part of the state, with Providence and Pawtucket accounting for nearly 40 percent. Woonsocket is third, with about 1,400, or 1 out of every 23 city residents, on some kind of supervised release. Thursday night, representatives of government agencies and social service organizations gathered in Harris Hall for a program called “Creating Second Chances,” about ways to keep those 1 in 23 residents in Woonsocket.
6/21/2009: Chillicothe Gazette (OH): CCI re-entry dorm aids with job training, other skills
The exercise is part of a typing class conducted in Chillicothe Correctional Institution's re-entry dorm. In this environment, Robinette and the 71 other residents focus solely on preparing for release from prison. Class topics range from life skills like managing money, parenting, and finding a job, to crime-related issues like conflict resolution, victim awareness, and anger management.
6/21/2009: The Buffalo News (NY): Dozens of sex offenders live in the Falls
A cluster of sex offenders living in a rooming house above a bar on Niagara Street violates a city ordinance, The Buffalo News has learned.
6/21/2009: St. Joseph News Press (MO): Parolees face challenges paying child support
Re-entry officials say ex-convicts emerge from prison facing menial employment, lowered earning power and a policy that may whisk them back to prison for debts built while behind bars. That contrasts with a tough prosecutor in St. Joseph who is unapologetic about recovering child support.
6/20/2009: Hartford Courant (CT): Ex-Offenders Need This Program To Succeed
STRIDE, now in its 10th year, provides transition training for felons three months before they're released.
6/19/2009: The Milford Daily News (MA): Glodis: Now's the time for prison reform
As the Legislature embraces the spirit of reform on Beacon Hill, including ethics, pension, education, health care and transportation, the biggest budget buster and the one that will have the largest impact on the safety of the commonwealth's citizenry continues to be a faint and distant glimmer in the halls of the State House: prison reform.
6/18/2009: Portland Press Herald (OR): Bailey envisions early work release for inmates
F. Lee Bailey made a pitch to business leaders on Wednesday, asking for help in developing an early release employment program for inmates at the state's jails and prisons.
6/18/2009: Woonsocket Call (RI): Ex-prisoners seek ‘second chances’
The Woonsocket Prisoner Reentry Council and Rhode Island Department of Corrections sponsored a forum designed to illuminate the problems ex-offenders face blending back into mainstream society.
6/18/2009: Centre Daily Times (PA): Sentencing bill needs rehabilitation
Pennsylvania's criminal justice system is in disarray and the steps we are taking to address the problem offer slim hope of success.
6/17/2009: The Nation: The War Against The War On Drugs
If that old adage still holds true, then the nation may soon see a gradual backpedaling from the criminal justice policies that have led to wholesale incarceration in recent decades.
The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency and the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare's Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) announce the creation of a special Mental Health and Justice Advisory Committee.