NJ.Com Reports: Gov. Chris Christie today announced a comprehensive plan to help more non-violent criminals break drug and alcohol addictions in an effort to reduce the number of released offenders who return to prison.
Flanked by former prisoners being trained at a food kitchen in Camden, Christie called for expanding the state’s Drug Court Program — which offers non-violent drug addicts treatment and counseling rather than prison sentences — by making it mandatory for certain offenders.
About 8 percent of those who participate in the drug courts, which are available statewide and accept about 1,400 new participants each year, are convicted again — as compared to 43 percent of drug offenders released from prison, statistics show. Also, drug court participants cost taxpayers about $11,379 a year, as opposed to the $38,900 for the average prison inmate.
Through an executive order, Christie also created a task force that will, for the first time, coordinate the state’s programs to help prisoners return to normal life.
“We’re not giving people the skills they need, and we’re not giving them the treatment they need to overcome some of the problems that led them to crime in the first place,” Christie told a small crowd at Cathedral Kitchen in Camden, which serves food to the city’s poor and needy.
First Lady Mary Pat Christie, who visited rehabilitation centers, training programs and church groups to learn about the problem, joined her husband today to make the announcement.
Christie’s plan represents the biggest steps taken by any governor in recent history to address the problems faced by repeat offenders, said former Democratic Gov. James E. McGreevey, who volunteers with inmates and was consulted by the Christie administration.
“No governor, myself included, provided the level of attention and execution of policy to afford ex-offenders this opportunity,” McGreevey said. “And there’s almost no political dividend.”
