As many of our elected leaders know, New York’s alternative to incarceration (ATI) and reentry system is the largest and most effective in the country. Unlike California and Texas, New York State’s crime and incarceration rates have plummeted simultaneously. This is a result in significant part to the success of ATI and reentry programs in diverting appropriate individuals to addiction treatment and other appropriate community sanctions, monitoring and services and helping them reintegrate into society. Since 1999, the State Corrections Department’s population has fallen more than 12,000, and it will surely continue to fall if Rockefeller Drug Law reform is implemented effectively. This is all while ATI and reentry programs – including community supervision, housing assistance, employment services and addiction and mental health treatment, just to name a few – have saved the state millions of dollars every year.

Now these programs, a core component of public safety, are in real jeopardy. The time could not be more right for a reversal of years of reductions and cuts to make an investment in ATI and reentry programs – and to help continue to reduce crime and break the cycle of incarceration.

Restoring this funding is the first step to a new legacy of public safety in New York: policy that improves lives and saves money, crime rates for other states to envy, and funds – no longer needed for prisons – that can be redirected to education, healthcare, economic development and reducing the tax burden on New Yorkers.

Sincerely,

Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services (CASES)
Center for Community Alternatives (CCA)
Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO)
Correctional Association
Education & Assistance Corporation-TASC
Fortune Society
Greenhope Services for Women
Legal Action Center
Osborne Association
TASC of the Capital District
Women’s Prison Association