The U.S. Department of Justice has awarded a $1.75 million grant to the Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice to enhance transitional services for inmates as they prepare to leave prison.
The Bureau of Justice Assistance award came through a competitive grant titled Justice Reinvestment Initiative: Maximizing State Reforms. This award will help North Carolina continue implementation of the Justice Reinvestment Act of 2011 by further integrating evidence based practices into programming in state prisons – particularly through the preparation of inmates for release and successful reentry to the community.
With this funding the state prison system will redesign its minimum custody levels to ensure inmates receive specific pre-release planning and preparation based on assessed risk and needs. A risk-needs-responsivity tool created by George Mason University will help determine programming needs and appropriate prison facility placement for high risk felons preparing for release. The grant funding will also be used to strengthen the evidence-based programming options for incarcerated felons and increase the number of local reentry councils established in the state.
Since the state implemented Justice Reinvestment in 2011 the prison population has declined by 8%, 11 state prisons have closed and no further prison construction is planned.
“We have seen great success over the past few years from our Justice Reinvestment efforts,” said Commissioner W. David Guice of the Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice. “We have greatly improved our supervision and outcomes for probationers in the community and with this funding we will work toward similar success with inmates – both inside the state prison system and after release.”
Additional information on North Carolina’s Justice Reinvestment Initiative can be found at jr.nc.gov
