RPC Newsletter - 12/20/2006

Council of State Governments Justice Center Launches Interactive Chart of Reentry Housing Options

 With funding support from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Council of State Governments Justice Center has developed a web-based tool to help users learn more about different reentry housing options available for people released from prison or jail. The chart compares housing types on several dimensions including potential funding sources, level of availability in the community, typical length of stay, and potential barriers to accessing a particular option. It also offers descriptions of programs that have successfully housed individuals returning to the community from prison or jail, and provides links to the programs' websites when available.

Ensuring that people released from prison and jail find appropriate places to live is critical to public safety and healthy families and communities. People who do not find stable housing in the community are more likely to recidivate than those who do. One study, conducted by the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2003, determined that, with each move after release from prison, a person's likelihood of rearrest increased by 25 percent. However, finding viable housing placements for these individuals is a daunting task. This chart attempts to help policymakers, corrections administrators, and transition planners to understand the housing options available in the community and to develop feasible housing plans for individuals involved in the criminal justice system.

To view this interactive chart, visit: http://tools.reentrypolicy.org/housing/.

For more information on housing and reentry, click here or contact Jordie Hannum.

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Announcements

 APPA Launches New Project on Reentry of Methamphetamine-Addicted Individuals

The American Probation and Parole Association (APPA) recently received a grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance to help community corrections agencies assess their supervision and programming strategies for addressing the needs of people addicted to methamphetamine (meth) who are released from prison or jail.

According to a 2006 study published by the US Department of Justice, meth addiction is seen as one of the most difficult substance abuse problems to treat. This population has unusually high rates of relapse due to protracted physiological and psychological problems caused by the drug. Individuals addicted to meth need careful supervision upon release from incarceration that is geared not only towards successful termination of their probation or parole term, but also towards their long-term sobriety and effective use of community resources. APPA will work to identify promising supervision and programming approaches for this population and offer technical assistance to up to three sites to help state and local jurisdictions enhance, develop, and implement effective strategies.

For more information about this project, contact Michelle Metts, research associate, or Kimberly Cobb, research associate.


Request for Proposals: Michigan Prisoner Reentry Initiative

On December 10, The Michigan Prisoner Reentry Initiative (MPRI) released a Request for Proposals from government, non-profit, and community based organizations to create and operate a family advocacy program. The program will serve the 10-18 families with members who are incarcerated or released to parole under MPRI supervision in Kent County.

Families will include the parent, his or her children, and the caregivers who are taking care of the children while the parent is incarcerated. The successful applicant will be awarded $61,500 to provide a range of services and trained in the family advocacy model with the assistance of the Council of State Governments and nationally recognized experts.

Deadline for proposals: January 5, 2007
To view the full annaouncement, click here.


Funding Opportunity: BJA Protecting Inmates and Safeguarding Communities

The Protecting Inmates and Safeguarding Communities Program is designed to support states' efforts to prevent and eliminate prisoner rape between people who are incarcerated in state and local prisons, jails, and law enforcement lock-up facilities and to safeguard the communities where people released from prison and jail return.

Applicants are encouraged to develop strategies, partnerships, and protocols that bridge correctional and community-based programs managing returning populations by making available training and technical assistance in successful methods for moderating prison population growth; identifying, analyzing, assessing, and mapping individual communities' risks and needs for released victims and sexual aggressors involved in prison sexual abuse and rape; promoting collaborative efforts among state and local governments and leaders of communities to address the effects of released inmates on those communities; and developing policies and programs that reduce prison spending by reducing parole and probation revocations.

Deadline for applications: January 18, 2007
For more information about this grant announcement and application requirements, click here.


Funding Opportunity: NPC 2007 Small Grants Program: Incarceration, Criminal Justice Policy and Poverty

The National Poverty Center (NPC) seeks to fund research that will examine the relationship between incarceration, criminal justice policy, and poverty. The NPC anticipates funding up to four proposals, up to a maximum of $17,500 per award. The focus of the 2007 Small Grants Program is on the effects of rising incarceration rates and the effects of criminal justice policies more generally on poverty broadly defined. Possible areas of inquiry, including, but not limited to:
  • The effects of prior incarceration and a criminal record on the employment outcomes of people released from prison or jail
  • The effects of incarceration on family formation and dissolution or on children's outcomes
  • Inter-generational correlations in the likelihood of arrest, conviction and incarceration
  • Mental illness and the risk of incarceration as well as the health and mental health consequences of incarceration
  • Evaluations of programs that divert people involved in the criminal justice system from prison
  • The impacts of crime or criminal justice policies on low income communities and/or the interaction of crime and incarceration on place-based poverty
Deadline for applications: February 1, 2007
For more information about this grant announcement and application requirements, click here.


Upcoming Events:

2nd National Conference on Methamphetamine, HIV, and Hepatitis
February 1-3, 2007 (Salt Lake City, UT)
http://www.methconference.org/index.html

The Collaborative Reintegration Initiative: Returning to Families and Communities in Montgomery County, Ohio
February 2, 2007 (Dayton, OH)
http://www.workplacereconnections.org/

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Recent Media Coverage of Reentry Issues

  • 12/19/06 "Legislators say offender law needs work" (Hutchinson News (KS))

    Sen. Terry Bruce, R-Hutchinson, Rep. Jan Pauls, D-Hutchinson, Rep. Mark Treaster, D-Pretty Prairie, and Rep. Bob Bethell, R-Alden, spoke with the Community Corrections Advisory Council on Thursday in Hutchinson, Kansas. All four legislators indicated that the state's version of Jessica's Law, which drastically increased prison time for registered sex offenders and intensified penalties for failing to register, will need to be revised if the state is to avoid a shortage of prison bed space.

  • 12/12/06 "Tighter oversight of sex offenders urged in VA, NY" (Boston Globe)

    Officials in two states proposed unusual plans yesterday to tighten oversight of convicted sex offenders: Virginia's attorney general wants them to register their e-mail addresses and online IDs, and New York officials want them to take lie-detector tests.

  • 12/10/06 "Religion for a Captive Audience, Paid For by Taxes" (New York Times)

    Since 2000, courts have cited more than a dozen programs for having unconstitutionally used taxpayer money to pay for religious activities or evangelism aimed at prisoners, recovering addicts, job seekers, teenagers and children. Nevertheless, the programs are proliferating. For example, the Corrections Corporation of America, the nation's largest prison management company, is substantially expanding its religion-based curriculum. And the federal Bureau of Prisons, which runs at least five multifaith programs at its facilities, is preparing to seek bids for a single-faith prison program as well.

  • 12/7/06 "St. Paul gives ex-cons a break on city hiring" (Pioneer Press(MN))

    St. Paul decided this week to stop requiring job hopefuls to state on their applications whether they've ever been convicted of a crime. The immediate goal is to make sure the city doesn't discriminate against applicants with criminal records, which is prohibited under state law. Backers said the broader intent is to give people with minor rap sheets a chance to turn their lives around.

Click here to see more collected reentry news from the Reentry Policy Council.

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Recent Published Resources on Reentry Issues

To suggest additional resources for inclusion in the RPC newsletter, please email editors@reentrypolicy.org.

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