Bush to sign Second Chance Act!

After many long years in the making, President Bush will finally sign the Second Chance Act on April 9, I learn in an email invite to a D.C. reception commemorating the event that evening. I can't make it, but it's certainly a cause for celebration. According to the Re-Entry Policy Council, the bill:

provides critical resources designed to reduce recidivism and increase public safety. The legislation passed the Senate by unanimous consent and now proceeds to the President’s desk for signature. ...

The Second Chance Act includes key elements of President Bush’s Prisoner Reentry Initiative, announced in the 2004 State of the Union address, which provides for community and faith-based organizations to deliver mentoring and transitional services. The bill will also help connect people released from prison and jail to mental health and substance abuse treatment, expand job training and placement services, and facilitate transitional housing and case management services.

"It is vitally important that we do everything we can to ensure that, when people get out of prison, they enter our communities as productive members of society, so we can start to reverse the dangerous cycles of recidivism and violence," said Senator Leahy. "I hope that the Second Chance Act will help us begin to break that cycle."

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, an estimated 95 percent of all state prisoners will be released.

The most important aspect of the legislation on the ground will be more than $190 million in grants (see this summary in doc format) to state and local governments for re-entry and mentoring programs. I'll try to pay attention on Grits to what happens with this money in Texas when it comes down the pike. But for now, learn more about the Second Chance Act from the Re-Entry Policy Council.