LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Three bills signed into law during the final work week of the Arkansas 95th General Assembly intend to lower the rate of felons re-offending after being released from prison.
House Bill 1931 and Senate Bill 485 address the need for recidivism reduction in the state, while Senate Bill 537 develops a program to give a released felon credits for employment. All three were signed into law by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on April 16.
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HB1931 states in its Legislative Findings opening section that as of 2019, Arkansas had a 48.3% recidivism rate, meaning that 48.3% of inmates who were released returned to prison for an additional term. This costs the state $140 million annually, the bill states.
It then calls for a hard focus on beginning reentry preparations upon an inmate’s first day of imprisonment by adopting needed policies and rules to serve this goal. This will lead to a program created for each inmate that will be continuously assessed and updated for the best possible outcome…