The Second Chance Campaign
of New Jersey
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Reentry 101 >> Legislation Tracker>> News Center>>
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Our Mission
The mission of the Second Chance Campaign of New Jersey is to achieve the safe and successful reintegration of adults and juveniles returning home from incarceration by promoting policies that remove barriers to productive citizenship. The Campaign agenda includes measures that will improve the safety and security of New Jersey’s families and communities, save state and municipal dollars, and promote racial equity.
Americans of all political perspectives believe that crime and punishment must go hand in hand, but they want to see a prison door that isn’t a revolving door. An ever increasing number of families have seen sons and daughters, cousins, spouses, childhood friends, and others return home with the intention of becoming productive members of the community, only to find the barriers to getting a job, paying down debts, finishing their education, getting stable housing, and supporting their families insurmountable. Their failure is costly, not only for their families and the towns and cities in which they live, but for the state as a whole.
The Second Chance Campaign is committed to the agenda first laid out by the New Jersey Reentry Roundtable, which brought together a broad range of stakeholders and experts to analyze what we know about prisoner reentry in New Jersey and make policy and practice recommendations to address the issue comprehensively. As presented by Roundtable Co-Chairs John Farmer, Jr.and Stanley Van Ness, the Roundtable’s final report, Coming Home for Good, lays out the core principles that should guide New Jersey’s reentry strategy, including:
- Begin reentry preparation at entry: Starting with comprehensive assessment when individuals enter the criminal justice facilities, time spent inside should include meaningful preparation for a productive and law abiding life outside of prison. Drug treatment, literacy, education and appropriate vocational training are not luxuries: they are smart investments in public safety.
- Manage the transition back home: The period prior to and immediately following release is a period of crisis and of opportunity that ought to receive specific attention, coordination, and a concentration of resources. Basic discharge planning, including linkages to community-based organizations, assembling necessary identification documents, and making appointments for medical care should be the norm. Family members, whose support is key to reentry success, should be engaged in the preparation for release. Pre-release safety planning, that takes into account the concerns of crime victims and affected families where appropriate, should also be standard practice.
- Remove unnecessary barriers to reentry success: While public safety dictates certain on-going protections and prohibitions, too many of our laws do not give those who have finished their incarceration a fair opportunity to succeed and do not advance legitimate security interests. Public policy – state and local – affecting released prisoners should encourage and not prevent productive behavior like working, paying child support and taxes, pursuing education, reintegrating with family, and the key components of civic participation: voting and jury service. Laws that prohibit employment in certain fields, for example, and prohibit voting and jury service need to be reevaluated and changed.
- Support neighborhoods and families: Given the concentration of returning adults and juveniles in certain communities, we can target our limited resources for post-release support, supervision and aftercare towards areas most affected by reentry, supporting neighborhood-based interventions and local policies that incorporate safe reintegration into community economic development strategies.
Underlying all of these recommendations is a commitment to public safety strategies driven by solid data and analysis. There exists now a wealth of proven and promising approaches that can and should be implemented here in New Jersey. Public policy – state and local laws, regulations and practices – should support the goals of the state’s programs.
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Five First Steps
To get started, the Campaign is pursuing five first steps that New Jersey could take now, at little cost, which would make a real difference in accomplishing these goals:
1) Promote Work
Research supports the common sense notion that employment reduces recidivism. A good job provides necessary financial support, as well as an alternative to criminal activity, and helps individuals reintegrate into their families and communities. From the state’s perspective, employment of former prisoners increases state tax revenues, reduces family financial instability and dependency on public assistance and increases the economic viability of the communities to which individuals return. Finding and keeping a job, however, is one of the most difficult challenges people returning home face, given limited education and work experience, employer biases against hiring those with criminal records, and many legal restrictions.
In addition to supporting training and education programs, there are several low cost steps that the state and localities can take to increase employment for those returning home and hopefully to the workforce:
Click here for more information about ban the box organizing and implementation efforts.
Click here for more information about driver's license suspensions in New Jersey.
