I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5563
To authorize funding for programs that reduce recidivism and promote
successful offender reintegration into the community.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 26, 2000
Mr. HYDE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Government Re-
form, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each
case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of
the committee concerned
A BILL
To authorize funding for programs that reduce recidivism
and promote successful offender reintegration into the
community.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Offender Reentry and
Community Safety Act of 2000’’.
SEC. 2. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are to—
(1) establish demonstration projects in several
Federal judicial districts, the District of Columbia,
and in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, using new
strategies and emerging technologies that alleviate
the public safety risk posed by released prisoners by
promoting their successful reintegration into the
community;
(2) establish court-based programs to monitor
the return of offenders into communities, using
court sanctions to promote positive behavior;
(3) establish offender reentry demonstration
projects in the states using government and commu-
nity partnerships to coordinate cost efficient strate-
gies that ensure public safety and enhance the suc-
cessful reentry into communities of offenders who
have completed their prison sentences;
(4) establish intensive aftercare demonstration
projects that address public safety and ensure the
special reentry needs of juvenile offenders by coordi-
nating the resources of juvenile correctional agen-
cies, juvenile courts, juvenile parole agencies, law en-
forcement agencies, social service providers, and
local Workforce Investment Boards; and
(5) rigorously evaluate these reentry programs
to determine their effectiveness in reducing recidi-
vism and promoting successful offender reintegra-
tion.
TITLE I—FEDERAL REENTRY
DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS
SEC. 101. FEDERAL REENTRY CENTER DEMONSTRATION.
(a) AUTHORITY
AND ESTABLISHMENT
OF DEM-
ONSTRATION PROJECT.—From funds made available to
carry out this Act, the Attorney General, in consultation
with the Director of the Administrative Office of the
United States Courts, shall establish the Federal Reentry
Center Demonstration project. The project shall involve
appropriate prisoners from the Federal prison population
and shall utilize community corrections facilities, home
confinement, and a coordinated response by Federal agen-
cies to assist participating prisoners, under close moni-
toring and more seamless supervision, in preparing for
and adjusting to reentry into the community.
(b) PROJECT ELEMENTS.—The project authorized by
subsection (a) shall include—
(1) a Reentry Review Team for each prisoner,
consisting of representatives from the Bureau of
Prisons, the United States Probation System, and
the relevant community corrections facility, who
shall initially meet with the prisoner to develop a re-
entry plan tailored to the needs of the prisoner and
incorporating victim impact information, and will
thereafter meet regularly to monitor the prisoner’s
progress toward reentry and coordinate access to ap-
propriate reentry measures and resources;
(2) regular drug testing, as appropriate;
(3) a system of graduated levels of supervision
within the community corrections facility to promote
community safety, provide incentives for prisoners to
complete the reentry plan, including victim restitu-
tion, and provide a reasonable method for imposing
immediate sanctions for a prisoner’s minor or tech-
nical violation of the conditions of participation in
the project;
(4) substance abuse treatment and aftercare,
mental and medical health treatment and aftercare,
vocational and educational training, life skills in-
struction, conflict resolution skills training, batterer
intervention programs, assistance obtaining suitable
affordable housing, and other programming to pro-
mote effective reintegration into the community as
needed;
(5) to the extent practicable, the recruitment
and utilization of local citizen volunteers, including
volunteers from the faith-based and business com-
munities, to serve as advisers and mentors to pris-
oners being released into the community;
(6) a description of the methodology and out-
come measures that will be used to evaluate the pro-
gram; and
(7) notification to victims on the status and na-
ture of offenders’ reentry plan.
(c) PROBATION OFFICERS.—From funds made avail-
able to carry out this Act, the Director of the Administra-
tive Office of the United States Courts shall assign one
or more probation officers from each participating judicial
district to the Reentry Demonstration project. Such offi-
cers shall be assigned to and stationed at the community
corrections facility and shall serve on the Reentry Review
Teams.
(d) PROJECT DURATION.—The Reentry Center Dem-
onstration project shall begin not later than 6 months fol-
lowing the availability of funds to carry out this section,
and shall last 3 years. The Attorney General may extend
the project for a period of up to 6 months to enable partic-
ipant prisoners to complete their involvement in the
project.
(e) SELECTION OF DISTRICTS.—The Attorney Gen-
eral, in consultation with the Judicial Conference of the
United States, shall select an appropriate number of Fed-
eral judicial districts in which to carry out the Reentry
Center Demonstration project.
(f) COORDINATION
OF PROJECTS.—The Attorney
General, may, if appropriate, include in the Reentry Cen-
ter Demonstration project offenders who participated in
the Enhanced In-Prison Vocational Assessment and
Training Demonstration project established by section 105
of this Act.
SEC. 102. FEDERAL HIGH-RISK OFFENDER REENTRY DEM-
ONSTRATION.
(a) AUTHORITY
AND ESTABLISHMENT
OF DEM-
ONSTRATION PROJECT.—From funds made available to
carry out this Act, the Director of the Administrative Of-
fice of the United States Courts, in consultation with the
Attorney General, shall establish the Federal High-Risk
Offender Reentry Demonstration project. The project
shall involve Federal offenders under supervised release
who have previously violated the terms of their release fol-
lowing a term of imprisonment and shall utilize, as appro-
priate and indicated, community corrections facilities,
home confinement, appropriate monitoring technologies,
and treatment and programming to promote more effec-
tive reentry into the community.
(b) PROJECT ELEMENTS.—The project authorized by
subsection (a) shall include—