U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch speaks during a Naturalization Ceremony for new U.S. citizens at the Department of Justice in Washington on Nov. 17. 2016. (Photo: Saul Loeb, AFP/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON—Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Wednesday that a school system would be formed within the vast federal prison network as part of a series of efforts to drive down recidivism and create a clearer path for thousands of inmates to re-enter their home communities.
In addition to the creation of a “semi-autonomous’’ education system to offer literacy programs and assistance for prisoners with learning disabilities, Lynch said the federal government would cover the cost of obtaining state-issued identification for all inmates prior to their release. At the same time, the Justice Department announced the shake-up of the organization of 181 privately-run halfway houses that serve more than 30,000 inmates during the last months of their sentences.
The plan to provide state-identification for out-going inmates, Lynch said, was "critical'' to inmates who already encounter "significant challenges'' finding employment, enrolling in school, opening bank accounts and obtaining health care. Justice officials suggested that the government-funded prisoner identification program alone could expedite the transfer of inmates to less costly forms of custody, including home confinement, saving the prison system an estimated $19 million per year.
Plans for school "districts" within the Bureau of Prisons, however, represented perhaps the most uncharacteristic proposal for a system that had long placed more emphasis on punishment than rehabilitation.
"Helping incarcerated individuals prepare for life after prison is not just sound public policy, it is a moral imperative,'' Lynch said. "These critical reforms will help give federal inmates the tools and assistance they need to successfully return home as productive, law-abiding members of society.''
As part of the prison school plan, Justice announced the hiring of Amy Lopez, an educator in the Texas prison school system, to serve as the first "superintendent'' of the federal prison school system.
The planned overhaul of the federal prison system's network of privately-run halfway houses comes just more than three months after Justice announced its intention to end the use of private prisons because of serious concerns raised about security and medical care.
The new policy does not extend to the halfway-house operations, which involve agreements with more than 100 contractors. But Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, in a memo issued Wednesday, said a recent audit of the residential re-entry program revealed that the prison system "can and must do more to improve the quality of re-entry services provided by halfway houses.''
Among the new proposals aimed at improving those operations is a requirement for prison system to develop "report cards'' on the operation of each halfway house to assess their performance in helping inmates find jobs, health care, social security benefits and other re-entry resources.
"As a practical matter...the bureau (of prisons) currently lacks the capacity to own and operate its own (halfway houses),'' Yates said. "Instead, we must direct our efforts in the short term towards ensureing that the private market for federal halfway houses operates efficiently, transparently and fairly with a focus on both the public's safety and the needs of those leaving prison.''
USA TODAY
FBI investigating suspected post-election hate crimes
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét