NEW JERSEY

In New Jersey corrections costs have grown over 500 percent in the past 20 years. In an effort to bring these costs under control, New Jersey has begun to develop strategies to improve prisoner reentry. Toward this end, the New Jersey Department of Corrections and the State Parole Board working in concert with the Departments of Human Services, Health and Senior Services, Labor and Workforce Development, Law & Public Safety and the Juvenile Justice Commission have launched a number of programs to improve the reentry prospects of returning prisoners.

These programs include the following:

• Workforce Learning Link Lab Pilot Program
• Chaplaincy Network Program
• Transitional Services for inmates with Veterans Benefits
• New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) Program for Released Offenders
• Federally Qualified Health Centers
• Explore expansion of substance abuse treatment capacity through increased Medicaid federally financed participation
• Transitional Housing for Special Needs Inmates
• Social Security Benefits
• Strategies to connect returning inmates and parolees with the One-Stop Career Center (OSCC) system

Related Links:

• State Project Update
  Read the state's current action plan.

• A Portrait of Prisoner Reentry in New Jersey (pdf)
  A report by The Urban Institute that highlights state trends in reentry including maps of what reentry looks like in the state.
  

State of New Jersey - Reentry Planning

This document was prepared by members of New Jersey'sPrisoner Reentry Policy Academy team. It represents their current course of action, but should not be viewed as a final plan. Rather, this document is designed to highlight where New Jersey is in an ongoing strategic planning process.

The overarching goal of New Jersey's State Action Plan is to improve public safety by increasing the rate of successful reintegration of former prisoners. Successful reintegration for purposes of the State Action Plan means not only cessation of criminal behavior, as measured by rates of parole revocation, rearrest, reconviction and reincarceration, but also includes the achievement of other important outcomes such as employment, being in school, getting and staying free of active substance abuse addiction, responsible parenting and managing health and mental health problems.

Fundamental to New Jersey's plan is the realization that achieving progress of these key outcomes requires on-going interagency coordination, from the policy makers to frontline operations. This has in the past been missing from the state's approach to returning prisoners to the community. The shared responsibility for the success of the State Action Plan is operationalized in an implementation structure that ensures participation by the relevant public agencies and incorporates the private sector as well, including community and faith-based organizations, the business community and former prisoners. The implementation structure is designed to provide a clear chain of command, from the high level Policy Team, through the Management Team to the Planning and Implementation Work Groups. It will ensure, through regular reporting requirements between teams, that there is accountability for progress and avenues for feedback from the implementation level up to the policy makers.

The design of the State Action Plan, while building on the work done by the Reentry Policy Academy, the New Jersey Reentry roundtable, the federal Serious and Violent Offender Initiative (SAVORI), and learning from programs around the country, incorporates at its core the recognition that one of the best ways to develop workable solutions and strategies is by working through actual problems for reentering individuals. Each of the Planning and Implementation Work Groups assigned to the identified phases of the transition from entry through incarceration to release will begin its work with a "case study" population of approximately 20 individuals. Making the system work for these 20 will develop strategies that can them be applied more broadly. These system-wide changes will then be phased in for other groups.

The principle components of our State Action Plan are:

1. Primary Goal. Identify a concrete, measurable target that implements our goal of improving public safety by increasing successful integration.

2. Overall Strategy for Achieving Change. Build a comprehensive system of planning and programming for successful reentry that begins at entry, includes transition preparation and coordination and concludes with post release supervision and services designed to reduce risk and encourage reintegration.

3. Core Implementation Strategies. Integrated reentry planning, programming and supervision will be designed to improve outcomes in four areas critical to reentry success; education, employment and economic stability, health, housing and community and family reintegration.

In each of these three areas the State Action Plan lays out a set of outcome goals on which the state will seek to measure progress. Critical to this approach is the understanding that the challenges raised in each of these areas cannot be addressed independent from one another, that the state's approach to reducing risk and increasing success has to be holistic. A failure to integrate strategies in different domains and to connect the public and private agencies responsible for facilitating those strategies has hampered past efforts to achieve better outcomes.

