[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book I)]
[April 9, 2008]
[Pages 490-492]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks on Signing the Second Chance Act of 2007
April 9, 2008

    The President. Please be seated. Thank you. Please sit down. Thanks 
for coming. I'm about to sign a piece of legislation that will help give 
prisoners across America a second chance for a better life. This bill is 
going to support the caring men and women who help America's prisoners 
find renewal and hope.
    I can't thank the folks who care enough about a fellow citizen to 
offer their love and compassion. It's through the acts of mercy that 
compassionate Americans are making the Nation a more hopeful place, and 
I want to thank you all for joining us today.
    And I thank the Members of Congress who have joined us as well: 
Senator Arlen Specter, ranking member of the 
Judiciary Committee; Chairman Joe Biden, not of the Judiciary Committee----
    Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Thank 
God. [Laughter]
    The President. ----but of Foreign Relations; but a key member of the 
Judiciary Committee, Senator Sam Brownback, 
as well. So we've got three United States Senators here, and I'm honored 
they are here. Members of the United States Congress--chairman of the 
House Judiciary, John Conyers, and Ranking 
Member Lamar Smith: I want to thank 
you all for coming.
    I appreciate very much Danny Davis 
joining us as well--bill sponsor. I want to thank Jim 
Sensenbrenner and Bobby 
Scott and Howard Coble and Chris Cannon, 
all good Members and all Members who worked hard to get this piece of 
legislation here in timely fashion.
    I thank the Attorney General, Judge Michael Mukasey, for joining us as well. Elaine Chao--thank you for coming, Madam Secretary; Rob 
Portman, former Director of the OMB; and 
all the supporters of the Second Chance legislation. Thanks for caring 
about your country; thanks for working on this piece of legislation.
    The country was built on the belief that each human being has 
limitless potential and worth. Everybody matters. We believe that even 
those who have struggled with a dark past can find brighter days ahead. 
One way we act on that belief is by helping former prisoners who've paid 
for their crimes. We help them build new lives as productive members of 
our society.
    The work of redemption reflects our values; it also reflects our 
national interests. Each year, approximately 650,000 prisoners

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are released from jail. Unfortunately, an estimated two-thirds of them 
are rearrested within 3 years. The high recidivism rate places a huge 
financial burden on taxpayers; it deprives our labor force of productive 
workers; and it deprives families of their daughters and sons and 
husbands and wives and moms and dads.
    Our Government has a responsibility to help prisoners to return as 
contributing members of their community. But this does not mean that the 
Government has all the answers. Some of the most important work to help 
ex-convicts is done outside of Washington, DC, in faith-based 
communities and community-based groups. It's done on streets and 
smalltown community centers. It's done in churches and synagogues and 
temples and mosques.
    I like to call the folks who are engaged in this compassionate work 
members of the armies of compassion. They help addicts and users break 
the chains of addiction. They help former prisoners find a ride to work 
and a meal to eat and place to stay. These men and women are answering 
the call to love their neighbors as they'd like to be loved themselves. 
And in the process, they're helping prisoners replace anger and 
suffering and despair with faith and hope and love.
    The bill I'm signing today, the Second Chance Act of 2007, will 
build on work to help prisoners reclaim their lives. In other words, it 
basically says, we're standing with you, not against you.
    First, the act will authorize important parts of the 
administration's prison reentry initiative. The goal of this initiative 
is to help America's prisoners by expanding job training and placement 
services, improving their ability to find transitional housing, and 
helping newly released prisoners get mentoring, including from faith-
based groups.
    The past 3 years, congressional appropriations have supported the 
work in 20 States through a series of pilot programs awarded to 
community- and faith-based organizations by the U.S. Department of 
Labor. The early efforts have fielded promising results. In the first 2 
years of the program, more than 12,800 offenders have enrolled in the 
prisoner reentry program. More than 7,900 have been placed in jobs. Only 
18 percent of those enrolled in the program have been arrested again 
within a year; that's less than half the national average. We like to 
measure results, and the results of these pilot programs are very 
encouraging.
    With the legislation I'll sign today, Congress has recognized the 
success of this good policy, and I thank them for their good work. 
Secondly, act will support the Justice Department's ongoing work to help 
our Nation's prisoners. This bill will help State and local governments 
and Indian tribes and nonprofit groups implement programs that will 
improve the prisoner reentry process.
    These programs will provide further--former prisoners with essential 
services, like housing and medical care. It will help develop prisoner 
drug treatment programs and support prisoner mentoring initiatives. It 
will support family counseling and other services to help prisoners 
reestablish their place in the community.
    In both these ways, the Second Chance Act will live up to its name. 
It will help ensure that where the prisoner's spirit is willing, 
community's resources are available. It will help our armies of 
compassion use their healing touch so lost souls can rediscover their 
dignity and sense of purpose.
    I recently went to a program in Baltimore, Maryland, called the 
Jericho. I met a man there, who has kindly joined us today, named Thomas 
Boyd. He's 53 years old. He spent more than 20 
years of his life using drugs and going back and forth to jail. He 
remembers the day when his daughter sat down, looked him in the eye, and 
said, ``Daddy, I think it's time for you to start doing something with 
your life.''
    He took his daughter's advice. He sought out 
the Jericho reentry program, which is

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supported by the reentry initiative. When I visited the program, I tried 
to remind them that the least shall be first. I also reminded him I was 
a product of a faith-based program. I quit drinking, and it wasn't 
because of a government program. It required a little more powerful 
force than a government program in my case.
    And he told me that he appreciates the love 
and compassion he felt--feels on a regular basis. He's working; he's 
back with his family; he's a good guy. And I want to thank you for 
coming, Thomas.
    I want to thank you for coming, Thomas.
    Thomas Boyd. Yes, sir, thank you.
    The President. There's a lot of other Thomases out there that we're 
going to help with this bill. And so I thank the Members of Congress for 
joining us. Thanks for your hard work. I thank the members of my 
administration who are going to see to it that the bill is implemented 
properly.
    And now it is my honor to sign this important piece of legislation. 
May God bless the country, and may God bless those who are trying to 
help. Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 10:31 a.m. in Room 350 of the Dwight D. 
Eisenhower Executive Office Building. H.R. 1593, approved April 9, was 
assigned Public Law No. 110-199.