State Sen. Kevin Parker, this week, found unanimous success on both sides of the aisle when a bill he sponsored requiring correctional facilities to provide up to date and comprehensive transitional services information to inmates prior to release, passed 57-0.
The measure requires annually updated information offered to inmates to include: medical, mental health, substance abuse, housing, and HIV/AIDS services; as well as educational, vocational, and employment services.
“The passing of my bill marks a step toward creating a better correctional system. Our current system perpetuates a troubling cycle that keeps ex-prisoners separated from their communities a design that tears down our society and individuals,” said Parker.
“The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, and correctional facilities have often failed to properly incorporate corresponding programs and services for inmates. Requiring correctional facilities to help inmates transition back into their communities through sharing vital transitional information will provide the tools they need to reenter society this will in turn help to shrink the large prison population,” the lawmaker added.
Parker, a seven-term incumbent, represents the ethnically diverse neighborhoods of Flatbush, East Flatbush, Midwood, Ditmas Park, Kensington, Windsor Terrace, and Park Slope.
