2006-2007 Reentry Legislation Roundup
State legislators across the U.S. are tackling a wide range of issues relating to the successful reentry of individuals released from prisons and jails. The Justice Center has compiled below a sampling of reentry legislation enacted in the states during the 2006-2007 legislative sessions. You may use the drop-down menus to filter the list by state or by issue area.
These laws do not necessarily reflect the views of CSG members, and the Justice Center does not endorse any of them as a model. Furthermore, this list is not meant to be comprehensive, and there may be states not represented here that passed legislation in 2007 related to the issues discussed below. To suggest additional legislation related to prisoner reentry that we may have missed, please e-mail us at editors@reentrypolicy.org.
The Justice Center will continue to monitor state and federal reentry legislation on an ongoing basis. Check the Legislation page on the Reentry Policy Council website for periodic updates on relevant laws that have been enacted.
You may also be interested in viewing previous reentry legislation roundups the Justice Center has published. Please see the September 2006 and August 2007 issues of the Reentry Policy Council newsletter for examples of other important reentry legislation that has been enacted in the states.
If you would like to print out the full list below, organized by issue area, you may download it in PDF format here.
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HIV Testing
This law requires the Department of Correction to test incarcerated individuals for HIV prior to their release and to provide counseling regarding treatment options for those who test positive.
Teaching Offenders to Live Program
This law creates a Teaching Offenders to Live Program (TOLP), which will provide treatment and relapse-prevention services and prepare incarcerated individuals for independent living. The law also requires eligible individuals who violate conditions of their parole to participate in TOLP prior to their revocation hearing. The Department of Corrections may advocate for parole violators who graduate from the program to remain under community supervision rather than be reincarcerated.
Intermediate Sanctions for Parole Violators
This law authorizes the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to create a Parole Violation Intermediate Sanctions program, which will expand the use of parole programs and services. The law allows program or treatment enrollment for violators in lieu of parole revocations.
Female Offender Reform Plan
This law requires the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation to create a Female Offender Reform Master Plan. The purpose of this law is to help reduce crime and recidivism, improve access to rehabilitative programs, break the intergenerational cycle of incarceration, and dedicate adequate space for programming needs.
Public Safety and Offender Rehabilitation Services Act of 2007
This law authorizes the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to establish reentry facilities throughout the state that will house up to 10,000 additional people. The law requires the Department to expand educational, vocational, and substance abuse treatment programs for incarcerated individuals and parolees. The law also requires the Department to conduct assessments of all individuals entering state prisons, which shall be used to match individuals to appropriate reentry programs. Finally, the Department must develop a collaborative partnership with local governments, local law enforcement, and social service providers in the communities where reentry program facilities are operated.
Reentry Facilities, Transition Programs, Juvenile Services, and Sex Offender Research
This law requires the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation to conduct site assessments to determine where to construct or renovate correctional housing units pursuant to the projects outlined in existing legislation. The law requires the Corrections Standards Authority to ensure that funds for the construction of new jail beds are coordinated with the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation's efforts to create new reentry facilities.
The law also requires the development and implementation of prison-to-employment programs, expanded substance abuse treatment services, inmate risk and needs assessments, day treatment programs for parolees with mental illnesses, and other educational and vocational services.
Regarding juveniles, this law establishes the Youthful Offender Block Grant Program to enhance the capacity of county departments to provide appropriate rehabilitative and supervision services to juveniles.
Regarding sex offenders, the law requires the Department to include a research component to relapse prevention treatment programs it implements.
Reentry Facility
This law authorizes the use of the Northern California Women’s Facility as a reentry facility to house individuals who are incarcerated, parole violators, or parolees pending revocation of parole, as specified.
Inmate Savings Accounts
This law requires the Department of Correction (DOC) to create a discharge savings account for each individual who is incarcerated that will accumulate funds to be paid upon release. The DOC may transfer up to 10% of any deposit to the individual's bank account into his or her discharge savings account. Once the savings account reaches $1,000, the DOC must deduct 10% of every deposit to go toward the costs of incarceration.