2) Stabilize Families
Family reintegration is a critical aspect of reentry for most returning individuals and research now shows that family support plays a significant role in reentry success. While family members provide a critical support system for individuals during incarceration and after release, and, often, motivation for rehabilitation, incarceration and reentry can put a severe economic and emotional strain on families, particularly the estimated 42,000 New Jersey children with an incarcerated parent.
The final recommendations of the recent Reentry Roundtable follow-up series on Incarceration, Reentry and the Family highlight steps that relevant stakeholders can take to better integrate families. Key first steps are:
Click here for information about the campaign to eliminate phone call surcharges in New York State.
Click here to learn more about the felony drug ban and related reentry barriers in New Jersey and other states.
3) Don't Release Empty-Handed
Preparation for life on the ‘outside’ – by productively using time on the ‘inside’ – both saves taxpayer dollars and enhances public safety in the long run. There are a wide range of constructive steps that can be accomplished prior to release, as noted above, from early and on-going screening and assessment, programs and services targeting risks and needs, transition planning and coordination, and support for families preparing for reentry.
At the most basic level, New Jersey can start by ensuring that every adult and juvenile leaving state custody has:
- A valid New Jersey driver’s license or non-drivers state identification;
- A social security card;
- A copy of their criminal record (“rap sheet”) from the state police; and
- A copy of their medical records.
4) Mandate Education
Research shows that providing education in prison reduces recidivism. The basic facts about New Jersey demonstrate why: the average education level of state prisoners is 6th grade, which limits an already constrained field of job opportunities. In order to increase the likelihood that individuals will lead productive lives following release, the state can take steps to increase in-prison education for all incarcerated individuals who are below basic educational levels. Currently, New Jersey law requires the Department of Corrections to provide academic services only for inmates under the age of 20 who do not have a high school diploma or G.E.D. certificate. Of those incarcerated in 2006, only 3 percent were under 20. Unlike most of the first steps proposed here, education does cost money, but very little in the context of the prison budget and relative to the impact on recidivism. New Jersey can take these steps:
- Pass a Mandatory Education Law: As twenty-two other states have already done, the state should enact a mandatory education law, as an initial measure, requiring inmates who score below the 8th grade level to participate in educational programming for a specified period of time or until they meet the G.E.D. achievement level.
- Implement Incentives Tied to Educational Participation: For those not subject to mandatory education, the state can provide incentives, such as good time, work opportunities, and parole consideration, for educational achievement, with incentives increasing along a sliding scale of participation and achievement.
- Provide Practical Vocational Training: Specific vocational programs tied to demand occupations that do not exclude those with a criminal record, including those that would allow individuals to attain regular licenses or other certification (not simply a certificate of completion of prison program) prior to release will give individuals the practical knowledge and tools for stable jobs on the outside.
Click here for more information about mandated in-prison education.
5) Hold Government Accountable
The citizens of New Jersey have a right to know how their tax dollars are being spent and, just as importantly, the results of these expenditures. The state’s juvenile justice, corrections and parole budget now exceeds $1 billion, yet there is no requirement that the state agencies involved calculate and report recidivism rates or regularly evaluate their approaches to improving public safety outcomes, or that the state conduct cost benefit analyses of sentencing and public safety policy choices. In order to hold government accountable for its criminal justice spending, there should be greater transparency around core expenditures and their outcomes. The first step in achieving accountability is data collection:
- Mandate a fiscal note for all proposed legislation that alters criminal penalties for any criminal offense. Adding a presumption that a fiscal note, which evaluates whether a proposed bill will increase or decrease expenditures or revenues, is required for any legislation affecting criminal penalties will ensure that there is on-going consideration of the cost effectiveness of criminal justice policy.
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Who We Are
The Campaign is a state-wide coalition of advocacy organizations, service providers, policymakers, faith-based organizations, community leaders, and interested citizens committed to accomplishing our mission. While we approach reentry issues from a diversity of perspectives, we work together through the Campaign to strive for change in a unified voice.
