Dem Govs Look For Ways To Manage 'Explosion' Of Prisoners Leaving Jail

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Dem Govs Look For Ways To Manage 'Explosion' Of Prisoners Leaving Jail

February 24, 2008 5:34 PM

ABC News' Teddy Davis Reports: A group of Democratic governors warned Saturday that a dramatic rise in the number of prisoners coming home over the next few years is one of four sociological trends that threaten to engulf the United States in a new crime wave if steps are not taken at the state and federal levels.

"Each of us here is committed to sounding a national alarm that after a 14-year decline, crime is actually on the rise once again in America and each of us as governors is committed to getting ahead of this," said Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.

The Kansas Democrat made her remarks at a news conference to announce the release of a report by Third Way, a centrist Democratic think tank. She was joined by Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen. The "reentry explosion" is one of four trends identified in Third Way's report. The others are the "lengthening shadow of illegal immigration," the "sprawling parentless neighborhood of the Internet," and the surging youth population.

The enormous increase in the number of ex-cons coming home over the next five years is an outgrowth of the tough-on-crime policies followed over the last two decades. "Twenty years ago, fewer than 700,000 people populated the entire state and federal prison system," says the report. "Next year, 700,000 people will be released from prison and 3.5 million will be released over the next five years."

To address the "reentry explosion," Third Way recommends replacing "idleness with improvement" during each prisoner's incarceration, reconnecting prisoners with the community when their time behind bars winds down, and reconceptualizing parole.

The report recommends that an individualized 40-hour per week curriculum be developed for each prisoner to address barriers to success. Components of such a curriculum would include things such as literacy education, acquiring a GED, English as a second language, earning a two-year or college degree, mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment, parenthood training, and work designed to increase marketable skills on the outside.

For prisoners in the final 12 to 18 months of their prison sentences, the report recommends a series of measures to initiate a productive return home. Those measures include prison savings accounts, employment certificates, and state ID cards for those who have no other form of identification. The report also suggests connecting prisoners with employment opportunities and the expansion of family reunification programs.

Finally, the report recommends rethinking parole from "a culture of 'gotcha' to one of case management across state agencies and risk assessment and reduction for the community."

At the federal level, the report calls on Congress to pass the Second Chance Act, which would provide states with more resources to reduce recidivism. The report also calls for expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit (E.I.T.C.) for single males without children. At present, the maximum EITC benefit for a single person without children is approximately $400 per year. It is over $4,000 for a single person with two children. "This gap needs to be narrowed," says the report, "to encourage single males to enter the workplace and choose a productive, rather than destructive path."

In her home state of Kansas, Sebelius has been at the forefront in addressing prisoner re-entry.

After she was elected governor in 2002, it was anticipated that Kansas would have a prison population going up about 15 percent over a six year period of time, costing the state about $80 million in beds that it would have to add to its correction system.

"Because of the steps that we have taken both in terms of training in prison, looking at drug and alcohol programs, and partnering with communities' re-entry programs in big cities, where most of the inmates are returning, we have now been successful in flattening our prison population," said Sebelius. "We actually have fewer inmates today than we did when I came into office five years ago."

Similar to the think tank's work on issues such as national security and abortion, Third Way's anti-crime proposals are designed to put progressive goals in a new centrist framework.

"This is not about blaming society. The direct question we are trying to answer is what to do in the here and now about the 700,000 prisoners coming out right now every year," Third Way's Rachel Laser told ABC News. "And the answer there was turning prisons from idleness to productivity, a 40-hour work week ... with class and counseling and the like, and a parole system that changes from 'I gotcha' to more of a graduated system that reacts appropriately and doesn't just try to put people back in prison but strives towards a different goal. It strives to put people back in the communities."

February 24, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (22)

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I was dismayed to read this article, and the comments that follow, but not really surprised. This is the same old ACLU nonsense that's been going on for years.
First off, Mr. Slavery, let me make this very clear to you: Slavery is forcing people to work for little or no pay against their will without merit. Slavery was abusive and racist and had to do with white people (and muslims and plenty of others) claiming ownership of other humans based on the inferiority of skin color (and the fact that they were being sold by their own as forced-laborers). PRISONS are places where Criminals go. If you need to look up what a crime is, I suggest you hurry before the police show up at your door for some "free expression" you participated in recently. The fact is, society is set up and functions because of law. Thomas Hobbes' state of nature implies that every person is out for their own interests and as such there is no justice or moralism except by the consensus of the populace to maintain law. Under this definition, then, criminals are NOT a part of society. And I don't care if you're talking about a crackhead or someone who speeds. You do NOT commit crimes by accident. Involuntary manslaughter is a misnomer because it is still manslaughter, and the conviction is reached based on the fact that something you were WILLFULLY doing led you to the circumstance in which you accidentally killed someone. Even if it was something as simple as talking on the cell phone while driving, or going 10 mph over, you're still demonstrating an impatience and disregard for regulation and law which is, in fact, criminal. You are a criminal.
And WHY on earth does everyone suddenly want to pay 1000-2000 more in taxes a year to pay Criminals, of all people, to have free education? This is typical Liberalistic nonsense- make people pay into the government and the government will fix everything, even criminals. EVERY criminal considers their actions and the risk before they commit a crime. I'm talking about murderers, rapists, drug dealers (perhaps especially drug dealers), crackheads, burglers, people who commit income tax fraud, EVERY CRIME. You are in jail because you are guilty, not because you're misguided and made a mistake. The very idea that we should spend our tax dollars - and make no mistake, the government is pulling cash out of its ass for this - to educate criminals during their time in jail is as absurd as when an ivy league college a few years ago offered one of Al-Qaeda's top leaders a full scholarship so that "by being integrated into western thought" he might become a good peaceful muslim and love the west and capitalism (highly ironic considering how much ivy league colleges seem to hate the democracy and capitalism that sustains them.)
You want to make criminals stop committing crimes? Make it extremely unprofitable! What on earth will stop a down-on-his-luck 19 year old from committing armed robbery now when he knows that he'll serve maybe 5 years in jail, during which he'll get FREE education, GUARANTEED job placement, and guaranteed paid work while in the slammer? I'm paying $17000 a year to go to college right now, and I tell ya, I could use some government handouts. Maybe I should go attack someone or rob a store so I can get free handouts?
Lets try sending a message to the criminals, instead, that "here's your $200 and a parole officer, if you commit another crime we're doubling the sentence". It only makes sense after all...repeat offenses should have much higher crime-deterrent sentences on them. This way when Joe get out of the slammer, he'll be scared straight by the prospect of double sentences if he does something bad, and he'll maybe think "Hey I should be a responsible citizen and get a job and join society".
THAT is the sort of solution that works.

Posted by: Kevin B | Feb 27, 2008 11:44:59 AM

Wow, I think this discussion has gone off the subject and on the personal end regarding government handouts! The topic again is the effects of the prisoners that are going to soon be released. It is going to happen people! So do you want a recently released convict as your next door neighbor that has been handed $200 and a parole officer with no kind of job skills and cannot be reintegrated into society? I know I would feel better knowing the they have been able to provide some kind of guidance to these people

Posted by: Bri | Mar 3, 2008 5:07:10 PM

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