Sex Offender Management Board
This law establishes a Sex Offender Management Board to develop and standardize the evaluation, identification, treatment, and continued monitoring of sex offenders at each stage of the criminal justice system. The purpose of these efforts is to reduce the risk of reoffense and to protect the safety of victims and potential victims.
Community Corrections Caseload Management
This law requires the Department of Corrections to conduct a caseload and risk-assessment study to determine appropriate caseload ratios for probation and community control and provide supervision based on an individual's risk level. The Department must submit a final report to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives by December 31, 2007.
Sex Offender Registration
This law makes changes to Florida’s laws regarding registration of sex offenders to comply with the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. One of the major features of the new law is an expansion of the population of sex offenders required to register, to include juveniles.
Sex Offender Voting
This law amends the election code to prohibit individuals convicted of sex crimes involving children from entering schools to vote. However, the new law also requires that certain alternative voting options be provided to these individuals.
Program Credits for Parolees
This law provides that individuals who obtain their GED while on parole shall have their parole sentence reduced by 90 days.
Community Corrections Risk Reduction Initiative
This law creates a Risk Reduction Initiative that will award funding to community corrections agencies to enhance risk reduction efforts with the goal of decreasing parole and probation revocation rates by 20%. The law also establishes a 60-day program credit to reduce the prison time served by inmates who complete educational, vocational, and/or treatment programs.
Substance Abuse Counseling
This law creates the Prison Substance Abuse and Rehabilitation Pilot Program, which will provide substance abuse counseling to all individuals who are eligible to participate. It also requires the Department of Public Safety and Corrections to report on the effectiveness of the program.
Juvenile Mentoring Program
This law establishes a volunteer mentoring program to provide counseling, life skills training, and tutoring to youth who are in juvenile detention. The purpose of the program is to decrease delinquent behavior and increase youth’s potential to become productive members of society. The program will recruit volunteer mentors from state agencies, social service organizations, community groups, and colleges and universities.
Mental Health Treatment Courts and Programs
This law authorizes the creation of mental health treatment courts as well as treatment programs that will provide prevention, education, and therapy directed toward ending criminal behavior and preventing a return to criminal behavior. Mental health treatment programs may consist of, but are not limited to, housing assistance, job training, mental health counseling, and psychiatric treatment.
Prison Work Programs
This law establishes the Division of Correction Enterprises as a division of the Department of Correction. The Division of Correction Enterprises may develop and operate industrial, agricultural, and service enterprises that employ incarcerated individuals in an effort to provide them with meaningful work experiences and rehabilitative opportunities that will increase their employability upon release from prison.
Community Corrections Caseloads
This law requires the Department of Correction to report annually on caseload averages for probation and parole officers. The report must include data on current caseloads, an analysis of optimal caseloads, the number and role of paraprofessionals supervising low-risk caseloads, and risk assessments for all individuals under community supervision.
Employment Task Force
This law establishes a task force to review barriers to public employment for persons with criminal convictions and to make recommendations that could remove such barriers while ensuring public safety.
Sex Offender Registration and Community Notification
This law revises regulations pertaining to the registration and community notification of sex offenders. Sex offenders are required to register prior to their release from prison and to submit notification of any change to their personal information more frequently, based on their risk-level categorization.
Sex Offender Registration, Monitoring, and Exclusion Zones
This law requires incarcerated sex offenders to register with law enforcement prior to their release from prison as a condition of their parole. Sex offenders convicted outside of the state must submit their DNA samples to local law enforcement upon their relocation to the state. The law also requires electronic GPS monitoring of high-risk sex offenders. Finally, the law establishes safety zones prohibiting high-risk offenders from living or being in places that are frequently visited by children.
Program Credits
This law increases earned sentence-reduction credits for incarcerated individuals who complete educational, vocational, and drug treatment programs, as well as for parolees who are current with restitution payments and supervision fees.
Protection Against Employment Discrimination
This law extends protection from criminal record-based employment discrimination to current employees and licensees, in addition to job and license applicants. The law also requires written statements to include an explanation of how the employer weighed certain factors upon denial or revocation of a license or denial or termination of employment.
