The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/corrections/prisoner-reentry/)
Efforts to shut down three homes for women in recovery in one Utah city highlight the challenges facing the formerly incarcerated as they struggle to resume normal life. “It’s hard for people who’ve never dealt with addiction to understand,” says Susan Berry, who moved into one of the homes following her recent release from prison.
Inmates freed during the pandemic may have escaped one threat only to encounter fewer services and greater risk of infection from an already flawed reentry infrastructure that offers little help.
A former incarceree and a former probation officer say a proposed “Clean Slate” bill in Louisiana to streamline the expungement process is an example of how states can couple accountability with opportunities to restore people leaving prison to full participation in civil society.
No one should be sent back to prison for a “technical” violation of the terms of probation and parole, a bipartisan group of over 50 current and former District Attorneys and state Attorneys General declared Thursday as part of a statement calling for a fundamental transformation of community supervision in the U.S.
Violent offenders and others convicted of some serious crimes are subject to deportation. Officials say the release of 2,200 New Jersey inmates generally went smoothly.
Tarra Simmons, a 2017 graduate of Seattle University School of Law, was elected as a state representative in Washington’s 23rd District, becoming the first formerly incarcerated person to win office in the state.
The nation’s biggest banks have pledged billions of dollars of investments in minority communities. None has publicly mentioned getting former inmates banking products, but some are discussing plans.
Congress is considering a bill that authorizes judges to issue a “Certificate of Rehabilitation” that helps qualified individuals with federal convictions regain employment, housing and other rights. Passing it would be a major step forward to ameliorating the collateral consequences of a criminal record, write two advocates for the bill.
With COVID-19 rates in prisons still at five times the rate of the general population, authorities should “use their discretion” to minimize incarceration in prisons and jails, concluded a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill allowing prisoners who fight fires while incarcerated to have their records expunged after serving time so they have an easier path to becoming regular firefighters.