The development of the State Action Plan has been a collaborative effort between various state agencies. They are the Department of Corrections, the State Parole Board, the Department of Law & Public Safety, the Juvenile Justice Commission, the Department of Health and Senior Services, the Department of Labor and Workforce Development and the Department of Human Services. Still to be brought into the mix are the Departments of Community Affairs, Education and Treasury, the Department of State's Faith-Based Initiatives Office and the State Employment and Training Commission. The New Jersey Institute for Social Justice has been an invaluable partner in our efforts to develop this plan.

Thus far, this collaborative effort has resulted in the development of the following programs:

Department of Corrections

Workforce Learning Link Lab Pilot Program. Critical to the offender's successful reintegration into the community is preparing for the labor market. The average reading and math level of offenders sentenced to the New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC) is sixth grade. Additionally, the majority of adult offenders have little formal employment experience and limited vocational skills. To address these issues, the New Jersey Department of Corrections is expanding a highly successful community program initiative of the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, the Workplace Literacy Program. The NJDOC in collaboration with the NJDLWD and New Jersey Network (NJN) will be implementing the Workforce Learning Link Lab Pilot Program within the prison setting. This program includes General Education Diploma (GED) basic skills preparation courses, life skills training relative to employment and it prepares offenders to fully utilize the services of the local One Stop Career Center upon release from prison. A Memorandum of Understanding has been executed between NJDLWD and NJDOC. The NJDLWD has provided $490,067 to fund fifteen workstations at both Mid State Correctional Facility and Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women. A Project Director will oversee the project and two teachers will provide the instruction. Once training is begun in the institution, upon release ex-offenders can continue training at the local NJDLWD One Stop Career Center. This initiative also includes a new Website, "Prison411," developed by NJN in partnership with the NJDOC and the New Jersey State Parole Board, to provide a comprehensive list of resources for offenders and their families. Resources include housing, drug treatment, employment, general assistance, parenting and childcare education, faith-based mentorships and other programs and services.

Chaplaincy Network Program. The Chaplaincy Network Program facilitates mentoring relationships between offenders and individuals involved in faith based organizations. This program is part of the offenders support network. The mentor program seeks to provide released offenders with spiritual guidance and emotional support during the difficult process of reintegration into society. Mentor and offender recruitment efforts are directed toward faith groups and offenders across the state of all religious traditions. Mentors and offender participants are required to undergo an application and screening process to determine suitability for the program. Completion of a fourteen-hour mentor-training course developed by the New Jersey Department of Corrections is required for all mentors. Offender participants undergo training, which highlights transitional goal setting, and mentor relationship awareness. The matching process of mentors and offenders is based on geographic location, faith tradition and specific needs. The life cycle of a mentoring relationship spans from eighteen to twenty-four months. The pre-release phase begins anywhere from six to twelve months prior to the release of the offender from prison. Following the release of the offender from prison, a twelve-month post-release phase begins. The progress of matches is monitored via monthly progress reports from mentoring communities and offenders. The monitoring process also seeks to measure the overall success of the Chaplaincy Network Program. Several matches have been made since the matching phase of the Chaplaincy Network Program began in June 2004. To date, ninety (90) mentors have been trained.

Transitional Services for inmates with Veterans Benefits. In an effort to facilitate reentry services for inmates with veteran status, the New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC) has taken a proactive approach toward building a collaborative relationship with the Department of Veterans Affairs. As such, a NJDOC Chaplain within the Chaplaincy Aftercare Network has been assigned to work directly with an inmate veterans group at Northern State Prison. This Chaplain is overseeing a monthly meeting of veteran inmates to discuss the availability of benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs. In addition, a liaison from the Department of Veteran Affairs has been identified to work directly with inmates throughout the Northern Region of the State. They have successfully identified a significant number of veteran inmates, who are participating in the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) who are in need of housing upon release. These inmates have been referred to the Department of Veterans Affairs for assistance. As other veteran inmates are identified, each will be interviewed and appropriately referred to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Lastly, as a result of this initiative, the NJDOC has implemented a new classification process to identify veteran inmates and classify them according to the various types of military discharge. This information is necessary to determine the appropriate types of veteran benefits available to an inmate.