Campaign signatories include:
ACLU of New Jersey
ACORN
Association for Children of New Jersey
Coalition of Community Corrections Providers of New Jersey
Corporation for Supportive Housing
Drug Policy Alliance of New Jersey
Families Against Mandatory Minimums
Fund for New Jersey
Goodwill Industries
Greater Essex County Reentry Providers Network
Hispanic Directors Association of New Jersey
Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey
Hyacinth Foundation
Integrity House
Jubilee Interfaith
Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey
Legal Action Center
Legal Services of New Jersey
NAACP
National Alliance on Mental Illness
National Employment Law Project
National H.I.R.E. Network
New Jersey Association on Correction
New Jersey Black Issues Convention
New Jersey Citizen Action
New Jersey Community Development Corporation
New Jersey Institute for Social Justice
New Jersey Latino Peace Officers Association
New Jersey Policy Perspective
People's Organization for Progress
Pilgrimage Outreach/NuLeadership
Police Institute
Rutgers Newark, School of Criminal Justice
Thomas Edison State College
Volunteers of America
Women Who Never Give-up
Youth for Better Living Prison Ministry
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Reentry 101
Reentry is the process of reintegrating into the community following incarceration. Successful reintegration requires a mix of opportunity and oversight across a range of interconnected areas, most notably employment>>, housing>>, and health>>.
Following are some basic facts about reentry in New Jersey:
- In 1980, New Jersey prisons released 3,910 individuals. By 2005, just 25 years later, the number had climbed to 14,381. At this rate, over 70,000 adults will return from state prison to their New Jersey communities over the next 5 years. On average 1,600 youth return home annually from juvenile justice placements, or 8,000 over the next 5 years. Many more transition in and out of county jails on short sentences.
- In the 30 years between 1977 and 2007, the New Jersey prison population more than quadrupled, increasing from 6,017 to 27,471. The per capita incarceration rate rose from 76 per 100,000 to 315.
- Reentry is virtually universal: 95% of those who enter state prison are released. Every juvenile and every jail inmate will be released.
- Over the past 25 years, state spending on corrections, parole, and juvenile justice has grown at twice the rate of the rest of the state budget. The state now spends over $1 billion a year on incarceration and post-release supervision.
- The average New Jersey inmate functions at a sixth grade level in reading and a 5.4 grade level in math. Only 2% of the corrections budget is spent on educational or vocational programming.
- More than half of all state prison inmates have a history of moderate to severe substance abuse disorders.
- No agency in the state regularly measures or is held accountable for the recividism – rearrest, reconviction or reincarceration – of adults and juveniles released from state custody, or the effectiveness or cost effectiveness of policies and interventions targeting this population.
- While African-Americans make up only 14% of the population in New Jersey, they constitute 62% of the prison population.
Employment
Our definition of successful reentry includes steady, legitimate employment and economic self-sufficiency. From the reentering individual's perspective, employment provides necessary financial support, an alternative to criminal activities, and critical ingredients to individual identity and self-respect. From the state's perspective, employment for formerly incarcerated individuals reduces recidivism, increases public tax revenue, reduces family financial instability and associated dependency on public assistance, and enhances the economic viability and stability of the communities where former prisoners live.
Relevant resources:
National Employment Law Project's Second Chance Labor Project
National H.I.R.E. Network
Center for Employment Opportunities
Major U.S. Cities Adopt New Hiring Policies Removing Unfair Barriers to Employment for People With Criminal Records
National Employment Law Project
Individuals With Criminal Histories: A Potential Untapped Resource
Legal Action Center/Urban Institute Justice Policy Center
Information on the Work Opportunity Tax Credit and Federal Bonding Program
National H.I.R.E. Network
Legal Barriers to Prisoner Reentry in New Jersey - Employment (fact sheet)
New Jersey Institute for Social Justice
Housing
The importance of stable housing to successful reentry cannot be underestimated. Studies from other jurisdictions have begun to confirm what anecdotal information in New Jersey strongly suggests: there is a direct connection between reentry and homelessness and between homelessness and recidivism. In light of the current lack of affordable housing stock in New Jersey, strategies to overcome the housing-related challenges reentering individuals face will require a range of elements, including the creation of more transitional housing options and encouraging both public housing authorities and private landlords to consider prospective tenants on a case-by-case basis (rather than adopting blanket exclusions).
