FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? OJP

JULY 15, 2002???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 202/307-0703

KANSAS TO RECEIVE FEDERAL FUNDS FOR OFFENDER REENTRY EFFORTS

WASHINGTON, DC ? Attorney General John Ashcroft announced today that Kansas will receive a total of $2,000,000 to support prisoner reentry initiatives. The Kansas awards were 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 Kansas, 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-plus).? These efforts involve close coordination among institutional corrections, law enforcement, community corrections and other community-based service providers.

Within Kansas, the Kansas Department of Corrections will receive $1,000,000 to target offenders ages 18‑34 who have served a minimum 12 months in prison and are considered to pose a high risk to the community.? The targeted population will be released to Shawnee County. The reentry program will include family reunification, mental health treatment, law enforcement participation, volunteers, mentors, and rewards for success.? The Kansas Juvenile Justice Authority will receive $1,000,000 to reform the admissions and release process at the Kansas Juvenile Justice correctional facilities and enhance community transition and long term support in the South Central Kansas areas of Sedgwick, Cowley, and Butler/Elk/Greenwood Counties (13th, 18th, and 19th Judicial Districts) and in the Northeast Kansas area of Shawnee, Johnson, and Wyandotte Counties (3rd, 10th, and 29th Judicial Districts).

?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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