New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) Program for Released Offenders. The NJDOT contacted the New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC) seeking a solution to eliminating the problem of released offenders using their prison release papers to obtain free transportation aboard public buses and trains. Since the NJDOT policy instructs their employees to collect a fare from each passenger, these situations were awkward for all parties and presented opportunities for more serious circumstances to arise. Because of their concern for public safety, collaboration on this matter was necessary. Effective February 1, 2004, NJDOT began offering all state, county and local correctional facilities the option of purchasing special discounted tickets, which represents a significant savings to the offender. Normal one-way fares for the bus or train can range from $1.10 to $10 and higher; for example, the fare from South Woods State Prison to Newark, NJ costs $19.40. These one-way tickets are good until used. The tickets are for the exclusive use of ex-offenders being released from correctional facilities. For indigent offenders who qualify for financial aid, he or she is provided with tickets free of charge. This is a very successful program and tickets are ordered in bulk by each NJDOC institution.

Federally Qualified Health Centers Access to primary healthcare and case management for chronic and communicable diseases is a significant barrier for a large majority of offenders released from prison. With the disproportionate number of New Jersey's prison population having incidences of health problems, including primary, mental health and substance abuse, access to services upon release is vital in order for them to successfully reenter the community. In January of 2004, the NGA Prisoner Reentry Policy Academy formulated a working group focused on the area of correctional healthcare. Through this effort, the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services has introduced the Federally Qualified Health Centers throughout New Jersey as a resource for primary healthcare and case management for released offenders who are uninsured, underinsured or on Medicaid. These community health centers will provide the bridge from prison to the community in addressing the healthcare needs of many of these released offenders. Points of Contact are being established between the New Jersey Department of Corrections healthcare provider and each Federally Qualified Health Center in order to ensure appropriate communication, records transfer and case management.

Expansion of substance abuse treatment capacity through Medicaid reimbursements. The number of offenders assessed as in need of substance abuse treatment that are under the supervision of the New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC), the Juvenile Justice Commission (JJC) and the New Jersey State Parole Board (NJSPB) far exceed the number of treatment slots available for this population. While each of these three agencies operate treatment programs that are supported with state or federal dollars, the current funding levels are inadequate to address the need. Through the efforts of the Correctional Healthcare Subcommittee, the state Medicaid administration agency, in concert with the state substance abuse treatment administrative agency, and the DOC, JJC and SPB, have been in discussion regarding a strategy for expanding Medicaid reimbursement to the state.

Transitional Housing for Special Needs Inmates. In conjunction with the Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (HMFA), the New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC) and the New Jersey State Parole Board (NJSPB) are planning a demonstration project for permanent supportive housing for the special needs population, as well as a transitional housing model for the general prisoner population reentering our communities. In their efforts to address this issue, the NJDOC in collaboration with the Corporation for Supportive Housing participated in site visits to agencies providing housing for ex-offenders in New York City.

Social Security Administration. The New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC) has been meeting with representatives from the Social Security Administration to discuss social security benefits for inmates. They have developed a Memorandum of Understanding and are awaiting approval by the Social Security Administration.

State Parole Board

From the beginning the New Jersey State Parole Board has taken a holistic approach to reentry. They have been attacking this problem from a multitude of perspectives including housing, mental health, substance abuse, etc. In addition, they are committed to focusing on barriers and impediments to reentry including social security issues, child support issues, etc. Specifically, they have been doing the following:

They have hired a faith-based coordinator to continue to build linkages with the faith-based community, including hosting several regional faith-based conferences. A conference on September 23rd co-hosted by the Police Institute at Rutgers University was held in Newark. This conference brought together faith-based organizations and service providers in the Newark area to hear about parole, what it is they are doing, and how they require their assistance to make what they do happen.