Relevant resources:
Directory of Homeless and Housing Advocacy Coalitions in New Jersey
Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey
Corporation for Supportive Housing
New Jersey Community Capital
Supportive Housing Association of New Jersey
New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Online Resource Library
Restoring Neighborhoods: New Housing Directions for Struggling Cities
Alan Mallach, Shelterforce Online
Re-Entry Policy Council Housing Fact Sheet
Legal Barriers to Prisoner Reentry in New Jersey - Housing (fact sheet)
New Jersey Institute for Social Justice
Health
A definition of successful reentry must include receiving regular medical care and management of chronic and communicable diseases, getting and staying clean and sober and, for individuals living with mental illness, having their conditions stabilized, treated, and monitored such that they can become productive members of the community. The prison population in New Jersey has a disproportionate incidence of health problems, with significantly higher than average rates of asthma, diabetes, HIV, and other chronic and communicable diseases. Given the prevalance of serious health problems among the reentering population, it is important that screening and treatment occur as comprehensively and seamlessly as possible before and throughout the reentry process.
Relevant resources:
National Commission on Correctional Health Care
Consensus Project
Journal of Correctional Health Care
Investing in Health and Justice Outcomes: An Investment Strategy for Offenders With Mental Health Problems in New Jersey
Nancy Wolff, Rutgers University
Reentry into the Community After Addiction Treatment Within New Jersey's Prisons and Jails
Nancy Violette and Douglas Ziedonis
Reentry Issues for Offenders Living With HIV
Riki Jacobs, Hyacinth Foundation
The Health Status of Soon-to-be-Released Inmates: A Report to Congress
National Commission on Correctional Health Care
Spotlight on the Standards
National Commission on Correctional Health Care
Additional Resources:
Re-Entry Policy Council
Reentry.Net
ABA Commission on Effective Criminal Sanctions
Council of State Governments Justice Center
Urban Institute Justice Policy Center
National Governors Association Prisoner Reentry Policy Academy
Legal Action Center
Federal Second Chance Act Information
Vera Institute of Justice
The After-Prison Initiative
Newark Reentry Legal Services (ReLeSe) Network
New Jersey Commission to Review Criminal Sentencing
National Institute of Justice
National Institute of Corrections
The Sentencing Project
Prison Policy Initiative
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Legislation Tracker
Click here to set up a free New Jersey Legislature bill subscription account to track any of the following reentry-related legislation:
A489 - Enables authorized persons to obtain criminal background checks on juveniles to determine suitability for work with children, the elderly and the developmentally disabled.
A565 - Requires public hearing and security report before establishing, relocating, or expanding juvenile boot camps.
A746 - Establishes advocacy pilot program for mentally ill offenders.
A779 - Permits immediate expungement of court records where the person is acquitted or discharged or where the charges have been dismissed.
A789 - Permits sentencing as repeat sex offender if adult defendant had been previously adjudicated delinquent as a juvenile for a sex offense.
A847 - Requires Juvenile Justice Commission to assist juveniles released from incarceration in obtaining certain documents.
A850 - Extends right to vote to individuals on probation.
A917 - Establishes a computers for schools program in DOC.
A1525 - Establishes the "Mental Health Court Pilot Program."
A1542 - Provides for a seven year time period for expungement of certain records.
A1664 - Allows corporation business tax and gross income tax credits to businesses employing qualified ex-offenders.
A1804 - Provides voter registration assistance to persons completing parole, probation, and criminal sentences.
A1818 - Creates the victim-juvenile offender mediation program.
A1977 - Requires disclosure of juvenile sex offenses in criminal background checks.
A2103 - Creates permanent "Commission to Review Criminal Sentencing."
