PART III. ADULT OFFENDER REENTRY PROGRAMS AND SERVICES

 

[§353H-31]  Adult offender reentry programsand services.  (a)  The director of public safety may authorize purchase ofservice contracts, in accordance with chapter 103F, subject to legislative or otherappropriate funding, for adult offender reentry programs and services thatestablish or improve the offender reentry system and in which each adultoffender in state correctional custody is provided an individualized reentryplan.

(b)  Subject to funding by thelegislature or other appropriate sources, the department of public safety shallauthorize the purchase of service contracts for activities that:

(1)  Coordinate the supervision and services providedto adult offenders in state custody with the supervision and services providedto offenders who have reentered the community;

(2)  Coordinate efforts of various public and privateentities to provide supervision and services to ex‑offenders afterreentry into the community with the offenders' family members;

(3)  Provide offenders awaiting reentry into thecommunity with documents, such as identification papers, referrals to services,medical prescriptions, job training certificates, apprenticeship papers,information on obtaining public assistance, and other documents useful inachieving a successful transition from prison;

(4)  Involve county agencies whose programs andinitiatives strengthen offender reentry services for individuals who have beenreturned to the county of their jurisdiction;

(5)  Allow ex-offenders who have reentered thecommunity to continue to contact mentors who remain incarcerated through theuse of technology, such as videoconferencing, or encourage mentors in prison tosupport the ex-offenders' reentry process;

(6)  Provide structured programs, post-releasehousing, and transitional housing, including group homes for recoveringsubstance abusers, through which offenders are provided supervision andservices immediately following reentry into the community;

(7)  Assist offenders in securing permanent housingupon release or following a stay in transitional housing;

(8)  Continue to link offenders with health resourcesfor health services that were provided to them when they were in state custody,including mental health, substance abuse treatment, aftercare, and treatmentservices for contagious diseases;

(9)  Provide education, job training, English as asecond language programs, work experience programs, self-respect andlife-skills training, and other skills needed to achieve self-sufficiency for asuccessful transition from prison;

(10)  Facilitate collaboration among correctionsadministrators, technical schools, community colleges, and the workforcedevelopment and employment service sectors so that there are efforts to:

(A)  Promote, where appropriate, the employmentof persons released from prison, through efforts such as educating employersabout existing financial incentives, and facilitate the creation of jobopportunities, including transitional jobs, for such persons that will alsobenefit communities;

(B)  Connect offenders to employment, includingsupportive employment and employment services, before their release to thecommunity; and

(C)  Address barriers to employment, includingobtaining a driver's license;

(11)  Assess the literacy and educational needs ofoffenders in custody and provide appropriate services to meet those needs,including follow-up assessments and long‑term services;

(12)  Address systems under which family members ofoffenders are involved with facilitating the successful reentry of thoseoffenders into the community, including removing obstacles to the maintenanceof family relationships while the offender is in custody, strengthening thefamily's capacity to establish and maintain a stable living situation duringthe reentry process where appropriate, and involving family members in theplanning and implementation of the reentry process;

(13)  Include victims, on a voluntary basis, in theoffender's reentry process;

(14)  Facilitate visitation and maintenance of familyrelationships with respect to offenders in custody by addressing obstacles suchas travel, telephone costs, mail restrictions, and restrictive visitationpolicies;

(15)  Identify and address barriers to collaboratingwith child welfare agencies in the provision of services jointly to offendersin custody and to the children of those offenders;

(16)  Collect information, to the best of thedepartment's ability, regarding dependent children of incarcerated persons aspart of intake procedures, including the number of children, age, and locationor jurisdiction for the exclusive purpose of connecting identified children ofincarcerated parents with appropriate services and compiling statisticalinformation;

(17)  Address barriers to the visitation of childrenwith an incarcerated parent, and maintenance of the parent-child relationship,such as the location of facilities in remote areas, telephone costs, mailrestrictions, and visitation policies;

(18)  Create, develop, or enhance prisoner and familyassessments curricula, policies, procedures, or programs, including mentoringprograms, to help prisoners with a history or identified risk of domesticviolence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking reconnect with theirfamilies and communities, as appropriate, and become mutually respectful;

(19)  Develop programs and activities that supportparent-child relationships, such as:

(A)  Using telephone conferencing to permitincarcerated parents to participate in parent-teacher conferences;

(B)  Using videoconferencing to allow virtualvisitation when incarcerated persons are more than one hundred miles from theirfamilies;

(C)  Developing books on tape programs, throughwhich incarcerated parents read a book into a tape to be sent to theirchildren;

(D)  The establishment of family days, whichprovide for longer visitation hours or family activities; or

(E)  The creation of children's areas invisitation rooms with parent-child activities;

(20)  Expand family-based treatment centers that offerfamily-based comprehensive treatment services for parents and their children asa complete family unit;

(21)  Conduct studies to determine who is returning toprison and which of those returning prisoners represent the greatest risk tocommunity safety;

(22)  Develop or adopt procedures to ensure thatdangerous felons are not released from prison prematurely;

(23)  Develop and implement procedures to assistrelevant authorities in determining when release is appropriate and in the useof data to inform the release decision;

(24)  Utilize validated assessment tools to assess therisk factors of returning offenders to the community and prioritizing servicesbased on risk;

(25)  Facilitate and encourage timely and completepayment of restitution and fines by ex-offenders to victims and the community;

(26)  Consider establishing the use of reentry courtsto:

(A)  Monitor offenders returning to thecommunity;

(B)  Provide returning offenders with:

(i)  Drug and alcohol testing and treatment; and

(ii)  Mental and medical health assessmentservices;

(C)  Facilitate restorative justice practicesand convene family or community impact panels, family impact educationalclasses, victim impact panels, or victim impact educational classes;

(D)  Provide and coordinate the delivery ofother community services to offenders, including:

(i)  Housing assistance;

(ii)  Education;

(iii)  Employment training;

(iv)  Children and family support;

(v)  Conflict resolution skills training;

(vi)  Family violence intervention programs; and

(vii)  Other appropriate social services; and

(E)  Establish and implement graduatedsanctions and incentives; and

(27)  Provide technology and other tools necessary toadvance post-release supervision. [L Sp 2007, c 8, pt of §2]