[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 38 (Monday, September 25, 2000)]
[Pages 2126-2127]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on the Reentry Initiative for Ex-Offenders

September 18, 2000

    Working together, we have made great strides in reducing crime 
across the country. The overall crime rate is at its lowest point in 25 
years, and America is the safest it has been in a generation. But I 
believe we can make America even safer for our families. We must 
continue to confront emerging public safety challenges if we want to 
keep reducing crime in the 21st century.
    One of the key challenges we must address is ex-offenders returning 
to their families and communities after their release from prison. While 
the Nation's prison population growth rate has slowed to its lowest 
level in two decades, more than 1.9 million individuals were 
incarcerated in State and Federal prisons and local jails in 1999. As a 
result, an unprecedented number of individuals will be released from 
prison in the coming years--nearly 600,000 in the next year alone. 
Moreover, this population poses a serious public safety risk. Studies 
show that nearly two-thirds of all released offenders will be arrested 
again within 3 years.
    That is why I have proposed a new public safety initiative aimed at 
providing greater supervision for offenders reentering the community. My 
fiscal year 2001 budget includes a total of $145 million for innovative 
``reentry'' programs to promote responsibility and help keep ex-
offenders on track and crime- and drug-free. Through this reentry 
initiative, the Departments of Justice, Labor,

[[Page 2127]]

and Health and Human Services will target resources in high-impact 
communities for increased law enforcement, drug testing, and treatment, 
and critical employment, training, and other services to help young ex-
offenders work and meet their family responsibilities, including child 
support. The initiative would fund reentry partnerships between police, 
correctional agencies, local service providers, and key community 
organizations like faith-based fatherhood, and victims' groups. 
Additionally, the initiative would fund reentry courts, based on the 
drug court model, to provide critical supervision and services for 
offenders.
    Today the administration is taking some important steps to move us 
forward in this area. The Justice Department is announcing over $57 
million in Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) grants to all 50 
States to provide substance abuse treatment to offenders in State and 
local correctional facilities. The Department of Health and Human 
Services is also releasing child support demonstration grants, including 
a model approach to improve child support and promote responsible 
fatherhood among incarcerated fathers in Massachusetts. In addition, the 
Attorney General and other members of my administration are hosting a 
roundtable discussion with State and local leaders to spotlight an 
innovative reentry partnership already underway in the Druid Heights 
neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland. Congress could significantly expand 
and help launch similar efforts across the country by fully funding our 
reentry initiative. I urge them to do this without delay. If we all do 
our part, we can build on our progress and strengthen America's 
communities and families.