A second annual parole conference is scheduled for later this year. This is a follow-up to a conference the NJSPB held last year in October in New Brunswick where they discussed new initiatives including risk assessment, graduated sanctions, and the role of the community (particularly the faith-based community) in assisting in the transition from prison to community.

The SBP has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Labor and Workforce Development that allows parole officers access to information about offenders who seek services from that department. In addition, a parole district office has trained some staff as offender-specific counselors who assist offenders in navigating the job market.mThis data sharing arrangement means that the officers can track what DLWD advantages offenders are availing themselves of, whether they go to appointments and whether they have interviews, etc

The SPB has developed the Seth Boyden Community Resource Center, which is located in Newark. It is a resource center for local residents and current or ex-offenders. HIV/AIDS counselors, people from the legal aid clinic, Department of Labor and Workforce Development and other providers come to assist residents and offenders with issues in a community setting. They hope to replicate this program in other areas throughout the state.

They are implementing the Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R)--an objective instrument that assesses offender risk and need. In this way, appropriate supervision and case management plans can be developed and implemented.

The SPB is investing in a supervision strategy called results-driven supervision, which will ultimately change what they count and how they count it. In other words, it is no longer enough to count how many home visits a parole officer makes, but the context and quality of that home visit. They are also interested in looking at supplemental measures of "success" including getting and maintaining employment, payment of child support, etc. Their primary goal is to increase public safety and reduce recidivism, measured as rearrest, reconviction, reincarceration and parole violation. (Much as is the goal of the overall State Plan).

The Board recognizes that 95% of offenders who go to prison will be released at some point, some will have the benefit of parole and some will not. For those offenders who are paroled, they realize that they have a unique opportunity to affect their lives in positive ways through a blend of appropriate supervision and case management predicated on an objective measure of risk and need.

Department of Labor and Workforce Development -- One-Stop Career Centers (OSCC)

Should be the first point of contact for all ex-offenders, since each OSCC has a trained specialist who can provide specific employment & training services, connections with employers and can work with Corrections, Parole and Probation officers.

Individuals can search for jobs, get help with literacy, learn about training, education, apprenticeships, and other employment-related issues. OSCC can also provide a link to other resources within the county or State, for social services, health services, housing, mental health, and other important issues.

Future plans include the expansion of Learning Link programs to assist those transitioning from incarceration, and increased participation with community-based programs serving those who are leaving prison and their families

Juvenile Justice Commission

The New Jersey Juvenile Justice Commission was established in 1995 as a reform effort on the part of the Legislature to address the problem of rising juvenile crime rates. At that time in New Jersey, no program comprehensively addressed the sanctions and rehabilitation services appropriate to a juvenile population. Preventative, deterrent and rehabilitative functions were scattered among the Department of Law and Public Safety, the Department of Corrections and the Department of Human Services

The New Jersey Juvenile Justice Commission recognizes that the larger adult population frequently overshadows the reentry of young offenders. Unlike the Department of Corrections that releases about 95% of adult offenders, the Commission releases 100% of all juveniles after shorter periods of incarceration.

Juveniles face significant issues upon reentry into the community. Over the next six years, the Juvenile Justice Commission will return nearly 10,000 youthful offenders to communities across the state. Eighty-six per cent will be minority youth from the most impoverished urban centers of the State. Thirty per cent have mental health issues. Approximately ten per cent will be homeless while others become homeless following release. Sixty-three per cent have four or more prior adjudications. Sixty per cent have substance abuse issues. Twenty-five per cent of those juveniles who have been confined have at least one parent who is incarcerated. Over fifty per cent will be gang affiliated.

Too many will be known to the Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) as victims of abuse or neglect, family substance abuse involvement, mental health issues or other problems that jeopardize their welfare.

