The White House announced that it has expanded several programs to provide a second chance for those incarcerated. These programs are designed to provide an opportunity for rehabilitation and redemption and a potential future crime reduction.
The strategy includes supporting vocational training and readmission plans for federal prisons, funding workforce grants, accelerating the recovery of veterans' benefits, improving educational opportunities, and more.
KEY FINDINGS
The White House has released a newsletter outlining its plan to help rehabilitate former imprisoned citizens.
The plan includes steps to make the re-entry process after release go more smoothly and to make it easier for ex-prisoners to find work, education and more.
The plan also includes job training in federal prisons to help inmates prepare for release.
Biden administration proposes comprehensive plan for ex-imprisoned citizens
The Biden administration has laid out its plans to help ex-imprisoned citizens get the opportunities they need for rehabilitation and redemption, in the hope that it will help them avoid a return to crime.
The Comprehensive Plan is a comprehensive approach that includes vocational training, educational opportunities, and more. Here is a summary of what the administration plans to do:
Give people a six-month period after they are released so they can apply for Medicare.
Expand Pell's Second Chance initiative, created in 2015 to provide Pell grants to formerly incarcerated students.
Give ex-prisoners a fresh start in the event of a federal loan default to make it easier for them to access Pell grants.
Review existing housing regulations and provide recommendations on how the Department of Housing and Urban Development can increase housing inclusion and opportunities for people arrested and convicted.
Establish a partnership between the Department of Justice and the Department of Labor to provide skills training and individual employment and return plans for individuals in federal prisons.
Provide grants that offer education and training, paid work experience, mentoring and leadership development for youth and young people involved in justice.
Provide grants that offer job training, pre-learning programs, digital literacy training, and pre- and post-release career counseling for adults involved in justice.
Eliminate barriers to SBA loans based on an irrelevant criminal history.
Remove barriers to federal employment for formerly incarcerated candidates.
Expand access to jobs in the Department of Transportation for ex-prisoners and historically marginalized communities.
Accelerate the recovery of veterans' benefits and link them to return services.
Providing employers with additional resources within existing incentives, including tax credits and free bonding programs.
The announcement was made during Second Chance Month, which was established in 2017 to draw attention to the need to support people who were previously incarcerated as they return to society.