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Since the Prison to Home Conference was held in January 2002, there has been a significant amount of activity relevant to the focus of the conference — children and families with an incarcerated parent. It is important for the reader of this report to understand that a lot has happened but that a lot more remains to be done. Current activities underway that address some of the issues and concerns identified at the conference include the Serious and Violent Offenders Re-entry Initiative (SVORI), the Mentoring Children of Prisoners program, the National Institute of Drug Abuse CJ-DATs program, the Council of State Governments Re-entry Policy Council, and the National Governors Association Prisoner Re-entry Policy Academy.
During the Prison to Home Conference, representatives from DOJ announced the publication of the announcement of grant fund availability for the Serious and Violent Offenders Re-entry Initiative (SVORI). Established by the Department of Justice in collaboration with the Departments of Labor, Housing and Urban Development, and Health and Human Services, SVORI has provided over $100 million to 69 grantees to develop programming, training, and state-of-the-art reentry strategies at the community level. An evaluation of the initiative is underway. The first report of the national evaluation, A National Portrait of SVORI was published in July of 2004. Also in 2004, DOJ sponsored the First National Conference on Re-entry for SVORI grantees and others interested in re-entry activity in Cleveland, Ohio. Over 1000 criminal justice, health, and human services providers from the public and private sectors attended the conference.
In FY 2002, the Congress passed and President Bush signed into law, a bill authorizing the Mentoring of Children of Prisoners program. Ten million dollars was appropriated for spending in FY 2003 and fifty million dollars in FY 2004. Currently there are over 200 Mentoring Children of Prisoners grantees throughout the country. The MCP grantees provide services, both directly and in collaboration with other local agencies, to strengthen and support children of incarcerated parents and their families. This includes preserving families and connecting the children with their imprisoned parent when appropriate. Grant recipients are required to cultivate mentors from within the child's family and community through recruitment, screening, training, and monitoring and evaluation. In addition, grantees are encouraged to incorporate elements of a positive youth development approach, reducing risky behavior by giving young people the chance to exercise leadership, build skills, and become involved in their communities.
In September of 2002 the National Institute of Drug Abuse established a cooperative research program (the Criminal Justice-Drug Abuse Treatment Research Studies (CJ-DATS)) to explore the issues related to the complex system of offender treatment services. Nine research centers and a Coordinating Center were created in partnership with researchers, criminal justice professionals, and drug abuse treatment practitioners to form a national research infrastructure to develop and test models for integrated approaches to the treatment of incarcerated individuals with substance use disorders, including both treatment in jail or prison and treatment as part of re-entry into the community. Research is ongoing and includes a range of topics, such as, facilitating adolescent offenders' reintegration from juvenile detention to community life and inmate pre-release assessments.
In 2003, the Center for Best Practices of the National Governors Association established the NGA Prisoner Reentry Policy Academy (RPA). The RPA works with seven states in an effort to help Governors and other state policymakers develop and implement statewide prisoner reentry strategies that reduce recidivism rates by improving access to key services and supports. Through the academy, states assembled interdisciplinary reentry policy teams responsible for assessing the reentry process within their state, identifying major service gaps and other barriers, and examining relevant state data on prisoner reentry trends. State teams have had the opportunity to participate in at least one in-state policy workshop, two policy academy meetings that brought together all seven states, and a "learning lab" on working with families, youth, and children. Through the academy, the Center has helped states take advantage of and build on other large-scale reentry initiatives.
In his State of the Union address in January 2004, President Bush announced the creation of a new initiative to facilitate prisoner re-entry. The Prisoner Re-entry Initiative (PRI) is a collaboration of the Departments of Labor, Justice, Housing and Urban Development and Health and Human Services. Designed to help ex-offenders find and keep employment, obtain transitional housing and receive mentoring in urban centers and areas of greatest need, faith-based and community organizations will offer job training and job placement services in coordination with business and other employment providers. They will also provide post-release mentoring and other services essential to reintegrating ex-offenders in coordination with the corrections, parole, and probation structure. In 2005, the U.S. Department of Labor awarded 30 grants totaling $19.8 million to faith-and community-based organizations to assist non-violent ex-offenders returning to their local communities. The Department of Justice will fund additional grants in the states where the Labor Department PRI grants were awarded.
In January of 2005, the Council of State Government's published the report of its Re-entry Policy Council (RPC). Established in 2001 to assist state government officials grappling with the increasing number of people leaving prisons and jails and returning to the communities they left behind, the RPC brought together key stakeholders from all branches of state and local government and community provider across criminal justice, health, and human services systems to develop bi-partisan re-entry policies and principles and facilitate coordination and information-sharing among organizations involved in implementing re-entry initiatives. The 650 page report, organized into 35 broad policy statements, provides critical information about research, practice, and collaborations to facilitate re-entry. Information about how to support family relationships and address family and children's issues within the context of prisoner re-entry is also included.
All these efforts, and others at the local, state, and federal level, have expanded the discussions about the affects of parental incarceration on children, families, and communities. While there is still much work to be done, the work has begun. Professionals from the criminal justice systems and health and human services systems are not only talking to each other, but are also working together to plan and implement interventions that strengthen families, support positive change by incarcerated parents, and promote re-integration into family and community life.
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