FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? OJP
JULY 15, 2002???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 202/307-0703
NEW MEXICO TO RECEIVE FEDERAL FUNDS FOR OFFENDER
REENTRY EFFORTS
WASHINGTON,
DC ? Attorney General John Ashcroft announced today that New Mexico will
receive a total of $1,999,996 to support prisoner reentry initiatives. The New
Mexico 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 New Mexico, 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
New Mexico, the New Mexico Department of Corrections will receive $1,999,996
and will build on existing community corrections to serve an additional 505
adult offenders and 87 juvenile offenders throughout the state. Through the
"Safe Community Reentry" Project, the New Mexico Department of
Corrections will partner with various service agencies to address the
challenges of recidivism, substance abuse, physical and mental health, and to
provide support in the area of education,
workforce participation, housing, family reunification, and faith based
issues.
?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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