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A CEREMONIAL RESOLUTION
21-191
IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
April 5, 2016
To declare April 24-30, 2016, as “National Reentry Week” in the District of Columbia.
WHEREAS, the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) is designating the week of April 24-30, 2016, as National Reentry Week;
WHEREAS, the DOJ has asked the U.S. Attorney’s Office to coordinate reentry events, including meetings between local reentry stakeholders, reentry court proceedings, employer roundtables, or other events designed to raise awareness about the importance of reentry work;
WHEREAS, the DOJ has made more than $400 million in Second Chance Act funds available since 2009 to support comprehensive adult and juvenile reentry services;
WHEREAS, the Council of the District of Columbia has passed landmark legislation, often referred to as “Ban the Box,” prohibiting potential employers from inquiring into an applicant’s criminal background until after an offer of conditional employment has been extended;
WHEREAS, each year, more than 600,000 individuals return to their communities after serving time in federal and state prison, and another 11.4 million individuals cycle through local jails;
WHEREAS, the District is unique in that it does not have its own prison system, thus, all sentenced felons, regardless of District of Columbia residency, could be detained in any federal correctional facility;
WHEREAS, this federal inmate population includes 4,900 District of Columbia residents in 116 Bureau of Prisons facilities across 34 states, often housed at long distances from the District that do not promote rehabilitation or successful reentry;
WHEREAS, it is estimated that 60,000 people in the District of Columbia have criminal records, with more than 8,000 returning each year to the District from various prison populations;
WHEREAS, positive reentry continues to be a priority for District government with continued support of the Office of Returning Citizens Affairs (“ORCA”), which serves as a liaison between the Mayor, the returning citizen community, and District government agencies;
WHEREAS, ORCA also provides constituent services and information to the returning citizen community through programmatic activities and outreach materials;
WHEREAS, the Corrections Information Council monitors the conditions of confinement of all District of Columbia residents, as incarcerated in the federal Bureau of Prisons, the District’s Department of Corrections, and contract facilities;
WHEREAS, nearly a quarter of Americans has had some sort of encounter with the criminal justice system, mostly for relatively minor, non-violent offenses;
WHEREAS, supporting effective reentry is an essential to helping individuals return to productive, law-abiding lives, which can result in overall crime reduction, making our neighborhoods better places to live; and
WHEREAS, it is incumbent upon all of us to prepare those who have paid their debt to society for substantive opportunities following incarceration, and further addressing common obstacles that too many returning citizens encounter.
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this resolution may be cited as the “National Reentry Week Recognition Resolution of 2016”.
Sec. 2. The Council declares April 24-30, 2016, as “National Reentry Week” in the District of Columbia.
Sec. 3. This resolution shall take effect immediately upon the first date of publication in the District of Columbia Register.
