Recently, 37 organizations including the International Community Corrections Association, a non-profit organization sponsored by BI Incorporated, sent a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives in support of funding a task force to review the federal correction system’s rapid growth. The letter requests the appropriation of $1- million in 2014 to fund the task force, which would conduct a review of federal corrections that considers both federal challenges and successful state-level initiatives.
Citing the Congressional Research Services, the letter states that a failure to invest in reentry programs has contributed to a 790 percent increase in prison populations. To ease prison crowding, the letter calls for policy changes including:
- Investment in prison reentry and recidivism reduction programs
- Strengthening of good-time credit programs
- Less severe sentencing for nonviolent and low-level drug offenders
- Flexibility for federal judges in sentencing
By reducing high inmate counts, such measures help save taxpayers money as reentry programs are less expensive than housing inmates. Such programs, including BI Incorporated’s day reporting centers, also help offenders successfully reenter the community as productive members, which helps reduce recidivism and increases public safety. BI Incorporated’s centers use evidence-based practices to change criminal thinking and electronic monitoring systems to aid community supervision efforts.
You can read the full letter here.