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| Legislator seeks help for felons |
| By Thedailyjournal.com |
| Published: 11/16/2009 |
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TRENTON -- One lawmaker believes the state can save money and reduce recidivism by ex-prisoners by implementing a series of reforms. Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman has staged a series of "Second Chance" hearings, including one early this year in Bridgeton, designed to examine at all facets of incarceration. She plans to introduce a six-bill legislative package to meet those goals. The lawmaker -- whose two sons have served state prison terms for robbery -- says the measures wouldn't make life easier for inmates, but rather mandate that they participate in educational and job skills programs that would improve their chances for success once they're freed. "The pervasive cycle of arrest, release and re-arrest is a failed system that wastes lives and costs taxpayers dearly," Watson Coleman said. Studies show about 14,000 adult inmates and 1,600 juvenile offenders are released from correctional facilities in New Jersey each year. As many as 65 percent of the adults will be re-arrested within five years, while 37 percent of juveniles will return to correctional facilities within two years. About one-fourth of state inmates are incarcerated in Cumberland County. It costs the state about $35,000 a year to keep an inmate incarcerated, more than twice the average of the nearly $13,000 it cost to educate a child in New Jersey last year. "Those who violate our laws will still serve their time -- that will not change" under her proposals, Watson Coleman said. "But the way they serve that time would change, (and) when their time has been served, they would re-enter society ready to be productive citizens. That would save lives and taxpayer dollars." Her proposals include: Numerous reforms, such as creating a commission to find ways to boost ties between jailed parents and their children, aimed at strengthening women and families. Read More. |
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