Joe Sestak Hosts Ex-Offenders Forum

Announces Legislation to Prevent Recidivism Joined by Subject Matter Experts

MEDIA, PA - Building on his efforts to deal with issues in the criminal justice system in Philadelphia and nationally, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Congressman Joe Sestak hosted a forum where he detailed legislation to decrease high rates of repeat offenders. Joe's "Community Reintegration and Crime Prevention Act" ensures resources are available for non-profit organizations that provide transitional services to assist eligible offenders in obtaining and retaining employment.

The event's panel included representatives from the Pennsylvania Prison Society, the University of Pennsylvania, and St. Gabriel's System in Philadelphia. It took place at Resources for Human Development (RHD) and included input from Darryl Hunt, founder of the Darryl Hunt Project for Freedom and Justice. Part of the mission of Darryl's organization is to help ex-offenders obtain the skills, guidance, and support they need as they return to life outside the prison system. Darryl started the project after he had spent 18 years in prison for a crime he did not commit and from which DNA evidence exonerated him. His system has produced a three percent recidivism rate in North Carolina, a state found to have an overall level of 42 percent.

RHD has also worked on an initiative, Brother's Keeper, to provide employment to marginalized populations including ex-offenders and adjudicated youth through gainful employment in a work environment that empowers its employees to become financially self-sufficient. Joe Lavoritano, Executive Director for Saint Gabriel's System in Philadelphia, discussed ways his school has worked to limit young repeat offenders. The System's mission is to provide quality treatment services for delinquent youth to assist them in becoming responsible, competent, productive members of the community, through education, social work, youth care, clinical services and support services. Joe is pictured with Malcolm Ennels of RHD, a panelist at the event.

"We must hear and learn from examples of what have worked and encourage more organizations to replicate and multiply Darryl's efforts and follow the lead of RHD and St. Gabriel's, which I have visited," said Joe. "We should take particular note in Philadelphia, where we know all too well the decades-long problems with our criminal justice system. This is not only important to help ex-offenders recover, but for the safety of our communities and to enable those leaving prison to contribute to our economy."

A 2006 Urban Institute study of Philadelphia found that nearly four out of five prison releases from 1996 through 2003 were re-releases. Seventy percent of prisoners released in 2003 had been incarcerated previously in the previous eight years, and about one in every five prisoners released were coming out for the second, third, even fourth time. In 2003, the Consensus Group on Reentry & Reintegration of Adjudicated Offenders in Philadelphia noted that if we could reduce recidivism rates by only 10 percent, Philadelphia would save over $6.8 million a year in jail costs alone.

"The threat of additional prison sentences or other sanctions is not enough to prevent recidivism," said Joe. "As Darryl and his organization have successfully demonstrated, we must continue to implement rehabilitative services where feasible. One crucial component of this is ensuring that paroled offenders find and retain employment, a significant challenge when one considers the ex-offenders' various personal difficulties and employer discrimination against candidates with criminal records.

Further addressing efforts to find employment for ex-offenders, Joe noted that while employers have a prerogative to not employ dangerous or highly-suspect, recently-released offenders, he supports the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's position that denials should generally be related to job relatedness, the nature of the offense, whether the candidate was a repeat offender, and how long ago the crime was committed.

Specifically, Joe's legislation reauthorizes an expiring section of the "Second Chance Act of 2007" for FY 2011 and 2012. This legislation authorizes the Secretary of Labor to make grants on a competitive basis to non-profit organizations for the purpose of providing career mentoring, job training and job placement services, and other comprehensive transitional services to assist eligible offenders in obtaining and retaining employment. It raises funding levels from $20 million to $30 million a year to enhance those efforts.

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Other parts of Joe's comprehensive approach to criminal justice issues have included a community forum earlier this month on the long-term systemic problems in Philadelphia's Criminal Justice System -- and the neglect of our cities causing it. He followed that meeting by announcing legislation dealing with our local and national fugitive problem based in large part on the findings of one of the expert panelists from his first event.

As with topics brought up at prior forums, such as the backlog of cases and the high number of fugitives, this problem has existed for some time and represents a national concern. Recent studies by the Bureau of Justice that surveyed offenders released from prisons in 1983 and 1994 found high rates of recidivism among released prisoners.

• Of the 108,580 prisoners released from prisons in 11 states in 1983, nearly 63 percent were re-arrested within three years, 47 percent were convicted of a new crime, and 41 percent were returned to prison or jail.
• Among nearly 300,000 prisoners released in 15 states in 1994, 68 percent were re-arrested within three years, 47 percent were convicted of a new crime, and 25 percent were recommitted to prison with a new sentence.
• Within three years, 52 percent of the released prisoners in the 1994 study were back in prison either because of a new crime or because of a parole violation (such as failing a drug test or missing a parole appointment).

Joe Sestak was elected to Congress in 2006 after a distinguished 31-year career in the United States Navy, and he is honored to represent the Southeastern Pennsylvania district where he was born and raised. He is a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate seat from Pennsylvania.  During his Navy career, Joe attained the rank of 3-star Admiral, served in the White House as Director for Defense Policy on President Clinton's National Security Council, served in the Pentagon as Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, and led a series of operational commands at sea, culminating in command of the USS George Washington Aircraft Carrier Battle Group (30 ships, 100 aircraft, and 15,000 sailors/marines/aviators/SEALs) during combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. In our nation's time of crisis in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, the Navy turned to Joe Sestak to serve as the first Director of "Deep Blue," the Navy anti-terrorism unit formed in response to the attacks. Joe is the highest-ranking former military officer ever elected to either branch of Congress. He graduated second in his class from the U.S. Naval Academy and holds a Master's in Public Administration and a PhD in Political Economy and Government from Harvard University. Joe lives in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Susan, and daughter, Alex, and proudly represents the 7th District, where his mother and many of his seven siblings still reside.