A report distributed to Philadelphia federal district judges in December of 2010 on the Supervision to Aid Re-entry (“STAR”) program, described the regional reentry court as a highly successful model for the federal judiciary. Among the reports special points of interest was an innovative use of legal interns to provide legal services to federal probation participants (there is no parole, only probation in the federal system):
- A continued partnership with the Philadelphia Bar Association and local law schools, which provide participants with free legal assistance for issues such as credit repair, traffic court, license restoration, child custody, and business development assistance.
- A successful credit restoration project, enabling dozens of participants to correct errors and deficiencies in their credit history
Feb. 14
The United States District Court for the Northern District of California has announced the establishment of a reentry court program for certain individuals on federal post-conviction supervision. The first federal court will be established in San Francisco, and Magistrate Judge Joseph Spero will preside. The court will meet every two weeks. Additional reentry courts may be established in the district in the future.
For documents describing the planned court, see PDF attached.
Today, Wednesday I facilitated three morning sessions on the many faces of reentry court programs, and interviewed an ex-federal probationer. The interview turned out to be the most exciting part of a very interesting day. I got to ask the ex-probationer ( who had spent 108 months in federal prison)what were his problems with the Federal Reentry Program. He candidly spoke of the lack of services available and the specific lack of employment assistance. A federal probation officer who then joined the ex-offender on the stage explained that work was available, but that ex-offenders were typically not ready or prepared to do it. The contrast and brief confrontation between the two men was a change from the success stories often heard from ex-offenders. Sometimes, it simply better to get ex-offenders to respond to probing questions regarding programs they’ve completed.
Charles Robinson, Probation Administrator, Office of U.S. Courts and Mark Sheenan, Senior Education Attorney at the Federal Judicial Center spoke at the NADCP Annual Conference held in Anaheim, Ca in June 2009. Their linked presentation provided important information on a wide variety of federal reentry court issues, such as the evolution of the federal reentry courts, the variety of existing models, the future of the federal reentry court.
Federal Reentry Court NDCI Preentation