The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/corrections/prisoner-reentry/)
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.
Now that many incarcerated individuals have been released to slow the spread of the coronavirus, some are finding reentry “overwhelming” and “stressful”–even as they report feeling safer now that they’re home, according to a Florida study.
Every year, more than one million women cycle in and out of the U.S. justice system . Messiah Rhodes’ mom was one of them. In a chat with TCR, Rhodes discusses his new documentary exploring the roadblocks to preventing recidivism for incarcerated women—and the success stories of those, like his mother, who managed to “break the cycle.”
The COVID-19 mortality rate in state and federal prisons is twice that of the death rate for the general population, according to a new study. A separate report found that local jail populations decreased by an average of 31 percent in March before rising again in May.
A report released Tuesday found that each state is operating independently when it comes to handling criminal record relief through expungement, sealing, and set-aside laws. Because of the vast differences, sometimes the state a crime was committed in is the key variable determining if a person can be freed of their criminal record in the future.
Short-term responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have demonstrated that more fundamental reforms to the system of probation and parole are feasible, the 2020 Innovations Conference at John Jay College was told.
Millions of Americans with criminal records are stymied from leading normal lives because of state and federal statutes that can bar them from getting certain jobs, finding housing or exercising their right to vote. A Rutgers scholar says some of the barriers are coming down, and there’s reason to hope that the process will continue.
Nearly 50 percent of former inmates experienced a traumatic event in the eight months after they were released, according to a recent Florida State University study. Citing ex-inmates’ trauma and lack of support systems, the authors believe change is long overdue.
With national recidivism rates hovering above 80 percent, successful reintegration seems an elusive goal. Why can’t communities recognize those who achieve it with a “certificate of acceptance?,” suggests an inmate in Washington State.
“The consequences of the larger-scale release of prisoners are now showing up in the arrest data,” said Michael LiPetri, chief of Crime Control Strategies for the New York Police Department.