Coleman, Fla. ~ Thursday, June 21, 2012
Thank you, U.S. Attorney O’Neill for
that introduction. I am very pleased to
be here among this distinguished group of professionals from across the federal
criminal justice system.
I
want to specifically thank Judge Rodgers for having the vision and dedication
to put this workshop together. I’d also
like to thank Judge Jeremy Fogel, Bruce Clark and Mark Sherman from the Federal
Judicial Center for planning and co-sponsoring this workshop with us.
Finally, I want to commend all of you – our
federal judges, prosecutors, defenders, probation officers, corrections
professionals, and others – for your participation in this workshop and for
your commitment to improving reentry successes and reducing recidivism.
Many of you are probably already familiar with
the statistics on criminal justice spending and inmate populations, but I find
them so compelling that I think they’re worth repeating.
The Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice
Statistics estimates that more than $74 billion is spent on state, local and
federal corrections annually. Today,
some 2.3 million people – more than 1 in 100 American adults – are behind
bars. Currently, the federal prison
population totals nearly 218,000 and the federal Bureau of Prisons’ budget has
nearly doubled since 2000 -- to $6.6 billion.
System-wide, the Bureau of Prisons is
operating at 38 percent over its rated capacity. Crowding is particularly concerning at high
and medium security facilities, with overcrowding at 51, and 48 percent,
respectively. In response, the Bureau
has had to manage crowding, in part, by double and triple bunking inmates,
which places staff and inmates at greater risk of harm and makes it far more
difficult to deliver programs aimed at effectively reducing recidivism.
In addition to the growth in our country’s
incarcerated population, we are also witnessing a corresponding increase in the
number of released inmates, with more than 700,000 individuals leaving state
and federal prisons each year. More
than 45,000 of these are individuals from federal facilities returning to U.S.
communities each year. Forty percent of
former federal prisoners are rearrested or have their supervision revoked
within three years after release. At
the end of 2010, there were 105,552 individuals on federal supervised release.
As you all know, our nation faces serious
criminal justice challenges – and particularly in these economic times, we must
respond to these growing demands in a way that not only protects public safety,
but also contains and controls runaway costs.
How do we do that? As Attorney
General Holder has said, we must “create a sentencing and corrections system
that protects the public, is fair to both victims and defendants, eliminates
unwarranted sentencing disparities, reduces recidivism, and controls the
federal prison population.” There are
many participants in our criminal justice system who play a role in this. Investigators, prosecutors, defense
attorneys, judges, the Sentencing Commission, prison officials, and probation
officers are all responsible for maximizing public safety and justice. And only by working together, can we reduce
criminal justice spending, protect individuals and their families, and improve
the overall quality of our communities.
But in order to further these goals, we have to change our way of
thinking.
We can no longer afford the societal, moral
and budgetary costs incurred when defendants and inmates cycle in and out of
our prisons two, three, or four times.
We need to look at individuals who have committed low-level, nonviolent
crimes and for whom a punishment – other than jail time – will still hold them
accountable. This may be a better
result for them and for the community at large. We also have to make provisions to equip
those individuals leaving prisons each year with the necessary skills and
support to reenter society and become productive, tax-paying citizens upon
release.
As criminal justice leaders in our districts
and communities, we have a responsibility and each of us must do our part to
try to make this happen. And, we also
have a duty to consider our own individual roles within the criminal justice
process and challenge our traditional mindset to find ways that we can become
more involved and engaged. Our success
will be determined by our ability to bring about long term change by supporting
and implementing drug courts, reentry courts and a host of other reentry
programs to provide individuals with the help they need.
Now, this work is challenging, and there are
no solutions that come without a significant investment of your time, resources
and energy. It will take increased
cooperation and collaboration – among partners at all levels – to share ideas
and find appropriate solutions. And it
will take patience. But as we continue
to explore what programs and avenues work best, I am confident in our ability
to bring about positive results and long term institutional change.
The Attorney General and I are committed to
this effort. At the Department of Justice,
we’ve made reentry a priority and continue to work to make critical changes
that will last. We can’t afford for
reentry to be just a temporary initiative -- it needs to be the way that we do
business.
The Attorney General has made reentry one of
the three prongs of his comprehensive Anti-Violence Strategy, along with
prevention and enforcement. The
strategy is designed to encourage federal prosecutors to think holistically
about the criminal justice process – and to critically examine other ways to
improve public safety, beyond traditional enforcement.
This past January, I sent a memorandum to all
U.S. Attorneys’ Offices reversing an old Department policy that discouraged our
prosecutors from participating in reentry programs. Now, all US Attorneys’ Offices are
encouraged to become involved in reentry courts and other reentry programs that
are viable.
Last fall, we unveiled the Department’s
reentry toolkit for U.S. Attorneys’ Offices that provides a wide variety of
information and resources on how to get involved, including several successful
examples of effective participation by U.S. Attorneys’ offices in federal
reentry courts, as well as other initiatives, such as outreach events for
employers to explain potential opportunities and advantages in hiring formerly
incarcerated individuals. U.S.
Attorneys have also convened Reentry Councils with state and local partners in
the districts to improve reentry practices across states. And we’ve participated in jointly-sponsored
“call-in” programs, presenting recently-released individuals with a host of
options for community support, while explaining the consequences of returning
to criminal activity.
The Department is dedicated to continue
working with many of you in reentry and problem solving courts across the
nation. As you know, federal reentry
courts came into being over 15 years after the states first began to experiment
with drug courts. Since then, rigorous
studies have validated that drug courts reduce both recidivism and public
safety costs.
Although scientific studies of reentry courts
have so far been relatively limited, they build on many of the same principles
and pillars utilized by drug courts.
