From Prison to Work: Overcoming Barriers to Reentry

A Hamilton Project Policy Discussion

Friday, December 5, 2008, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

The National Press Club Ballroom, 529 14th Street NW, Washington, DC

On December 5, The Hamilton Project will host a policy discussion on the challenges of prisoner reentry. Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin will give welcoming remarks and introduce U.S. Senator Jim Webb who will give the keynote address. Federal, state and local governments are feeling the strain of a vastlyexpanded penal system that supports over 2.25 million inmates nationwide. With 700,000 people released from prison each year, there is a social andeconomic imperative to create policies that help newly released prisoners transition into their communities and maintain stable employment. Following the keynote address, The Hamilton Project will host a policy roundtable on this important issue. Bruce Western of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government will provide an overview of his new proposal, which will be released as a Hamilton Project discussion paper. Western envisions a national prisoner reentry program that would combine transitional employment, housing and substance abuse treatment with in-prison education and post-release parole reform. A panel of experts, including Scott Anders with the U.S. Probation Office in the Eastern District of Missouri, Glenn Martin with the Fortune Society, and Michael Thomas, prosecuting attorney for Saginaw County, Michigan, will comment on the proposal and offer perspectives based on their diverse, on-the-ground experiences. Brookings Senior Fellow and Hamilton Project Director Douglas W. Elmendorf will moderate the discussion. After each segment of the program, the panelists will take audience questions.

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