Recommendation 1: Texas Should Mandate that the Texas Department Of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) Create Assessment-Driven, Individualized Re-Entry Plans that Span Intake, Incarceration, and Aftercare/Parole, and Provide Funding for the Technology to Carry this Out.
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Texas should mandate that all TDCJ inmates will have comprehensive transition planning services and resources. The State should ensure that assessments guide each offender’s placement into re-entry-focused programs, as based on the offender’s educational and employment abilities, mental health diagnoses and dispositions, history of drug abuse, and family dynamic and history of domestic violence. Furthermore, each inmate should participate in creating his/her own re-entry plan, which should be guided by this assessment.
For offenders with families, a strengths-based and family-focused perspective should be used when developing their re-entry plans. Specifically, attention should focus on assets in the areas of education, cognitive ability, social skills, employment potential, and access to community-based (including family) resources. The ultimate goal of rehabilitation should be the strengthening of each inmate’s pro-social assets (above) and family/social ties through a process that will guide the offenders to become positive role models and resources for their families and communities.
Note: The title of TDCJ staff responsible for writing the re-entry plan with the inmate should be written into statute and include credential requirements and a mandate that these positions be permanently filled.
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Texas should provide offenders with reasonable records at discharge to facilitate successful re-entry. Upon release, each offender should be provided verification of his or her work history during incarceration, as well as certification of educational and/or treatment programs completed. Each outgoing offender should also be provided a driver’s license, identification card, social security card, and birth certificate. This information will facilitate individuals’ ability to obtain employment, housing, and other benefits.
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Texas should provide contact information regarding social services and job opportunities in the various communities to paroled and discharged prisoners upon release.
Paroled and discharged prisoners are often under much stress, as caused by the transition of leaving incarceration, and they are unable to find pertinent information relating to social services, housing, and employment. Therefore, TDCJ should provide a county-specific information packet to ex-offenders at the time of their release; this should include the addresses and telephone numbers of workforce offices, viable housing options (both public and private), and contact information for support groups (like churches, peer-to-peer counseling groups, and other charitable institutions).
Ultimately, secured access to a regularly updated electronic database inside the prisons would best provide the information necessary for confinees to plan their re-entry. This database could utilize existing services such as United Way’s 211 referral service at no cost to the State.
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Texas should fund and expand the ability of probation, TDCJ, parole, and other government departments to communicate and coordinate their resources. This would best be accomplished through the use of specialized technology as a means to improve the appropriateness of interventions. Currently, the Veterans Department, the Social Security Administration, and Texas MHMR are using technology to share limited information. When such technology is implemented, the State must ensure that memorandums of understanding regarding confidentiality are a priority and strictly followed.