On October 7, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security held an oversight hearing on prisoner reentry programs. Witnesses also addressed what can be done to protect children from criminal recidivists.
The subcommittee heard testimony from Rep. Rob Portman (R-OH) who explained that of the 650,000 prisoners released from incarceration each year, two-thirds “will be rearrested within three years” of their release. “The scale of this problem makes a strong case for Congressional action,” he stated. Rep. Portman announced his sponsorship of the Second Chance Act (H.R. 4676) that would increase “the support to states and community organizations to address the growing population of ex-offenders returning to communities,” adding, “The main areas of focus within the bill are jobs, housing, substance abuse and mental health treatment, and strengthening families.” Noting that there are approximately 2 million children in the United States who have a parent in a federal or state correctional facility, he stated, “These children are at risk of drug abuse and delinquency and need our attention. The bill would make it easier for grandparents to receive support and services while caring for their grandchildren as a result of parental incarceration. It would also provide state and local governments with resources for family-based drug treatment to parents and their children as a complete family unit.”
Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL) told the story of a girl in her district, Carlie Brucia, who was raped and killed by a man who “should have been behind bars,” explaining that he had been arrested 13 times since 1993. On May 20, she introduced a bill (H.R. 4150), known as “Carlie’s Law,” that would expand “the grounds for the mandatory revocation of probation or supervised release for felons convicted in federal court. This legislation requires the automatic revocation of probation or supervised release when a federal felon commits a felony crime of violence or any crime of violence against a child under the age of 16. It also imposes the mandatory revocation of probation or supervised release when a federal felon commits an offense involving or facilitating sexual contact with a child under the age of 16.” Rep. Harris concluded, “Re-conviction should not always mean re-incarceration, particularly if the new crime is comparatively minor. When career criminals commit acts of violence or sexually abuse a child, however, they do not belong on our streets and in our communities. Our children simply cannot afford the risk.”
Testifying on behalf of the Association of State Correctional Administrators and the Council of State Governments, Ashbel Wall said that 55 percent “of prisoners have children under the age of 18,” adding, “Lack of attention to the children, spouses, and other kin of someone in prison accelerates the deterioration of families in the U.S. It also unwittingly raises the risk that another generation will cycle in and out of prisons and jails. A recent study found that children of prisoners are five times more likely to be incarcerated later in their life [than] a child who has not had a parent incarcerated.” Mr. Wall cited the administration’s Serious, Violent Offender Reentry Initiative as a model grant program that allows former prisoners to succeed in their communities. He noted that the initiative has not received sufficient funding and urged Congress to approve legislation authorizing the program.
Malika Saar, executive director of the Rebecca Project for Human Rights, focused her comments on women prisoners, a majority of whom are mothers. She explained that the number of women in prisons has risen 400 percent since the mid-1980s because of new laws requiring mandatory sentences for drug violations, stating, “The most recent statistics indicate that drugs are responsible for the incarceration of 34 percent of state prisoners who are female and 72 percent of federal female prisoners. Indeed, drug related offenses accounted for 65 percent of the increase in the female prison population between 1996 and 1999.” Ms. Saar noted that it is a “struggle” for mothers to maintain contact with their children when they are incarcerated. “Women’s prisons are often located in rural areas far from the cities in which the majority of inmates lived, making it difficult to maintain contact with their children and jeopardizing the prospects of successful reunification. A national study found that more than half of the children of women prisoners did not visit their mothers while they were in prison. Over 60 percent of the children who did not visit lived more than 100 miles from the prison where their mothers were incarcerated.”
Highlighting the need for services aimed at women, Ms. Saar explained that women prisoners are released from District of Columbia jails “in the night, wearing nothing but their blue prison jumpers. They are released into the night without placement in a drug treatment program, without referral to mental health services, without knowledge of a job or housing opportunity, without a bus token, and without any identification.” She further stated, “Effective programs for both male and female offenders are limited, but programs explicitly designed and implemented for women are nearly non-existent. Despite the growing numbers of female inmates, Morash and Byrnum found in a nationwide study that few services addressed women’s distinct needs and experiences. Especially lacking were services for mothers and pregnant women. The treatment programs that existed lacked comprehensiveness, and so counselors did not focus on the women’s histories of physical and sexual victimization that led to their drug abuse.”
Ms. Saar said that families “struggling with substance abuse issues are offered few opportunities to find treatment that is family-focused, where they and their children may receive comprehensive services together,” adding, “The Uniform Facility Data Set found that only 6 percent of the treatment programs surveyed included prenatal care and 11.5 percent provided childcare. Only 37 percent of mothers in need of drug treatment who are mothering children under the age of eighteen receive any kind of treatment services.” Ms. Saar highlighted the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment’s Pregnant and Postpartum Women and Their Infants Program, which provides “comprehensive, family-based treatment for substance abusing mothers and their children.” She said that of the women who have participated in the program, 60 percent remained alcohol and drug-free after 6 months, 38 percent obtained employment, 21 percent enrolled in educational or vocational training, and 75 percent had physical custody of one or more children. In conclusion, Ms. Saar stated, “Successful reentry for mother offenders as well as for non-violent offenders who are fathers requires the expanded capacity of family-based treatment services. Until a continuum of family-based treatment services is available, substance abusing mothers will remain ensnared in the criminal justice system and families will continue to be destabilized.”
