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Washington, D.C. 20531
March 17, 2016
Dear Colleague:
Over
the last seven years, the Department of Justice has partnered with
state, local, and tribal agencies and national organizations to support
hundreds of reentry programs across the country. Thanks to these
collaborations - and to the important work each of you is doing in your
community - individuals leaving our corrections facilities have benefited from unprecedented access to job training, healthcare,
housing, and other services aimed at putting them on a path to
productive, successful lives.
The
demand for effective reentry services remains high. More than 600,000
men and women leave our prisons every year and more than 11 million
people cycle through our nation's jails. That is why the Justice
Department, through our Second Chance Act programs and our leadership of
the Federal Interagency Reentry Council, continues to advance
evidence-based reentry programming and promote innovative reentry
policymaking. I am proud of the progress we have made and excited about
the successes that lie ahead. But federal actions have been and will be
only part of the solution. It is up to all of us, working together, to
press the importance of these programs and policies that make such a
positive and lasting difference, not only to the individuals who are
served but to the communities to which they return.
In
an effort to draw greater attention to reentry, the Department of
Justice is designating April 24-30, 2016, National Reentry Week.
Throughout the week, U.S. Attorneys' Offices will lead reentry-related
efforts in their districts and Bureau of Prisons facilities will
coordinate events in their 122 facilities. We invite you to join them in
these activities or organize your own local events. Activities could
take the form of job fairs, reentry roundtables, listening sessions with
formerly incarcerated individuals, special events for children of
incarcerated parents, outreach through OpEd pieces in local media
outlets, or any of a number of other efforts designed to raise awareness
of the importance of reentry.
Effective
reentry programs offer the chance of a better life to those who return
from our nation's corrections facilities. I encourage you to use the
occasion of National Reentry Week to highlight the value of these
programs and to enlist your community in your work. The investments we
make today - through the resources we dedicate and the enthusiasm we
generate - will pay dividends for returning citizens and for public
safety in America. Please send comments or questions about National
Reentry Week to reentry@usdoj.gov.
Sincerely,
Karol V. Mason
Assistant Attorney General
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