By Michael Hill
Correspondent
“It was good for a while,” said Shakir Salaam.
But eight years after his release, Salaam’s drug possession conviction haunts his search for a steady job to support his family.
“They just don’t call you back,” he said.
That’s part of the concern over the US Sentencing Commission reducing the punishment for 6,000 offenders – many of them non-violent drug inmates. They’re due for release this fall, 107 with New Jersey addresses. Some will go to home confinement, some to this halfway house in Newark.
“For many of us, people are very fearful of ex-offenders,” said Executive Director of Jersey City Employment and Training Program, Jim McGreevey.
Former Governor Jim McGreevey runs Jersey City’s offender re-entry program where he says the recidivism rate is 22 percent, about a third of the state’s and half of the federal government’s.
McGreevey and others say the impact of the federal release depends on services – such as treatment, housing, employment or training and more that are available to offenders.
Jennie Brown co-founded Offender Aid and Restoration more than 30 years ago. She says before re-entry was called re-entry.
“I just worry that the governmental people will know and pay attention to this so that they will do funding,” said Brown.
“We’re saying we want these people to come back to their communities. We’re releasing them from federal incarceration, but we’re not providing any support and structure services to help with that re-entry,” said Rev. Sara Lilja from Lutheran Episcopal Advocacy Ministry of New Jersey.
“What are we doing to make sure their re-entry to society is welcoming, number one, is responsible, number two, are we giving them training, are we dealing with the substance abuse issues that we know linger even after people serve long sentences,” said Cumberland County Prosecutor Webb-McCrae.
There’s chatter across the state about release of the federal inmates on Nov. 1, but the U.S. Attorney says thousands of federal inmates every month and this is an issue over which to lose no sleep.
“Before any of these prisoners were released, there was a safety study done on each of them. There’s no reason to believe any of these prisoners are any more dangerous than anybody else,” said U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Paul Fishman.
The November release of prisoners comes after years of criticism about the war on drugs and federal laws that mandated judges punish drug offenders harshly causing the federal prison population to explode by 800 percent.
“This is basically an acknowledgement that the policies of the last 30-40 years has been an abject failure, and that the public, which has been way ahead of elected officials on this, wants real change,” said Executive Director of Drug Policy Alliance Roseanne Scotti.
“I’m more concerned about communities where those people are going to go and how it might negatively effect. And let’s pray that it doesn’t. Let’s pray that those people belong to be out and that somebody in the federal government is making a good decision,” said President of the NJ Police Chief’s Association, Christopher Wagner.
The November release is the biggest one-time release ever of federal prisoners.