The Second Chance Act
THE SECOND CHANCE ACT -- (House of Representatives - December 06, 2005)
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Marchant). Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 4, 2005, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) is recognized for half the time until midnight, approximately 45 minutes.
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, of course I come to the floor to talk about a subject that we do not talk nearly enough about. And I really did not intend to talk about tax policy or taxes, but after listening to the last hour, and especially some portions of it, I just could not resist, as I listened to some of the commentary. As a matter of fact, it reminded me of the young fellow who went to Sunday school and rushed home because he was so excited and told his mother, ``Mom, you should have been with me at Sunday school. We just had a great lesson. You really would have enjoyed it.
She said, ``Well, what was so exciting about it?
He said, ``Well, in Sunday school, they told us all about this great general named Moses and how he led his army out of Egypt with the Egyptians in hot pursuit. And when they got down to the Red Sea,'' he said, ``Moses dispatched his engineers and had them build a pontoon bridge and all of his soldiers went across. And then when the Egyptians got on the bridge, he dispatched his demolition experts, and they dynamited the bridge, and all of the Egyptians fell into the water and drowned. Johnny's mother said, ``Now, Johnny, are you sure that is what they told you?''
He said, ``Well, no, ma'am.'' But I figured you would believe this more than you would what they did tell us.''
And listening to what some of my colleagues have been saying this evening, I figure that the American people have got to believe something other than that. I mean, I have been truly amazed about how they can put money in the pockets of those at the very top, nothing in the pockets of those at the bottom, and say that they are going to get the economy moving. It would seem to me if they did it the opposite way, if they put something in the pockets of those at the bottom, they have no choice except to spend it. Every dime that they would get would go right back into the economy, and it would circulate, and the guy at the grocery store would get some of it. The person in the barber shop would get some of it. The person selling Pampers would get some of it.
Well, at any rate, it would circulate, and the economy would then be nourished and could grow and develop and not be one sided. But I really did not come to talk about that. So let me move on.
I really came to talk about the reentry of the large number of individuals who are incarcerated in our country. As a matter of fact, the United States of America has become the most incarcerated nation on the face of the earth. Right now as we speak, even tonight, there are 2 million people in our Nation's prisons and jails. Two million. More people proportionately than we would find in prison in China or in Russia or any other countries that we often talk about their human rights violations. And it is a problem that we have got to get a handle on because many of these individuals come home every year.
Right now, we expect about 650,000 to come home from jails and prison, and when they come home, they need to be reintegrated. But, unfortunately, when many of them come home, they cannot find a job. They cannot find a place to stay. There are laws that prohibit them from working.
In my State, for example, there are 57 job titles by law that an individual who has a felony conviction could not hold. As a matter of fact, a person could not even get a license to cut hair without some intervention or a person could not be a mail technician unless they got a waiver or some special consideration. So prisoner reentry has become a big issue but not big enough.
Many of us have been trying to work on it, and we have a bill that we have put together that we think will go a long way. And, of course, it is no panacea. It is a small way of addressing the problem.
I was delighted when the President gave his State of the Union address 2 years ago and suggested that we had to do something for these individuals coming home, and out of that conversation, in many instances, efforts have occurred, and ultimately we have the Second Chance Act on the drawing board, on the table, waiting to be acted upon that would simply provide some resources to assist these individuals. It would also provide some coordination so that we can have the Justice Department, the Education Department, the Labor Department, all working jointly at the same time, to develop coherent strategies so that as individuals return, there is enough of an effort to keep them from going back.
Statistics suggest that when an individual comes out of prison, unless there is some help for them, unless there is some intervention, 67 percent of them will have done what we call reoffend within a 3-year period of time and more than half of them will be reincarcerated, meaning the recidivism rate, in and out, in and out, money being spent, where, if we could somehow or another try to help them to become self-sufficient rather than spending $25,000 or $30,000 a year taking care of them, they could help take care of other members of society and they could pay some of those taxes that my colleagues have been talking about. But if they are not working and if they are incarcerated with no hope, they are not going to pay any of those taxes. So I am looking forward to the time when we will pass the Second Chance Act.
