Plano Chamber of Commerce to Recognize Champion of Free Enterprise
The Texas Association of Business has named State Representative Jerry Madden a Champion of Free Enterprise. The award is a direct result of Representative Madden’s pro-business, pro-Texas voting record in the 80th Legislative Session. The Champion of Free Enterprise Award is the highest accolade the Texas Association of Business presents to Legislators. To even be considered, a legislator must have scored 90% or better on an evaluation of their voting record surrounding business issues. The Plano Chamber of Commerce will be presenting this award through their membership in the Texas Association of Business. The award will be presented at the March Board meeting, to be hosted at the Plano Chamber of Commerce offices (1200 E. 15th St.) on 03/26/08 at 8:00 AM. Scott Shanes Chairman of the Plano Chamber of Commerce had this to say, “We couldn’t be more proud of the job Jerry has done on a statewide level, but especially his involvement locally throughout Plano and Collin County, he is always available as a resource to assist the business community at large in Plano.” TAB President Bill Hammond offered “On behalf of TAB and its members, we thank Mr. Madden for his hard work in promoting a better business climate that will ensure that more and good paying jobs come and stay in Texas.”

Rep Madden was in Washington working to help pass this bill earlier this year. We commend the House and Senate for their leadership on this issue

 

Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, Today, I rise to congratulate my colleagues on the passage of the Second Chance Act, a bill that we have been working on for over 4 years. I am pleased to join with Senators Biden and Specter and Chairman Leahy in supporting the passage of this bill. I, like my colleagues, have worked long and hard on this bipartisan legislation that is supported by over 200 bicameral and bipartisan organizations.

I truly believe that with this bill, we have an incredible opportunity to reshape the way in which our Nation fights crime, addresses poverty, and provides for safer communities. Indeed, we have all seen the statistic. Over 650,000 individuals will be released from our Federal and State prisons, and 9 million are released from jails. Approximately two out of every three individuals released from prison or jail commit more crimes and will be rearrested within 3 years of release, placing increasing financial burdens on our States and decreasing public safety.

This is unacceptable and must be addressed. Recidivism is costly, in both personal and financial terms. Consider: the American taxpayers spent approximately $9 billion per year on corrections in 1982, and in 2002—nearly two decades later—taxpayers spent $60 billion.

In addition to the astronomical costs of recidivism, the Nation’s prison population is projected to continue to grow over the next 5 years by an additional 13 percent. According to “Public Safety, Public Spending: Forecasting America’s Prison Population 2007—2017”, State and Federal prison populations are expected to add approximately 192,000 persons at a cost of $27.5 billion between 2007 and 2011.

If that is not astonishing enough, State spending on corrections has risen faster over 20 years than spending on nearly any other State budget item—increasing from $9 billion to $41 billion a year. The average annual operating cost per State inmate in 2001 was $22,650, or $62.05 per day. Among facilities operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, it was $22,632 per inmate, or $62.01 per day. These figures do not include the cost of arrest and prosecution, nor do they take into account the cost to victims.

Despite that fact that taxpayers went from spending $9 billion per year on corrections in 1982 to $60 billion two decades later, the failure rate of our prison system has not improved over the last 30 years.

However, my concerns with our correctional system do not stop here. Not only do we need to ensure that our communities are safer, that the money spent on corrections result in drastically lower recidivism rates, but we must also look at the cost to the children of incarcerated individuals. A recent study found that children of prisoners are five times as likely to be incarcerated later in life as a child who has not had a parent incarcerated. Fifty-five percent of prisoners have children under the age of 18 and, tragically, more than 7 million children can claim a parent in prison, in jail, under parole, or under probation supervision.

Additionally, some incarcerated parents owe more than $20,000 in child support debt upon their release. Parents play a vital role in the lives of their children—and the role of incarcerated parents is no different. The children of individuals in our prison system often depend upon their incarcerated parent, at least in part, for financial support, and look to that parent for guidance in many aspects of their lives. Failing to address this very important facet of the family structure within the prison population could be contributing to the deterioration of families.

We must stop subsidizing programs that do not work and that lead, in turn, to negative behavior less safety, more crime, and more money wasted.

The Second Chance Act of 2007, co-authored by Senator BIDEN, Ranking Member SPECTER, Chairman LEAHY, and myself, as well as our counterparts in the House of Representatives, is a bill that will address this issue by providing grant money to States through the Department of Justice and the Department of Labor to encourage the creation of innovative programs geared toward improving public safety, decreasing the financial burden on States and successfully reintegrating exoffenders into society.

Additionally, this bill authorizes two grant programs designed to aid nonprofit organizations—faith-based and community based organizations—that provide programs to those incarcerated. As you may know, faith-based programs are very successful in reintegrating offenders into society. A 2002 study found that faith-based prison programs result in a significantly lower rate of re-arrest than vocation-based programs—16 percent versus 36 percent.

A 2003 study on Prison Fellowship Ministries’ Texas InnerChange Freedom Initiative, IFI, program found that IFI graduates were 50 percent less likely to be re-arrested. The 2-year postrelease re-arrest rate among IFI postrelease graduates in Texas was 17 percent compared with 35 percent of the matched comparison group. And finally, the study found that IFI graduates were 60 percent less likely to be reincarcerated and the 2-year postrelease reincarceration rate was 8 percent of IFI graduates—8 percent—versus 20.3 percent with the matched comparison group from a nonfaith-based program.

The bill also focuses on systematic changes within the criminal justice system by encouraging more coordination between Government agencies, encourages States, and local governments to reevaluate their current statutes in order to streamline their budgets and provide for more effective transition programs for inmates, which include: education, job training, life and family skills, programs for children of incarcerated parents, as well as substance abuse treatment.

Further, I want my colleagues to know that there are real accountability measures within this bill. If grantees do not show significant progress in reducing the recidivism rates for program participants they will not be eligible to receive further funding under this act.

States have already shown that recidivism rates can be dramatically cut with innovative programs, and I am proud that my State, Kansas, is a leader in this regard. In Kansas, the Shawnee County Re-Entry Program engages corrections officials and community partners to develop comprehensive reentry plans for people in prison who have been assessed as high-risk for reoffending upon release. In the 12 months prior to release, program participants work closely with case managers to develop their reentry plans. Case managers continue to provide support as needed following release.

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The Shawnee community is closely involved in the program as well, serving on accountability panels and as volunteer community connectors. The program also developed a data collection system to enable facility and parole case managers to enter information more easily. The system allows facility staff and case workers to share data with other data systems within other State agencies, and faith and community-based providers. A Web-based data system would also help build the capacity of community and faith-based organizations to track data similar to State data collections methods. In this way, State agencies can more easily compare data and outcomes with information collected by faith and community groups. This is just one example of innovation in addressing the concerns facing our criminal justice system.

Indeed this bill is much needed and will serve as a catalyst for systemic change. This bill could not have happened without the hard work and determination of over 200 organizations, such as Prison Fellowship Ministries, Open Society, the Council of State Governments, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, as well as many State and local government correction officials and law enforcement officials—a truly bipartisan/bicameral coalition of partners committed to changing the criminal justice system.

Mr. President, I thank my colleagues, Senators Biden and Specter, and Chairman Leahy. Together we were able to implement vital legislation geared to improve public safety, give aid to States, and to truly give those incarcerated a second chance not only to fully integrate into society in a positive way but to provide them with a hope for a positive future not only for themselves but for their families as well.