New Jersey Re-Entry Program Wins Praise
The Washington, DC-based Justice Policy Institute cited New Jersey’s unique Regional Assessment Center (RAC) initiative as an example of a smart reentry policy designed to prevent parolees from unnecessary re-incarceration. RAC programs are operated by New Jersey-based Community Education Centers, Inc. (CEC) in collaboration with the New Jersey State Parole Board (NJSPB).
“The RAC program is the proverbial ‘win-win’ for New Jersey. The State avoids the costs of incarceration and technical parole violators receive the reentry services they need to lead productive lives. This report confirms what university-based research has told us for years–reentry programs work,” said Dr. Robert Mackey. The report states that community-based reentry programs are cost effective and improve public safety and cites New Jersey as one of “six states (that) are increasing the likelihood that people on probation or parole stay out of prison.”
“New Jersey has long focused on community corrections through the utilization of an assessment/treatment model as an effective alternative to incarceration. RAC is an important program to address the reentry needs of technical parole violators,” added Dr. Mackey.
The citation appears in “Pruning Prisons: How Cutting Corrections Can Save Money and Protect Public Safety,” an independent report released May 20, 2009 by the Justice Policy Institute. The report is available at the institute’s website, http://www.justicepolicy.org/index.htm.
The Regional Assessment Centers were developed as an investment in public safety, and a method to save taxpayer dollars by reducing the rate at which technical parole violators are returned to prison. Technical parole violators are parolees who have committed a technical violation of the conditions of their supervision, but have not been charged with a new crime or significantly threatened public safety. Most technical violations are consistent with a relapse in addiction and indicate intensified supervision and treatment as an appropriate response for public safety. The RACs hold technical parole violators to a 15- to 30-day lockdown period, while subjecting them to a clinical risk-needs assessment. The assessment helps the New Jersey State Parole Board make better-informed decisions as to whether the technical violator should continue on parole with intensified supervision and programming, or whether the individual should return to prison.
Source: CEC press release.
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