Passage of the Second Chance Act

"We shouldn't be surprised that the prison door is, more often than not, a revolving door... and the only way to close the revolving prison door is to open another one.” Sen. Joe Biden

Late yesterday afternoon, after a bit of technical finagling, the Senate followed the actions of the House and passed 'The Second Chance Act', a monumental event for this congress. The bill aims to reduce our extraordinary recidivism rates through substantive mental health and substance abuse programs, as well as through transitional and vocational assistance programs for prisoners reentering their communities. $362 million will be allocated to the Justice Department in 08 and 09, and $20 million the Bureau of Prisons.

The statistics on recidivism rates and prisoner reentry speak to the overwhelming need for and sheer significance of this legislation. Here are just a few...

• Today there are nearly 7 million men and women under correctional supervision—incarceration, probation or parole—in the United States, compared with 6.6 million in 2002 and 3.2 million in 1990. Over 60% incarcerated are serving time for nonviolent crimes.
  

• This means that 1 in 40 children have an incarcerated father.

• The average cost of incarcerating a prisoner is $22,650 per inmate, per year, with some states spending as much as $44,000 per inmate, per year.

• 95% of all prisoners are eventually released, (roughly 650,000 a year) and must transition back to their communities. Nearly two-thirds of released prisoners are expected to be re-arrested for a felony or serious misdemeanor within three years of release. The recidivism rates are even higher for youth.
  

• 70-80% of offenders re-entering the community have histories of drug or alcohol abuse.