Upon reentry these problems often become manifest. Thus these same youth under the supervision of the Office of Juvenile Parole and Transitional Services will continue their involvement with DYFS or the Division of Child Behavioral Health Services to minimize risk. Without additional support and community services, statistics indicate that one third of these youthful offenders will return to the criminal justice system at a cost of more than $82 million dollars.

The Commission is supportive of a juvenile centered approach as an opportunity to affect legislative change and to successfully develop strategies and techniques to impact successful reentry for all youthful offenders.

The Office of Juvenile Parole and Transitional Services has become the pivotal link in the reentry process by implementing a team approach that combines enforcement and treatment. Our reentry teams, consist of a case manager, a parole officer, an education specialist, and a project manager who partner with families, institutional staff and representatives from appropriate community programs and services to develop an individualized case action plan. Each youth who re-enters the community has been obligated by legislation to comply with Post Incarceration Supervision. Post Incarceration Supervision ensures that all youth re-entering the community are provided with transitional services, monitoring and supervision.

The Commission has taken an active role embracing initiatives that reflect current innovative practices affecting youthful offender reentry. The Commission is an active member in the NGA Prisoner Reentry Policy Academy that is evaluating and exploring policies, practices and economic costs surrounding offender reentry. The NGA is primarily responsible for implementing policy and systemic changes that will effectively enhance a smooth and seamless transition from confinement to the community. The New Jersey NGA's Juvenile Work Group, has developed a plan that defines the scope of work, goals and process steps to implement changes within the areas of Education, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment, Health, Housing, Employment and Vocational and finally Community and Family Reintegration.

We have further explored the issues by reviewing juvenile justice agencies in Missouri, Massachusetts and Ohio. We have attended reentry conferences and seminars throughout the country. Over the past two years the Commission has recognized the importance of a gradual and deliberate reentry process that balances the treatment needs of the juvenile with strategies to improve public safety.

To date the Commission has accomplished the following:

• Established Day reporting centers in Essex, Union and Camden Counties.
• Implemented non-traditional transitional school program models in Essex, Camden and Mercer Counties.
• Joined community-policing initiatives to address gang involvement and the needs of the more serious and violent offenders returning home to the cities of Paterson, Elizabeth, and Newark.
• Work in partnership (in ten counties) with Child Behavioral Health Services under the Department of Human Services to wrap around mental health services that provide continuation of existing services in the Commission.
• Developed external collaborations with community-based service providers and agencies.
• Collaborated with local policing agencies to implement Safe City initiatives in both Essex, Mercer, Union, and Camden Counties

Future goals include:

• Establish transitional residential programs in Essex and Mercer Counties.
• Develop day reporting centers in Paterson, Plainfield and Atlantic City.
• Expand mental health services to include all 21 counties.
• Expand non-traditional transitional school program models in other counties.
• Create additional partnerships with policing agencies that address the growing issues of gangs and the needs of serious and violent offenders.
• Reallocate resources from secure care to community based programs and implement result driven best practice models that are fiscally and socially responsible.
• Expand involvement with local unions and employers to increase employment opportunities.
• In 2005, the Commission will host the first ever Juvenile Offender Reentry Conference to galvanize their efforts by presenting the Commission's model of best practice for juvenile reintegration and stabilization.

Making prisoner reentry more successful will continue to be a complex and challenging task, requiring significant engagement and coordination among multiple state agencies and partnerships with the private sector. It is also clear to the Reentry Policy Academy team that this task cannot be accomplished solely through better coordination and partnerships. There are regulatory and legislative changes that need to take place to remove some of the legal barriers to reintegration and facilitate the strategies developed by the work groups to advance public safety. There will have to be greater understanding of prisoner reentry as a challenge to the state and greater commitment from the state's political leaders. Our State Action Plan anticipates including suggested legislative priorities, which are under development.

New Jersey's participation in the NGA'sPrisoner Reentry Policy Academy began under Governor McGreevey and will continue under Acting Governor Codey who has pledged the full support of his office and cabinet members upon receipt and review of the State Action Plan.