[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 109 (Tuesday, September 14, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1618]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      REBUILD LIVES AND FAMILIES RE-ENTRY ENHANCEMENT ACT OF 2004

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 14, 2004

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce the Rebuild Lives 
and Families Re-Entry Enhancement Act of 2004. This legislation will be 
the next important step in establishing policy to help the men and 
women emerging from our Nation's prisons and jails re-integrate into 
society and rebuild their lives.
  While our national crime rates have fallen over the last decade, we 
have seen an unprecedented explosion in our prison and jail 
populations. Over two million prisoners are now held in Federal and 
State prisons and local jails. Each year, approximately 650,000 people 
return to their communities following a prison or jail sentence, 
resulting in more than 6.7 million under some form of criminal justice 
supervision.
  Reentry refers to the return of incarcerated individuals from 
America's jails and prisons to the community and their reintegration 
into society. There is a pressing need to provide these individuals 
with the education and training necessary to obtain and hold onto 
steady jobs, undergo drug treatment, and get medical and mental health 
services. However, they are confronted with the ``prison after 
imprisonment''--a plethora of seemingly endless obstacles and 
impediments which stymie successful re-integration into society. These 
obstacles have substantially contributed to the historically high rate 
of recidivism, with two-thirds of returning prisoners having been 
rearrested for new crimes within 3 years.
  This legislation is designed to assist high-risk, high-need offenders 
who have served their prison sentences, but who pose the greatest risk 
of reoffending upon release because they lack the education, job 
skills, stable family or living arrangements, and the substance abuse 
treatment and other mental and medical health services they need to 
successfully reintegrate into society. Title I of the bill reauthorizes 
and enhances our early adult and juvenile reentry programs to broaden 
the availability of critical ex-offender services, while Title II 
addresses the substantive federal barriers to successful reentry. Both 
titles include provisions requiring that the funded programs be 
rigorously evaluated and the results widely disseminated, so that 
reentry programs can be modified as needed, to ensure that recidivism 
is reduced and public safety enhanced.
  A recent study by Peter D. Hart Research Associates reveals that 
Americans strongly favor rehabilitation and reentry programs as the 
best method of insuring public safety. With this changing paradigm in 
public opinion, the opportunity is ripe to sensibly reassess the role 
and impact of criminal justice policies. This legislation translates 
this emerging public perception into balanced policies and procedures 
which dismantle the structural impediments to successful reintegration 
into society.

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