With President Barack Obama's looming scheduled to visit Monday, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka is ramping up discussion of how to prevent recidivism by ex-offenders.
NEWARK -- In a gray room packed with men confined by law at the Essex County Correctional Facility, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka stood at its center and told them how they could be free.
"You are not a prisoner," he said in a Oct. 21 speech. "Do not define yourself or your manhood as that. Your manhood is not in a gang, a gun or the material things you had. Do not limit yourself, and you'll find that you can be so much more. Do, and a prisoner is all you'll ever be."
Speaking publicly about self-determination and criminal justice reform has for the last two months been one of Baraka's primary orders of business. A speaking tour started in September saw him make similar speeches at several city schools and local jail facilities.
The tour coincides with President Barack Obama's first planned visit to the state's largest city. Obama will arrive in Newark Monday, and is scheduled to appear alongside Baraka and others to highlight local programs that aid prisoners re-entering New Jersey communities.
In September, Baraka was invited to the White House in Washington D.C. to take part in a panel discussion on mass incarceration. With Obama's visit looming, Baraka is ramping up discussion of how to prevent the formerly incarcerated from returning to jail.
"We have to transform our city's culture and the lives of our residents, particularly youth and re-entering offenders," Baraka said in a statement to NJ Advance Media.
Exact figures on the number of inmates re-entering after prison and jail terms are hard to come by. But a recent study by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School provides a glimpse.
From 2011 to 2014, New Jersey officials reduced the state's prison population by 9.5 percent via reforms of the parole process and revisions to sentencing guidelines for low-level drug offenders, the report states.
As the prison population has decreased, dozens of state and local programs have begun address recidivism among ex-offenders, providing legal counseling, job training and housing services.
In Newark, the city's Department of Re-entry targets ex-offenders between the ages of 18 and 30 who have been convicted of a violent crime or are gang affiliated. Along with several other services, Project Hope aims to teach them communications skills, interviewing techniques, resume preparation, while providing them a temporary employment, city officials say.
At the county level, "Staying Connected," a pilot program established Essex County Department of Corrections, assists soon to be released inmates with several services, including housing, anger management and life skills training.
The programs are part of efforts to treat crime as a public health issue, Baraka said in a released statement. "Crime in America cannot be defeated by simply arresting our way out of it."
Vernal Coleman can be reached at vcoleman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @vernalcoleman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
