Joe Biden, U.S. Senator for Delaware

 

No one likes to think about convicted felons returning to our streets and neighborhoods, especially when we are hearing about the increasing violent crime in our communities. But every year, more than 650,000 offenders are released from prison. Our justice system is built on the principle that after defendants have been tried, convicted by a jury of peers, sentenced by a judge, and have served their time, they have paid their debt to society and are set free. They now have a second chance to take ownership of their lives and become law-abiding citizens.

 

Unfortunately, our nation's corrections system often undermines this goal. Upon their release from prison or jail, most ex-offenders return to society with little or no monitoring, substandard literacy skills and education, and inadequate access to job training, housing or mental-health services. As a result, the majority of ex-offenders can't find or hold a job, many remain plagued by drug addiction, and large numbers end up in homeless shelters. We shouldn't be surprised that the prison door is, more often than not, a revolving door.

 

Study after study confirms that offenders are most likely to commit additional crimes after their release. In fact, two-thirds of the 650,000 ex-offenders who are released from state prison or jail each year will be rearrested within three years of their release. With a growing prison population that reached 2 million in 2006 - at an average cost of more than $20,000 per prisoner per year and a total of $60 billion per year - recidivism is a problem that we cannot afford to ignore. Unless we take action to resolve these problems now, our communities and neighborhoods will be the victims of this never-ending cycle.

 

Together with Sens. Patrick J. Leahy (D., Vt.) and Sam Brownback (R., Kan.), we introduced the Recidivism Reduction and Second Chance Act of 2007 to grab this problem by the horns. The Second Chance Act takes direct aim at reducing recidivism rates by improving the transition of ex-offenders from prison back into our communities. Through common sense and cost-effective measures, it offers a second chance for ex-offenders and the children and families who depend on them.

 

The legislation, which has broad bipartisan support, provides states and nonprofit prisoner-reentry organizations funding (a total of $324 million over two years) to help ex-offenders get job training, education, literacy training, substance-abuse treatment, counseling, housing and mentoring services. For instance, the bill authorizes the creation of "Reentry Courts" that would be implemented as part of the existing and successful Drug Courts program. Reentry Courts would monitor offenders and provide them with comprehensive reentry services and programs. The legislation provides funds to state and local governments and to public and private entities to establish programs to improve academic and vocational education for offenders in prison, jails and juvenile facilities. And it authorizes grants to states for prison-based family-treatment programs for incarcerated parents of minor children in those cases where it is safe to do so.

 

The only way to close the revolving prison door is to open another one. The Recidivism Reduction and Second Chance Act does just that. It won't eliminate the problem of recidivism, but it's an important step in the right direction.

 

A relatively small investment in transitioning prisoners back into society today is far more cost-effective than the alternative - suffering more crime in our neighborhoods and building more prisons to which these ex-offenders will otherwise return.