2019-14

Reducing Recidivism Through Reintegration Policies

Sponsored by Del. Joseline Peña-Melnyk (MD), Rep. Kerry Tipper (CO), and Sen. Omar Aquino (IL)

Unanimously ratified by the Caucus on December 5, 2019

WHEREAS, Hispanics are disproportionately imprisoned, with 1 in 6 Latino men going to prison at some point in their lifetime, in contrast to 1 in 17 white men;^[1] and,

WHEREAS, Latinas are also disproportionately imprisoned, with 1 in 45 Latinas being incarcerated in their lifetime, compared to 1 in 111 white women;^[2] and,

WHEREAS, in fact people of color generally make up 37 percent of the United States population, but they make up 67 percent of our prison population;[3] and,

WHEREAS, Hispanics make up 18.1 percent of the United States population in 2019,[4] yet Hispanics make up approximately 32 percent of the total federal prison population;[5] and,

WHEREAS, 1,054 out of every 100,000 Hispanic men in the United States were incarcerated and 66 out of every 100,000 Hispanic women were incarcerated by the end of 2017;[6] and,

WHEREAS, for all race and ethnicities, an average of 68 percent of released prisoners are arrested within three years, 79 percent are arrested within six years, and 83 percent are arrested within nine years;[7] and,

WHEREAS, the first year after being released from prison, Hispanics and blacks have the highest recidivism rates at 47.3 percent and 46 percent respectively, as compared to the white recidivism rate of 40.2 percent;[8] and,

WHEREAS, approximately one third of working Americans have a criminal record, which encompasses the most serious convicted felons, as well as arrests that did not lead to any convictions at all;[9] and,

WHEREAS, although expungement is an available option, it is difficult to accomplish without a lawyer, which can be a costly obstacle for a former inmate trying to get back on their feet;[10] and,

WHEREAS, the unemployment rate for people with a criminal record is over 27 percent, a rate that is higher than the unemployment rate of the average American in April 2019 at 3.6 percent and that of the Great Depression;[11] and,

WHEREAS, this situation creates a cycle in which the formerly-incarcerated community cannot find a legal way to earn an income and thus resort to criminal activity to support themselves and their families;[12] and,

WHEREAS, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) gave states the discretion to make people who have been convicted of drug crimes ineligible to receive any federally-funded benefits such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP);[13] and,

WHEREAS, to this day Alaska, Mississippi, Georgia, Wyoming, South Carolina, and West Virginia retain the full ban over food stamps in their respective states;[14] and,

WHEREAS, to this day Alaska, Texas, Arizona, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Mississippi, Virginia, Delaware, Georgia, South Carolina, South Dakota, and West Virginia retain a welfare ban over the formerly-incarcerated in their respective states;[15] and,

WHEREAS, newly-released individuals are already entering a society with a shortage of 7.4 million affordable homes for those that are extremely impoverished and their criminal record adds another barrier to securing stable housing;[16] and,

WHEREAS, public housing organizations can freely evict people with criminal records based on background screenings, as well as their families if they allow them on their properties;[17] and,

WHEREAS, these background screenings allow for discrimination without fair chance of mitigation to support the individual’s case to be a worthy resident for public housing;[18] and,

WHEREAS, with all the stigma towards a criminal record, regardless of the crime, people who were formerly incarcerated are ten times as likely to be homeless than the general American population;[19] and,

WHEREAS, in the formerly-incarcerated Hispanic population, approximately 200 out of 10,000 people are homeless, in comparison to approximately 1 in 150 for their white counterpart and approximately 1 in 260 for their black counterpart;[20] and,

WHEREAS, grassroots organizations such as Ban the Box have rallied to remove the question asking if the applicant has committed a felony from housing and job applications;[21] and,

WHEREAS, these grassroots efforts have only been successful in fourteen states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia,[22] and partially in Maryland;[23] and,

WHEREAS, despite this progress in employment, Ban the Box policies have not yet been widely applied to protect former inmates from housing discrimination on a state and federal level;[24] and,

WHEREAS, the annual cost of maintaining federal prisoners for the fiscal year of 2015 amounted to $31,977.65, approximately $87.61 a day;[25] and,

WHERAS, the annual cost of maintaining an inmate in a re-entry center for the fiscal year of 2015 was $26,082.90, approximately $71.46 per day;[26] and,

WHEREAS, the federal government spends approximately 50 billion dollars in housing assistance per year, which includes TANF and preferential tax treatments.[27]

WHEREAS, former inmates can more efficiently contribute to this amount when they are given the opportunity to pay taxes through jobs; and,

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators recognizes the barriers that hinder opportunities for the formerly-incarcerated persons from successfully reintegrating into society, creating a cycle that largely leads to recidivism; and,

