Reentry Simulation Set For Mobile And State House

United States Attorney Kenyen R. Brown of the Southern District of Alabama, and Project HOPE Reentry Task Force Chairwoman, Senator Vivian Davis Figures, announce that a Reentry Simulation event will be held on Friday, March 4th at 2:30pm at the Mobile Alabama Cruise Terminal. Numerous public officials and reentry stakeholders in the City of Mobile and the Mobile region have been invited to participate in the simulation. Participants will assume new identities as well as new personal factors that apply to them as ex-offenders returning to the community. They will have to meet the strict life requirements that actual returning ex-offenders have to meet or risk going back to jail (yes, a mock jail is part of the simulation).

The purpose of the Reentry Simulation is to highlight unnecessary barriers to successful reentry so that they can be removed. When Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson was informed of this event he stated, "You never truly know the challenges others face in life until you walk in their shoes. I commend the Reentry Task Force for holding such an important event in Mobile."

Members of the Alabama Legislature will also be participants in a second Reentry Simulation event on April 13th in Montgomery that will feature remarks from Governor Nathan Deal of Georgia and Governor Robert Bentley. In 2012 and 2013 Governor Deal successfully spearheaded significant criminal justice reforms in Georgia which led to limiting costly prison bed space to the most violent and hardened criminals while reducing corrections costs for Georgia taxpayers. For example, historically, the Georgia Department of Corrections spent more than $20 million annually to keep state inmates in local jails pending their transfer to prison. By FY2014, state spending on such subsidies had fallen to $40,720. Moreover, Georgia tax payers avoided an additional expenditure of $264 million when they did not experience a projected inmate population increase of 8%.1 The State of Georgia then spent significantly less money to build up its reentry infrastructure as compared to the cost of direct incarceration in order to reduce prisoner recidivism.

Senator Figures stated, "Georgia has a blue print for what we can accomplish on a nonpartisan basis here in Alabama. I commend Governor Deal and my legislative colleagues in Georgia for placing an equal emphasis on both enforcement and reentry. I also want to thank Senator Cam Ward, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, for partnering with me in order to bring fresh approaches to solving Alabama’s criminal justice problems."

US Attorney Brown said, "By developing a collective plan to address the needs of ex-offenders in our State we can assist thousands of individuals break the cycle of crime, poverty and self-degradation while promoting standards of good citizenship inclusive of sustained employment and the wherewithal to become tax payers and not a tax burden. In exchange, we, as the greater community, will recognize the benefits of lower crime rates and safer communities in which to live."

US Attorney Brown and Senator Figures are available for interviews upon request or at the March 4th reentry event.