§353H-31 - Adult offender reentry programs and services.

PART III.
ADULT OFFENDER REENTRY PROGRAMS AND SERVICES

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

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

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

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

(3) Provide offenders awaiting reentry into the
community 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 in
achieving a successful transition from prison;

(4) Involve county agencies whose programs and
initiatives strengthen offender reentry services for individuals who have been
returned to the county of their jurisdiction;

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

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

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

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

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

(10) Facilitate collaboration among corrections
administrators, technical schools, community colleges, and the workforce
development and employment service sectors so that there are efforts to:

(A) Promote, where appropriate, the employment
of persons released from prison, through efforts such as educating employers
about existing financial incentives, and facilitate the creation of job
opportunities, including transitional jobs, for such persons that will also
benefit communities;

(B) Connect offenders to employment, including
supportive employment and employment services, before their release to the
community; and

(11) Assess the literacy and educational needs of
offenders 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 of
offenders are involved with facilitating the successful reentry of those
offenders into the community, including removing obstacles to the maintenance
of family relationships while the offender is in custody, strengthening the
family's capacity to establish and maintain a stable living situation during
the reentry process where appropriate, and involving family members in the
planning and implementation of the reentry process;

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

(14) Facilitate visitation and maintenance of family
relationships with respect to offenders in custody by addressing obstacles such
as travel, telephone costs, mail restrictions, and restrictive visitation
policies;

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

(16) Collect information, to the best of the
department's ability, regarding dependent children of incarcerated persons as
part of intake procedures, including the number of children, age, and location
or jurisdiction for the exclusive purpose of connecting identified children of
incarcerated parents with appropriate services and compiling statistical
information;

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

(18) Create, develop, or enhance prisoner and family
assessments curricula, policies, procedures, or programs, including mentoring
programs, to help prisoners with a history or identified risk of domestic
violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking reconnect with their
families and communities, as appropriate, and become mutually respectful;

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

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

(B) Using videoconferencing to allow virtual
visitation when incarcerated persons are more than one hundred miles from their
families;

(C) Developing books on tape programs, through
which incarcerated parents read a book into a tape to be sent to their
children;

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

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

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

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

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

(23) Develop and implement procedures to assist
relevant authorities in determining when release is appropriate and in the use
of data to inform the release decision;

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

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

(26) Consider establishing the use of reentry courts
to:

(A) Monitor offenders returning to the
community;

(B) Provide returning offenders with:

(i) Drug and alcohol testing and treatment; and

(ii) Mental and medical health assessment
services;

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

(D) Provide and coordinate the delivery of
other 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 graduated
sanctions and incentives; and

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