The Alabama Reentry Study Commission met on Tuesday to discuss the state's efforts to achieve its pledge to reduce recidivism among released prisoners by 50% by 2030.
The commission, headed by Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles director Cam Ward, discussed data and future plans to ensure the success of released inmates as part of the state's involvement with the national "Reentry 2030" initiative. Alabama was the second state in the country to implement the program.
The commission is made up of 15 participating agencies, including lawmakers, the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC), Alabama Community College System's Ingram State Technical College, Alabama Department of Mental Health, Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs, Alabama Department of Labor, Alabama Department of Human Resources, Alabama Medicaid Agency, Alabama Department of Youth Services and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Ward emphasized the commission's goal to reduce reoffending and reincarceration by 50% in the next six years, which would move Alabama from its current ranking of 25th in the nation for recidivism to top-five. Alabama currently has a 29% recidivism rate.
"One of our biggest purposes and goals is to pursue some of the issues that we've outlined in Reentry 2030, basically eliminating barriers to reentry, making it easier for someone to get a driver's license, making it easier for someone to reenter society in a successful manner so that they do succeed," Ward said. "One of the issues we determined, and all of us discussed this during the last reentry commission sessions, was the number of barriers in place to people reentering society who were formerly incarcerated, and the barriers were pretty immense. And that if we don't break down some of those barriers, the chance of success falls."
He continued, "As I like to always say, 95% of everyone gets out. One day, that's going to be your neighbor, and what do you want your neighbor to look like? And we all want the same thing: successful, happy, productive citizens. So, I think that should be all of our goals."
The commission heard from Jesse Kelley, the program director for corrections and reentry at The Council of State Governments Justice Center (CSGJC), a national nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.
Kelley gave an overview of the national Reentry 2030 program and outlined its goals, which include the following:
Scale up access to stable housing, education, employment skills training, behavioral health treatment, health care and other supports for people with criminal records.
Clear away unnecessary barriers to opportunities and economic mobility.
Advance racial equity by using data to understand and address disparities in access to services, quality of services and outcomes.
In Alabama, the organization also aims to strengthen the workforce participation of formerly incarcerated Alabamians by 50% by expanding educational services and creating employment opportunities to bolster the workforce. This includes providing access to high-demand skill sets, such as welding, forklift operations, electrical work, and tree trimming.
Nicole Jarrett, a senior policy advisor on Corrections and Reentry with CSGJC, also laid out general goals from the initiative in Alabama. However, neither speaker gave specifics on how the various state agencies should begin initiating. When Ward inquired on a timeline for specific, Alabama-centered actions that the commission could help implement, Jarrett stated a timeline would likely be available sometime near October.
"At the Justice Center, we have a housing assessment process, behavioral health assessment process, community supervision assessment process, Department of Corrections assessment process," Jarrett said. "And so we're using a bit of all of that right now, and so I think we feel really confident that we'll have that By the fall."
Ward continued by boasting of the Department of Pardons and Paroles and ADOC's success in implementing educational programs that have reduced recidivism in certain areas.
Despite the lack of a specific framework moving forward, representatives of the commission discussed the various ways in which they are currently moving forward with initiatives to bolster the goals of Reentry 2030. Those projects included the issuance of non-driver IDs through ALEA at specific correctional facilities, jobs programs through the career center at Ingram State Technical College and subsidies incentivizing employers to hire formerly incarcerated individuals through DHR.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email craig.monger@1819news.com.
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