FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? OJP
JULY 15, 2002???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 202/307-0703
CONNECTICUT TO RECEIVE FEDERAL FUNDS FOR OFFENDER
REENTRY EFFORTS
WASHINGTON,
DC ? Attorney General John Ashcroft announced today that Connecticut will
receive a total of $2,000,000 to support prisoner reentry initiatives. The
Connecticut award was among 68 grants totaling $100 million to support efforts
to ensure public safety and reduce victimization by helping returning offenders
become productive members of their communities.? Forty-nine states, including Connecticut, and the District of
Columbia and Virgin Islands will receive the funds.
The
grants, awarded by the Justice Department?s Office of Justice Programs (OJP),
are part of the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative, an
unprecedented collaboration among the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce,
Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Justice,
Labor and Veterans Affairs.??
?By
educating and treating offenders, we are not only helping them improve their
lives, we are reducing the chance they will return to crime and drug abuse,?
said Attorney General Ashcroft.?? ?My
hope is that the reentry programs will improve public safety and reduce the
burden on law enforcement and corrections.?
The
Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative will build on innovative
reentry efforts in states for both juveniles and adults with the goal that
these efforts serve as nationwide models.
Reentry efforts will begin while offenders are still in correctional
facilities, continue through offenders? transition back into the community and
help sustain ex-offenders through services such as employment training and
substance abuse and mental health treatment.
Efforts will be tailored to any one, or combination of, the following
age groups: Youth (ages 14 ‑ 17); Young Adult (ages 18 ‑ 24) and
Adult (ages 25+).? These efforts involve
close coordination among institutional corrections, law enforcement, community
corrections and other community-based service providers.
Within
Connecticut, the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services
will receive $2,000,000 to work with the Department of Corrections, the
Judicial Branch's Court Support Services Division‑Probation (Probation),
Board of Parole, and the CT Employment and Training Commission‑State
Workforce Investment Board to implement the Connecticut Reentry Program
(CRP).? CRP will provide intensive case
management services to 120 serious and violent offenders, ages 18‑34
years old, returning to the Hartford, New Haven, and Bridgeport
communities.? The project will emphasize
serious and violent offenders who are homeless or at imminent risk of
homelessness upon release.?
?These
programs are all tailored to meet the unique needs of the state and local
communities,? added Ashcroft.? ?But they
draw together different disciplines to develop state-of-the art, integrated
reentry efforts.?
The
Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative is designed to address all
three stages involved in returning an offender to the community.? The process involves education, treatment
and life skills programs while offenders are in institutions, services and
supervision as they reenter the community and networks of agencies, and
individuals to support offenders as they become productive and law-abiding
members of their communities.
More
information about the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative and other
OJP programs is available on OJP?s Website at www.ojp.usdoj.gov .? Media should contact OJP?s Office of Congressional
and Public Affairs at 202/307-0703.
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