[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 33 (Wednesday, February 25, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E423]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    HONORING THE FIRST GRADUATING CLASS OF THE RIVERS CORRECTIONAL 
               INSTITUTION RESIDENTIAL DRUG ABUSE PROGRAM

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 25, 2009

  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I rise to ask the House to join me in 
congratulating the first graduating class of the Rivers Correctional 
Institution Residential Drug Abuse Program for meeting the high 
standards required for graduation. I am delighted at your success. I 
targeted the admission of District of Columbia residents to the drug 
treatment program as the highest priority at our first hearing since DC 
residents were transferred to the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) facilities. 
The reason drug treatment has been the priority issue is because drug 
abuse is a core reason many residents go to prison in the first place, 
and drug abuse is a primary reason why many return to prison.
  As today's graduates know, many BOP inmates who need the drug 
treatment you have received cannot be accommodated under the BOP's 
existing appropriations. You have been fortunate to be accepted into 
the program, and you have shown yourselves to be worthy of admission by 
being the first DC residents to graduate from Rivers' new program. 
Because you have benefitted while many others could not, our 
expectations of you are great. In return for being among the few who 
have been admitted to the program, we ask you to remain drug free and 
to resolve to never see the inside of a prison again. You can do it 
now.
  We know, of course, that you will come home at a time when people 
without felony records are being laid off and when we in the Congress 
are still working to find a solution to today's unprecedented economic 
crisis. Finding work and staying clean may be harder when you come home 
than when you left. But as pioneers and achievers, I believe in you, 
and I believe that you will set the example for others who need the 
program by fighting with determination to surmount any obstacles you 
may find.
  Your own families and close friends are perhaps the only people who, 
I believe, will be more pleased than I will be to see you when you 
return. I hope that each of you will stop by my office here in the 
Rayburn House Office Building at some point to receive my personal 
congratulations and to have your picture taken with me, especially 
since, regrettably, I cannot be present in person to see you graduate. 
Please know that I am proud of the important achievement which you mark 
with today's graduation ceremony. It is one of the most important 
milestones of your life so far. Your graduation from the program is so 
important to me and to the District of Columbia that I will commemorate 
today's ceremony and your graduation by placing these congratulatory 
remarks in the Congressional Record when Congress returns from its 
week-long recess that began last Friday.

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