Our criminal Justice system costs the taxpayer too much, fails at rehabilitation, exacts a lifelong toll on offenders – and does not yield corresponding societal benefits. That is the conclusion of The Justice Imperative: How Hyper-Incarceration Has Hijacked the American Dream, a book written by Brian Moran of New Canaan, a partner in the law firm of Robinson & Cole and published by the Malta Justice Initiative.
Brian Moran
Another New Canaan resident, Nick Yanicelli, is president of the Malta Justice Initiative, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help provide employment for an underserved part of the population and to provide considerable savings to the Connecticut taxpayers by introducing new legislation that will reduce the tendency of a convicted criminal to reoffend, known as recidivism.
Statistics indicate 60% of the incarcerated citizens return through the revolving doors of our current prison system within three years of their release, thereby creating an enormous financial burden on the state and costing the taxpayers millions of dollars.
The Malta Justice Initiative evolved through an earlier program called Malta Prison Volunteers, a ministry within the Order of Malta, founded by member John Santa and a lawyer friend, an ex-offender. The Justice Initiative is non-denominational.
“Our overall goal with the Malta Justice Initiative is to impact the opinions of policymakers as well as the public and businesses to promote the hiring of formerly incarcerated individuals,” said Yanicelli.
“Today our emphasis has shifted beyond prison ministry to bringing about justice by addressing the root causes of the problems confronting newly released prisoners, and advocating for reform of the entire prison system,” said Yanicelli. Our first initiative, to convince legislators and educate the general public, was to produce the book The Justice imperative.The deeply-researched compendium cites criminal justice policy and recommendations to reduce recidivism and save millions. It costs the state of Connecticut $51,000 per prisoner per year. The problem is not limited to Connecticut. The U.S. has 4.5% of the world’s population and 24.5% of the world’s prisoners.
The problem, according to Malta Justice, is that the prison system simply does not do enough to prepare prisoners for life on the outside. Thousands pass in and out through the revolving doors every year because it does not rehabilitate the prisoners or prepare them for reentering the outside world and finding employment when they are released. There is reportedly no job training, no help in getting interviews and preparing for them. Also there is no treatment or counseling for many who suffer from addiction or mental illness. As a result, newly released prisoners have great difficulty finding employment, and if they do not find a job within the first year they are free, there is a 60% chance that they will in desperation commit another crime and end up back in prison within three years.
Nick Yanicelli
The point of the book was to start a dialogue and get everyone thinking about solutions. In achieving common goals of reducing the number of both prisons and prisoners, other states have had success with various solutions:
- Charging first-time, nonviolent offenders — including drug-related offenders who are not a threat to society — with a misdemeanor so they are not incarcerated. Instead, using diversionary programs such as community service and probation.
- Giving judges the power to decide punishment for each case individually.
- Providing more educational opportunities and increasing vocational training in prisons, giving incentives for completion and good behavior, including shortened sentences.
- Helping prepare all inmates for re-entry into society prior to their release.
“Brian’s book got us a seat at the table in Hartford,” said Yanicelli. “We did a year’s worth of legwork and testified at many congressional hearings. The bill for Gov. Malloy’s Second Chance program was passed shortly after The Justice Imperative was published and distributed to members of the House and Senate. Word has it that the bill would not have easily passed by the majority of both bodies if it had it not been for the strong impact of the book’s findings.”
The Justice Initiative has been working with influential people like Scott Semple, commissioner of the Dept. of Corrections who is making significant changes. He has converted a couple of prisons to preparing prisoners for parole before they are released, and plans to create a prison facility exclusively for offenders under the age of 25.
Scott feels, “If you are good to people, things will work out well.”
A new amendment was recently passed to provide enhanced employment opportunities to persons recently released from correctional facilities, and tax incentives to employers who provide these opportunities.
Bubble of New Canaan
“We live in a glass bubble here,” Yanicelli said. “If a kid gets caught with drugs in New Canaan, his parents usually get a lawyer and get him off the hook by doing community service instead of going to prison. But many of our youth in Connecticut don’t have those options. In Bridgeport, if you cannot post bail, which can be as low as $200, you go to jail which costs the state over $200 a night.
The Malta Justice Initiative works with many community service organizations and business associations with similar goals like CBIA (Connecticut Business and Industry Association), Career Resources and Family ReEntry. Founded by former New Canaan resident Terry Reed, Family ReEntry and its offshoot, Prisonist.org, now based in Bridgeport, emphasize the importance of family relationships, providing counseling to prisoners prior to their release, and job training afterwards, to facilitate an easier, more successful “ReEntry” into society after having been incarcerated.
“We are diligently working on a strategic communications and public relations plan to develop clear messaging, coordinate interviews and presentations and implement media outreach to help us meet our goals,” Yanicelli said.
High on the future agenda of the Malta Justice Initiative is working directly with business owners and leaders, to encourage them to hire newly released, non-violent offenders. “But in approaching the business owners, we realized that first we needed to understand how they feel about hiring an ex-offender.” said Yanicelli.
To that end they hired the Nielson/Harris Poll company to conduct an anonymous poll Harris Poll. The “never been done before” survey endeavored to understand the perceived risks or impediments that influence hiring decisions involving persons with a criminal history.
[The survey can be found on the website maltajusticeinitiative.org. See sidebar here.]
It also examined what incentives or other factors might enhance the prospect of former offenders landing jobs. It was important to bring this issue to the surface to understand the impediments that influence hiring decisions which ultimately power the revolving doors of our prisons.
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