FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? OJP
JULY 15, 2002???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 202/307-0703
TENNESSEE TO RECEIVE FEDERAL FUNDS FOR OFFENDER
REENTRY EFFORTS
WASHINGTON,
DC ? Attorney General John Ashcroft announced today that Tennessee will receive
a total of $2,000,000 to support prisoner reentry initiatives. The Tennessee
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 Tennessee, 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 Tennessee, the Tennessee Department of
Corrections (TDOC) Tennessee Bridges program will receive $1,064,000 to use its
Intensive Aftercare Program to provide services to serious and violent
offenders.? The Tennessee Department of
Children?s Services will receive $936,000 to provide services including
employment training and placement, educational services, tutoring, vocational
skills training, recreational programs, self‑help services, counseling,
independent living assistance, substance abuse treatment, mental health
treatment, medical services, community service, housing assistance, community
support services, restitution, aftercare services, life skills training, family
support and reunification services, parenting classes, supervision, and
intensive case management.
?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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