NEW JERSEY REENTRY CORPORATION TO HOST INCARCERATED AND FORMERLY INCARCERATED PERSONS FOR REENTRY ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
NEW JERSEY REENTRY CORPORATION TO HOST INCARCERATED AND FORMERLY INCARCERATED PERSONS FOR REENTRY ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
Participants to discuss, “Examining Best Practices:
How to Make Reentry Work Better”
NEWARK, N.J. (AUG. 25, 2017) – The New Jersey Reentry Corporation (NJRC) will host a roundtable discussion examining best practices for reentry, where more than 25 incarcerated and formerly incarcerated persons will be in attendance to provide feedback on their experiences living in prisons, jails, halfway houses, and halfway backs. It will take place on Friday, Aug. 25 from 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Greater Newark Conservancy, 32 Prince Street, Newark, N.J. 07103.
The roundtable discussion will be led by Haywood Gandy, former NJRC client, Jim McGreevey, Chairman, NJRC, and John Koufos, Executive Director, NJRC. The goal of the discussion is to discover what aspects of the reentry process are working well for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated persons, as well as learn what areas need improvement.
“Listening to the voices of returning persons, particularly those who have spent decades behind the wall, serves a valuable purpose in understanding the challenges of returning to civil society,” said McGreevey. “The fear of the unknown, the lack of technological skills, whether having an email address or understanding a smartphone, as well as the difficulty in accessing employment and training, healthcare, housing, and addiction treatment, are all testament to the steep incline confronting the persons we serve.”
Discussion topics will include The Modern American Prison; Successful Reentry, Addiction Treatment, Employment and Training, Housing, and Healthcare; Clearing the Legal Wreckage of Our Past, and Recommendations for the Future. Findings from this discussion will assist NJRC in developing a proposal with recommendations for improvement.
At the New Jersey Reentry Corporation, there is a recidivism rate of about 19.6 percent one year after release and a 56 percent employment rate. Comparatively, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics in a 2005 study, 67.8 percent of released prisoners in 30 states were rearrested within three years of release. Of those rearrested, 56.7 percent had been arrested by the end of the first year. Establishing and implementing best practices for reentry will ultimately help to lower the recidivism rate on a national level.
More about the New Jersey Reentry Corporation
The New Jersey Reentry Corporation is committed to providing critically needed services to court involved individuals to empower them to achieve healthy self-sufficiency, thereby reducing recidivism and fostering safer communities. Working with private employers and public agencies, the NJRC strives to maximize the training and employment of this discrete population.
With a statewide network of reentry sites in Hudson, Essex, Passaic, and Ocean Counties, the NJRC aims to provide critical services to clients: addiction treatment, training and employment, Medicaid registration and linkage to healthcare through federally qualified healthcare centers and hospitals, Motor Vehicle Commission identification, legal services working through the New Jersey State Bar Association, Young Lawyers Division, and mentoring working with faith-based and professional associations.
For more information, please visit www.njreentry.org
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