A2182 - Authorizes court to provide alternatives for persons who default in payment of fines.
A2193 - Makes certain repeat offenders ineligible for parole.
A2197 - Requires parole board to consider significant efforts at achieving GED in decreasing parole eligibility date.
A2251 - Establishes "Commission to Examine Strategies for Strengthening Familial Bond Between Children and Incarcerated Parents."
A2281 - Requires suicide and mental health screening of juveniles in county detention centers.
A2329 - Appropriates $5 million to the Judiciary for substance abuse programs for persons on probation.
A2334 - Requires inmates with sufficient means to pay their incarceration costs.
A2342 - Creates procedure for destruction of all records pertaining to juveniles who are arrested but subsequently not charged with delinquency.
A2681 - Supplemental appropriation of $2,000,000 to DLPS to support Juvenile Justice Commission Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative.
A2760 - Makes prisoners responsible for their own support and maintenance and provides the State with a lien for the cost thereof.
A2877 - Reduces drug free school and public property zones to 200 feet.
A3189 - Establishes 2-year "Gang Violence Prevention Pilot Program" in Department of Children and Families.
A3684 - Revises the expungement statute by reducing the waiting period and eliminating cost for certain offenders.
S94 - Establishes advocacy pilot program for mentally ill offenders.
S278 - Reduces certain drug free zones from within 1,000 to 200 feet of school or public property.
S434 - Permits the sealing of certain criminal records.
S437 - Establishes Juvenile Offender Community Conservation and Improvement Services Program.
S661 -
Restores public assistance eligibility to those now restricted due to felony conviction(s) for drug sales.
S906 - Creates procedure for destruction of all records pertaining to juveniles who are arrested but subsequently not charged with delinquency.
S1179 - Makes suspension of driving privileges mandatory for persons, including juveniles, who are diverted for drug offenses.
S1317 - Requires aftercare treatment program as part of community supervision.
S1536 - Requires certain inmates to participate in educational program.
S2326 - Authorizes suspension of motor vehicle registration.
S2328 - Revises driver's license suspension for operating a motor vehicle without certain insurance.
S2330 - Clarifies that suspension for non-driving related offense is distinct from suspension for driving related offense.
S2331 - Renames New Jersey Rating Plan and provides for changes in procedures for payment of outstanding surcharges.
S2332 - Authorizes payment options for certain motor vehicle fines and fees.
S2473 - Authorizes court to waive license revocation process for certain child support obligors.
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News Center
News & Opinion
"When Neither Crime nor Punishment Pays," Star-Ledger (7/29/07)
Editorial, "Fixing the Scam on Collect Calls," New York Times (7/27/07)
"Hope and Woe Fight for Newark's Future," Star-Ledger (7/15/07)
Editorial, "Why Cory Booker is Mad as Hell," Salon.com (7/5/07)
Editorial, "A Much-Needed Second Chance," New York Times (7/2/07)
Editorial, "Booker Redirects His Anger at the War on Drugs," Star-Ledger (6/24/07)
"States Seek Alternatives to More Prisons," Stateline.org (6/18/07)
"Helping Ex-Cons Find a New Label: College Graduate," New York Times (6/15/07)
"State Panel Says Drug Courts Work," North Jersey Record (5/6/07)
"New Rules for Confining the Mentally Ill," New York Times (4/25/07)
Letter to the editor, "Second Chances Commendable," Asbury Park Press (4/11/07)
Editorial, "A Smoother Re-Entry," New York Times (3/27/07)
Editorial, "Closing the Revolving Door," New York Times (1/25/07)
Upcoming Events
International Community Corrections Association Conference
October 28-31
San Diego, CA
Justice Research and Statistics Conference
October 11
Pittsburgh, PA
Prison Fellowship Ministries/CAPA National Prisoner Reentry Conference
October 26-28
Minneapolis, MN
New Jersey Reentry Digest
The New Jersey Reentry Digest is published online bi-weekly. Click here to view the current edition (subscribe for free at the bottom of the page).
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Get Involved
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