Hill offers bipartisan legislation to help criminal offenders re-enter society

U.S. Rep. French Hill (R-AR) on Sept. 9 sponsored a bipartisan bill to establish a pilot grant program at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) that would provide educational programs to offenders reentering society following their incarceration.

“Education leads to better choices, jobs and more accountability that can help break the cycle of criminal behavior in communities across the country,” Rep. Hill said.

Rep. Hill unveiled the Shift Back to Society Act of 2019, H.R. 4252, with five cosponsors, including U.S. Reps. Mike Turner (R-OH) and Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC). The bill would authorize $5 million annually in U.S. Department of Justice grants for HBCUs to develop the educational programs, such as for obtaining a GED or taking courses to be transferred for credit at an HBCU, according to the bill’s text.

“At a time when America has the highest prison population in the world and spends up to $34,000 a year per inmate,” said Rep. Hill, “it is critical that we enact necessary policies to ensure our criminal justice system is cost-effective while keeping our communities safe and reducing recidivism rates of prison inmates.”

H.R. 4252 is modeled after a successful program in Arkansas, according to Rep. Hill, who previewed the bill during a Sept. 6 meeting in Little Rock, Ark., with officials from several HBCUs in his home state.

The lawmaker said HBCUs, especially those in metropolitan areas, are well-positioned to support recent ex-offenders because “they have faith-based and community-focused direction and desire to work in this arena. And they’ve got experience in it, typically, due to their faith-based missions or their work with the Pell Grant program previously.”

H.R. 4252 would complement the Second-Chance Pell Grant and other state and federal programs that focus on education as a key component to reducing prison recidivism, Rep. Hill said during the meeting.

The grant money under the bill would be largely unrestricted, he added, to permit HBCUs the chance to be more innovative compared to Pell Grant dollars, which must be spent on courses or programs that lead to a college degree.