And because of this, we have reason for optimism. The Federal Judicial Center is currently
undertaking a multi-year review of the effectiveness of federal reentry
courts. While we look forward to the
outcomes of this study, we’ve already had reentry court successes. Some individual courts have been examined –
and these studies demonstrate the potential positive impact the establishment
of even more of these courts could have.
For example, in the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania, the Supervision to Aid Reentry (STAR) reentry court focuses on
individuals who are at relatively high risk to commit new crimes upon release. Successful participants are eligible for one
year off their supervised release term. Magistrate Judge Tim Rice, a former
Criminal Chief in the EDPA, presides over the court. An April 2011 study tracked the first 60
participants in the STAR program for 18 months, and compared that group to a
similar group of 60 individuals on regular supervised release. The study found that only 10 percent of STAR
program graduates were rearrested during the study period, compared to 31
percent of the control group. According
to the program’s 2011 Annual Report, the overall revocation percentage for
program participants has remained at between 11 percent and 20 percent
throughout the program’s four year existence - well below the district’s
five-year average of 47.4 percent.
I
know that a number of you and your offices participate directly in reentry
courts across this region. I want to
thank you for your commitment. You’ve
seen firsthand how important this work is.
You know that offering treatment and monitoring as well as alternative
sanctions – rather than immediate revocation or perhaps prosecution and
incarceration -- can yield significant and positive results. And you understand – from experience – the
dedication, time, and effort needed – on your part – to implement and run these
programs. Yet you remain committed
because you understand the risks and the costs of doing nothing and the
societal benefits of doing something.
But therein lies the challenge.
Because of the time and attention required to run a successful reentry
program, each one can only handle a limited number of participants. So to bring this to scale and reach more
individuals who need the help we can provide, we need to implement more of
these programs throughout the country.
I am here to tell you that we at the Department of Justice are ready to
work with you to do this.
Aside from reentry courts, through the Bureau
of Prisons, the Department also helps tens of thousands of incarcerated
individuals prepare themselves for a new life after returning home from
prison. Release preparation begins for
federal inmates on the first day of imprisonment, and continues until their
return to the community. We have
identified the types of skills that inmates need for successful reentry and
have provided a number of programs to meet those needs – ranging from mental
health, substance abuse treatment, education and vocational training, and work
programs. The evidence shows that our
efforts – and these programs – work.
They increase public safety and save precious taxpayer money, with
participants less likely to recidivate than similarly situated
non-participating individuals. For
example, data shows that our Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP) reduces the
recidivism rate by 16%, vocational training by 33%, Federal Prison Industries
by 24%, and education programs by 16%.
We are exploring how to expand proven programs, like RDAP, while looking
at other programs to identify more that can and should be expanded based on evidence
of their success. Today, all Bureau
staff support reentry as a part of their jobs.
As prisoners finish their sentences, we are
working on targeting the ones with higher risks and higher needs for placement
in residential reentry centers (RRCs), while sending those with lower risks and
needs directly to home confinement.
This triaging approach results in the most efficient and cost effective
use of the limited numbers of RRC beds and is consistent with the
risk-needs-responsivity research you will hear about today by Dr. Edward
Latessa.
And I’m hopeful about the collaborative work
we plan to do with the Sentencing Commission, the Probation Service and the
Courts to review supervised release revocations. There are about 9,000 of these individuals
who return to federal prisons each year on such revocations. Innovative work examining violations by
individuals under supervision all across the country suggests there may be
opportunities for public safety improvement and cost savings in this area as
well.
Now at the state and local level, the
Department manages Second Chance Act Programs.
In the first three years of its existence, Congress has appropriated
$208 million dollars to Second Chance Act programs and we have made over 370
awards to state, local and tribal governments and private non-profit
organizations.
Through the Federal Interagency Reentry
Council, the Attorney General has shown incredible leadership in bringing
together over 20 federal departments and agencies, helping to foster critical
discussions to reduce barriers to housing, to employment, to education, and to
increase access to benefits and treatment.
Reentry Council agencies have recently issued
guidance to employers on how to use criminal records as part of the employment
process and have provided incentives to employers for hiring those with a
record.
The federal government and some states are
also assessing their regulations and statutes that impose collateral
consequences – or “extra punishments” – on previously incarcerated individuals
looking for jobs or housing to determine if any should be eliminated.
Within the Department, I have the privilege of
overseeing a reentry working group – bringing together all essential components
– to focus on coordination, communication and innovation.
And beyond the Department, we are involved in
the Federal Criminal Justice System Reentry Roundtable -- a high-level working
group of leaders from the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts, the Criminal
Law Committee, the U.S. Sentencing Commission, the Federal Judicial Center, and
agencies throughout the Department of Justice.
Staff from each of these components, including personnel from my office,
have been exchanging concrete ideas for enhanced coordination and cooperation. In the months ahead, I look forward to
additional discussions as we build upon the broader deliverables and policy
goals from this conference and identify and pursue additional long term
initiatives for the Roundtable. I hope
that your workshops tomorrow will not only yield specific deliverables for your
districts but spark ideas that we can also implement through the Roundtable and
in districts nationwide.
Although we have made great strides in
addressing critical reentry issues, there is still much work that needs to be done. We owe it to our communities to take on this
important work. The increased burdens
we will all suffer if we don’t do this could be enormous. But the benefits to be achieved if we are
successful, could be truly transforming.
I assure you that the Department remains deeply committed to keep the
momentum going – to build – and to improve – upon the remarkable progress we’ve
made. As we move forward in these
efforts, I am proud to count you as critical partners – and I look forward to
working together as we focus on achieving lasting, long term results.
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