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators urges federal, state, and local policymakers to enact policies to remove these systemic legal barriers that inhibit the formerly incarcerated from opportunities to better themselves and their families; and,

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators urges federal, state, and local policymakers to work towards legislation that reduces the discrimination of the formerly incarcerated by employers, federal aid programs, and private landlords and mortgage providers; and,

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators calls for state legislators to begin implementing similar legislation to the states outlined above to Ban the Box in order to reduce employment discrimination against former inmates; and,

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators urges federal, state, and local legislators to implement policies that reduce public housing restrictions on newly-released prisoners; and,

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators calls on states and territories to restore full voting rights to persons who have completed their felony sentences; and,

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators calls on Congress to repeal the provision of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Responsibility Act (PRWORA) that makes people convicted of drug felonies ineligible to receive federal assistance.

THE NHCSL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE UNANIMOUSLY AMENDED AND APPROVED THIS RESOLUTION ON AUGUST 3, 2019 AT ITS SUMMER MEETING IN SANTA FE, NM.

THE NATIONAL HISPANIC CAUCUS OF STATE LEGISLATORS UNANIMOUSLY RATIFIED THIS RESOLUTION ON DECEMBER 5, 2019, AT THE ANNUAL MEETING IN SAN JUAN, PR.

[1] The Sentencing Project https://www.sentencingproject.org/criminal-justice-facts/

[2] Ibid

[3] The Sentencing Project https://www.sentencingproject.org/criminal-justice-facts/

[4] United States Census Population Estimates 2019 https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045218

[5] Federal Justice Bureau Statistics https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p17.pdf

[6] Ibid

[7] Federal Justice Bureau Statistics 2018 Update on Prisoner Reform https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/18upr9yfup0514.pdf

[8] Ibid

[9] Friedman, Matthew. “Just Facts: As Many Americans Have Criminal Records As College Diplomas.” Brennan Center For Justice. November, 17, 2015. https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/just-facts-many-americans-have-criminal-records-college-diplomas

[10] “Never Been Convicted? Doesn’t Mean You Don’t Have a Criminal Record.” Innocence Project. May 25, 2015.

[11] Coulete, Lucius, and Daniel Kopf. “Out of Prison & Out of Work: Unemployment among Formerly Incarcerated People.” Prison Policy Initiative, July 2018. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/outofwork.html

[12] Sterling, Eric. “Trump should reform criminal justice system to foster economic growth.” The Hill. December 6, 2016. https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/civil-rights/309072-trump-should-reform-criminal-justice-system-to-foster

[13] Mauer, Marc, and Virginia McCalmont. “A Lifetime of Punishment: The Impact of the Felony Drug Ban on Welfare Benefits.” Prison Policy Initiative. November 14, 2013.

[14] The Marshall Project https://www.themarshallproject.org/2016/02/04/six-states-where-felons-can-t-get-food-stamps

[15] Ibid

[16] Weiss, Elayne. “Housing Access for People with Criminal Records.” National Low Income Housing Coalition. https://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/AG-2017/2017AG_Ch06-S06_Housing-Access-Criminal-Records.pdf

[17] https://citylimits.org/2015/06/02/nycha-questioned-on-policy-of-banning-arrested-residents/

[18] Weiss, Elayne. “Housing Access for People with Criminal Records.” National Low Income Housing Coalition. https://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/AG-2017/2017AG_Ch06-S06_Housing-Access-Criminal-Records.pdf

[19] Coulete, Lucius. “Nowhere to Go: Homeless among formerly incarcerated people.” Prison Policy Initiative, August 2018. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/housing.html

[20] Ibid

[21] Ban the Box Campaign http://bantheboxcampaign.org/about/

[22] Society for Human Resource Management https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/legal-and-compliance/state-and-local-updates/xperthr/pages/ban-the-box-laws-by-state-and-municipality-.aspx

[23] Maryland SB 4, passed in 2013, bans the box as to public employment only. http://www.esrcheck.com/wordpress/2013/05/07/maryland-becomes-latest-state-to-ban-the-box-asking-questions-about-criminal-history-from-job-applications/. The Maryland General Assembly is in the process of overriding the Governor’s veto of HB 994, a bill that would employ Ban the Box policies extending to any company employing 15 or more employees.

[24] Evans, Linda. “Ban the Box in Housing, Education, and Voting.” Legal Services for Prisoners with Children. 2016. http://criticalresistance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/B2B2_Final.pdf

[25] https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2016-07-19/pdf/2016-17040.pdf

[26] Ibid

[27] Congressional Budget Office 2015 Report https://www.cbo.gov/publication/50782