Federal, State And Local Agencies Join Forces To Reduce Violence And Recidivism Among Formerly Incarcerated Individuals In Luzerne County

HARRISBURG – In recognition of the designation of April 24-30, 2016 as National Reentry Week by the U.S. Department of Justice, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania hosted an organizational meeting at Wilkes University for law enforcement officers, prosecutors, court personnel, prison officials, probation/parole officers, treatment/reentry service providers, community representatives and other stakeholders who desire to participate in a reentry call-in program designed to reduce violence and recidivism among formerly incarcerated individuals reentering the Luzerne County community from county, state and federal prisons. 

Removing barriers to successful reentry helps formerly incarcerated individuals compete for jobs, attain stable housing, and support their families. An important part of that commitment is preparing those who have paid their debt to society for substantive opportunities beyond the prison gates, and addressing collateral consequences to successful reentry that too many returning citizens encounter.  

The Department of Justice requested each United States Attorney’s Office in the country to hold a reentry-related event.  As stated by the Department in the memorandum announcing the initiative, “[s]upporting successful reentry is an essential part of our mission to promote public safety.  If we can reduce recidivism by helping individuals return to productive, law-abiding lives, we will reduce crime across this country, make our prisons safer, and make our neighborhoods better places to live.”

The meeting today at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre is the initial gathering of what the U.S. Attorney’s Office has called the Luzerne County Reentry Coalition.  The speakers included representatives of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, the Pennsylvnaia Board of Probation and Parole, the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Middle District and Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and Al Murray, Esquire, who developed the CARES Program as part the Reentry Program in the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

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