A SMOOTHER RE-ENTRY

With corrections costs going through the roof, states and localities
are beginning to figure out the long-term costs of just shoving
inmates out the door when their sentences are finished. To prevent
people from ending up right back inside, states will need to embrace
re-entry programs that provide ex-offenders with training, jobs,
places to live and a range of social services that don't exist in most places.

This month, the Washington State Senate passed a farsighted bill that
could be a model for the nation. It would require the state
Corrections Department to fashion individual re-entry plans --
detailing job training, drug treatment and educational goals -- for
every inmate. The bill, which is expected to pass the House as well,
would provide a tax incentive for companies that hire previously
incarcerated people, and would prompt a review of state laws that may
bar felons from state-licensed occupations that are in no way related
to their offenses.

Researchers have shown over and over again that inmates who earn
colleges degrees are far less likely to end up back behind bars. But
like most states, Washington backed away from prison college
education programs during the 1990s. That's also when Congress barred
inmates from receiving federal Pell grants. Washington State's
proposed new program would partly reverse that policy by allowing
inmates to take college classes that would be paid for by the
inmates, third parties or perhaps through loans. It would also
require the state to pay the full costs for inmates seeking high
school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees.

The exact costs are as yet uncertain. But they would clearly pale
beside the billions that the state would save if it slowed the growth
of the prison population and turned more of its ex-convicts into
law-abiding, taxpaying citizens.