For Immediate Release: January 21, 2004
Contacts: Christopher Burley, Bazelon Center, 202-467-5730 x 133
or leec@bazelon.org
Bazelon Center Statement on
the President’s Prisoner Re-Entry Initiative
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- President Bush's Comments on the proposed
initiative:
"...Tonight I ask you to consider another group of Americans in need
of help. This year, some 600,000 inmates will be released from prison
back into
society. We know from long experience that if they can't find work,
or a home, or help, they are much more likely to commit crime and
return to prison. So tonight, I propose a four-year, $300 million
prisoner re-entry initiative to expand job training and placement
services, to provide transitional housing, and to help newly released
prisoners get mentoring, including from faith-based groups. America
is the land of second chance, and when the gates of the prison open,
the path ahead should lead to a better life..."
- Building
Bridges: An Act to Reduce Recidivism by Improving Access to Benefits
for Individuals with Psychiatric Disabilities upon Release
from Incarceration (April 2003)
- A
Better Life, A Safer Community: Helping Inmates Access Federal Benefits (Jan. 2003)
- Finding the
Key to Successful Transition from Jail to Community (March
2001)
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WASHINGTON, DC—The following is a statement by Chris Koyanagi, policy
director at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, on the $300 million prisoner
re-entry initiative announced last night in President Bush’s State of
the Union:
“Last night, President Bush recognized the critical need to help inmates
successfully transition from jail or prison to lives in the community.
“We hope that, when it comes time to flesh out the initiative the president
outlined, his Administration and the Congress will remember a population that
is too often forgotten—the more than 300,000 inmates with mental illnesses
in the nation’s jails and prisons.
“For many inmates with mental illnesses, accessing the services and
supports to lead safe, stable and productive lives in the community is nearly
impossible. Many are released without any connection to mental health services—often
without medication or the means to obtain it.
“Once released, inmates face an unnecessarily burdensome and complex
process to access needed services and supports. Unsurprisingly, when people
with mental illnesses are denied the tools to succeed, many are quickly rearrested.
If people with mental illnesses are to make a successful transition from jail
or prison to the community, these policies must change.
“These barriers cannot be eliminated overnight, but the White House
could make a good start by simply instructing federal agencies to immediately
review federal eligibility requirements that can prevent inmates with mental
illnesses from accessing the tools they need to succeed.
“The President’s budget must also acknowledge the hidden costs
of continuing to view jails and prisons as an acceptable alternative to a working
mental health system. The penny-wise, pound-foolish policies of underfunding
mental health services and shifting people with mental illnesses to jails and
prisons must end.
“We hope the President is serious about reducing recidivism and providing
all inmates a ‘path to a better life.’ As a country, we must act
to improve services and supports for people with mental illnesses returning
to the community.”
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The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law is the nation's leading legal
advocate for people with mental disabilities.
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