RECENT REPORTS + LEGISLATION
FORTUNE SOCIETY TOOLKITS UNVEILED:
Toolkits titled Employing Your Mission: Building Cultural Competence in Reentry Service Agencies and In Our Backyard: Overcoming Community Resistance to Rentry Housing, outline how to successfully employ men and women with criminal histories is now available. This is the product of a joint effort by The Fortune Society in partnership with the Prisoner Reentry Institute at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Click the links below to download the toolkits now!
Employing Your Mission – Building Cultural Competence in Rentry Service Agencies
In Our Backyard – Overcoming Community Resistance to Reentry Housing
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS:
Read the most recent New York ATI/Reentry Coalition Services Report (2011) here.
Treatment Behind Bars Report
The Correctional Association of New York has released their latest report Treatment Behind Bars: Substance Abuse Treatment in New York State Prisons, 2007-2010, the first-ever comprehensive review of the State’s prison-based substance abuse treatment programs. Please visit their website for the full report.
Transitional Care Coordination Brief
The Enhancing Linkages Initiative has posted their official Transitional Care Coordination Policy Brief. Enhancing Linkages is a multisite demonstration and evaluation of HIV service delivery interventions for HIV+ individuals in jail settings who are returning to their communities.
Developments in Policy and Practice
The Sentencing Project has released their new report highlighting the growing trend of reexamining sentencing policies and scaling back mass-incarceration in the United Stated in order to control spending.
Resolution to Close Underutilized State Prison Facilities
NYC Council Member Elizabeth Crowley has introduced a resolution to reduce the number of unneeded prisons in New York State.
Senate Passes Bill to End Prison Gerrymandering in New York – Long Island Exchange, 08/04/10
The Fortune Society was part of a large coalition that helped bring an end to prison gerrymandering. The new law will count incarcerated individuals in their home districts, not where their correctional facility is located, returning much-needed funds to underserved communities.
Crack Reform Legislation, The Fair Sentencing Act
On June 28th, 2010, bill S. 1789, known as the Fair Sentencing Act, was passed through the House of Representatives. This bill will transform crack cocaine sentencing, and will dramatically improve the fairness in sentencing. More information about this bill is available here.
(As of 08/02/10)
Eight Reentry Bills in State Budget Have Been Signed Into Law
On June 22nd, advocacy by the Legal Action Center and other criminal justice advocacy organizations, including Fortune’s DRCPP, New York Governor David Paterson signed eight pieces of legislation aimed at significantly lowering recidivism and facilitating the reentry process.
Certificate Equivalency Bill S.4366
Ensures that either Certificates of Relief from Disabilities or Certificates of Good Conduct are accepted for the purpose of overcoming barriers to obtaining employment.
Alcohol and Beverage Control Bill S.4686
Anyone with a conviction can be employed by an establishment with a liquor license that sells alcoholic beverages to be consumed off-site.
Department of Corrections Look-up Bill S.4406
Criminal information may only be posted on the Department of Corrections’ website for a period not to exceed five years after release.
Federal District Court Decisions on CRD’s
When a Certificate of Relief from Disabilities is sought for a conviction in federal district court, the Board of Parole shall issue the requested certificates of relief from disabilities.
Free Copy of RAP Sheet for People in Prison or Jail
The Division of Criminal Justice Services has the duty to provide people in state or local correctional facilities with a free copy of their criminal history.
Copy of Pre-Sentence Report for People Going before Parole Board
The court shall make a copy of the PSR available to a person for use before they appear before the parole board for release consideration or files an appeal of a parole board determination.
Free Birth Certificates
Free Birth Certificates must be issued for those who are incarcerated.
Voting Rights S.1266
Removes barriers that prevent convicted felons from registering to vote when they have completed their sentence.
Fairness & Accuracy in Employment Background Checks Act
The House bill HR.5300 improves the reliability and accuracy of criminal background checks issued by the FBI for employment screening purposes, greatly assisting job applicants, employers, and government agencies that conduct background checks. For more information about HR.5300 please click here.
ASFA Finally Law
After years of advocacy by the Correctional Association, The Fortune Society, the Coalition for Women Prisoners, and dozens of other concerned organizations across the state, the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) Expanded Discretion Bill is finally law! Click here for the Correctional Association’s official announcement.
The Criminal Justice Reinvestment Act of 2009
Sponsored by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Representative Adam Schiff, this bill seeks to improve public safety more cost-effectively through reforms of parole and probation policies and practices that downsize state prison populations and budgets. The money saved by these initiatives would then be reinvested to improve and strengthen communities – funding schools, job creation, affordable housing and health care – in the neighborhoods where people live before and after prison. For more information about this act, please click here.
The Democracy Restoration Act of 2009
Sponsored by Representative John Conyers and Senator Russ Feingold, this bill seeks to restore voting rights in federal elections to the four million Americans who are out of prison and living in the community. For more information about this act, please click here.
The National Criminal Justice Commission Act 2009
DRCPP supports the passage of Bill S.714, sponsored by Senator Jim D. Webb. The bill, which passed the U. S. Legislative Judiciary Committee, will establish a blue-ribbon commission to look at every aspect of our criminal justice system with an eye toward reshaping the process from top to bottom. The commission will propose a wide range of reforms designed to responsibly reduce the overall incarceration rate, improve federal and local responses to international and domestic gang violence, and restructure our approach to drug policy. In addition, the commission will propose to improve mental illness treatment and prison administration, and establish a system for reintegrating people post-incarceration. To read DRCPP’s letter of support for this bill, please click here.