Protection Against Employment Discrimination
This law extends protection against unlawful discriminatory employer practices to juveniles who have been incarcerated and persons convicted of violations. In making hiring decisions, companies and individuals may not inquire about or consider juvenile adjudications or sealed convictions for criminal violations.
Continuation of Health Benefits
This law permits incarcerated individuals who were receiving government medical assistance prior to incarceration to remain eligible for such assistance while incarcerated.
Sex Offender Management Board
This law establishes a Sex Offender Management Board, which shall be responsible for policy matters relating to sex offenders and their management. The law also establishes a treatment program with the goal of reducing the likelihood of reoffense.
Sex Offender Registration and Risk Assessment
This law revises the state's sex offender classification and notification mechanism to comply with provisions of the federal Adam Walsh Act. The previous law classified individuals convicted of sexual offenses based on the likelihood of repeating crimes, while the new measure assigns them to one of three tiers based solely on the crime committed.
Sex Offender Treatment Board
This law establishes a Sex Offender Treatment Board and authorizes the Board to regulate sex offender treatment specialists in the state and adopt standards for training and continuing education.
Encouraging Private-Sector Businesses to Employ Inmates
Encouraging Private-Sector Businesses to Employ Inmates
This law requires the Department of Corrections, in conjunction with the Department of Commerce, to develop and maintain a marketing plan to attract private-sector service businesses for the employment of individuals who are incarcerated through the prison industries program.
Methamphetamine Treatment for Incarcerated Women
This law authorizes the Department of Corrections, the Department of Health, and the Department of Human Services to create a program to provide intensive methamphetamine treatment for females in the state correctional system.
Juvenile Employment Training
This law authorizes Tennessee Rehabilitative Initiative in Correction (TRICOR), which provides employment and life skills training to people in prison, to enter into an interagency agreement with the Department of Children's Services to provide job training for juveniles with incarceration histories.
Community Corrections Caseloads
This law requires the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to adopt maximum caseload guidelines for parole officers. The law establishes guidelines for reduced caseload ratios based on program type (e.g., special needs, substance abuse treatment, sex offender, etc.).
Prison Diversion Progressive Sanctions Program
This law creates the Prison Diversion Progressive Sanctions Program, which aims to lower parole and probation revocation rates by making more resources available to departments with higher-than-average revocation rates and increasing supervision for medium and high-risk individuals.
Evaluation of Potential Savings on Inmate Health Care
This law requires the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) to conduct a study on the potential savings to the state in health care services costs if TDCJ were to release certain elderly individuals who are incarcerated into the community on parole.
Guidelines for Parole and Early Release Decision-Making
This law contains provisions to improve parole decision-making and increase consideration of early termination of parole and probation.
Substance Abuse Screening and Assessment
This law requires the Utah Substance Abuse and Anti-Violence Coordinating Council to implement a substance abuse screening and assessment program for individuals who enter correctional facilities. The law also requires that anyone convicted of any felony offense after July 1, 2007 participate in the screening and assessment process.
Drug and Alcohol Treatment Programs in Jails
This law establishes drug and alcohol treatment programs for individuals housed within local and regional jails. The law also requires each drug and alcohol program to submit a report to the General Assembly by the end of the calendar year, concerning the participants, accessibility, and the efficacy of the program.
Statewide Reentry Program Inventory, Community Transition Coordination Network, Community Supervision Task Force, and Program Credits
This law requires counties to conduct an inventory of regional reentry services and present this information to a state advisory committee by January 1, 2008. The law calls for a Community Transition Coordination Network program to be piloted in up to four counties for a period of four years. The DOC must also develop an individualized reentry plan for every incarcerated person based on a comprehensive needs assessment.
S.B. 6157 also authorizes up to a 50% earned early release credit for inmates who participate in treatment and services as specified in their individual reentry plans. The law creates a legislative Task Force to review current law and policy related to community custody and community supervision. It also requires the Department of Corrections to conduct an updated community corrections caseload study and report the results of the study to the Governor and the Legislature.
Regarding housing, the law authorizes the state Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development to develop supportive reentry housing pilot programs. The law also addresses the need to increase available housing to offenders by providing landlords who rent to offenders immunity to civil liability for damages that may result from the criminal conduct of the tenant.