I am so pleased to be joined by two of my colleagues, both who have demonstrated a tremendous amount of commitment, a great deal of energy, effort, and courage to find real solutions to the problems that plague our society. I know that the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Jones), a former prosecutor, a judge who has seen corrections, who has seen sentencing, who has seen people come before the court, probably had to sentence some of them to correctional facilities, but also who knows that it is our responsibility to help them as they return.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Jones).
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Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Jones). You are absolutely right. I get letters every day that I can never read. I mean, we try and respond to all of our mail. I have got a cardboard box of letters that we have not been able to get to of individuals and their families simply expressing a hope that this legislation is going to be passed, that there is going to be some possibility that they would have an opportunity to reclaim their lives and become again meaningful members of society.
And we certainly thank the gentlewoman for the role that she has played. I am optimistic, because I think we are going to see this legislation passed. Right now we have got about 85 sponsors in the House. When it was introduced in the Senate, there were 10 cosponsors in the Senate, or 10 sponsors, which is a good indication that it has great support and that is continuing to rise.
One of the reasons I think we have been able to have a hearing in the Judiciary Committee is because there is support among members of the Judiciary Committee for the legislation. And one of the members of that committee who has been very instrumental in not only moving this legislation, but instrumental in protecting the rights of American citizens, perhaps like none other, and using his office, we all like to call him our constitutional scholar, that is one who understands the Constitution and what it was that its framers were trying to protect and provide, and so we are indeed delighted that the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott) is here with us this evening.
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Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. I thank the gentleman from Virginia. I know that you are on Judiciary and there are people in our country whenever you start talking about doing something that relates to corrections or trying to assist individuals who have been convicted of crimes, people accuse or charge you with being soft on crime. How do you respond to people who suggest that this kind of legislation, this kind of activity, this kind of effort is being soft on crime?
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Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. I thank the gentlewoman so much. I think we are fortunate that many publications are taking the right spin on this. I was just looking at a group of them: The Baltimore Sun, the Houston Chronicle, Newport Daily News, Journal and Courier, Detroit News, Baltimore Sun, Tulsa World, Daily Oklahoman, Baltimore Sun again, American National Catholic Weekly, the Washington Times, the Charlotte Observer.
Mrs. JONES of Ohio. The Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. The New York Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun Times, the Jewish World Review, the Boston Globe, the Daily Oklahoman, the San Diego Union Tribune, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Miami Herald, the Lancaster News, San Francisco Chronicle, the Virginian-Pilot. All of these have written positive editorials, stories, or entertained letters to the editor. One that struck me that I picked up really came from Oklahoma. It talks about a person.
``Facing five 20-year sentences at the age of 35, Debbie Green's life seemed pretty much over. An abusive husband led her to a heavy meth habit and that, in turn, to dealing the drug and landing repeatedly in Oklahoma's prisons. But in 2001, 7 years into her third prison term, she convinced the parole board to give her another chance. They did, and so far their bet is paying off: Debbie has worked 4 years now at a fencing company in Tulsa, staying clean, supporting herself, and paying taxes. She credits her success to counseling programs on the inside, strong support from her church and community since her release and her own gritty determination to beat the odds.''
I think that programs like this one is an indication that there are indeed places that people can go. And so the Second Chance Act not only provides for the coordination but it also provides some resources. It provides some money, block grants to States that can be used to establish programs such as the one that Debbie benefited from in Oklahoma. We had hoped that we were going to get this out this year. Obviously that is not going to happen because of Katrina and all kinds of other things that have crept or jumped into the legislative process, but next year.
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Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleagues, and I often say to people that it is not really just about the ex-offender, and it is not just to help those individuals.
If I am walking down the street and there is a person who needs $15 to get a bit of crack and I am carrying a briefcase and he thinks that I am an insurance salesman rather than an elected official or politician and that there might be something in there other than notes, if he attacks me, then of course I am at risk. I may end up in the hospital with a $200,000 hospital bill, $300,000, $500,000.
All of the misery, poverty, all of the things that are associated with crime, many of those can really be reshaped, refocused and changed with a sensible re-entry policy, and so I want to thank both of my colleagues for coming and sharing.
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