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29 Fed. Probation 3 (1965)
The Prisoner Rehabilitation Act of 1965

handle is hein.journals/fedpro29 and id is 259 raw text is: The Prisoner Rehabilitation Act of 1965 BY SENATOR EDWARD V. LONG Chairman, United States Senate Subcommittee on National Penitentiaries AST MARCH, President Johnson sent to the 89th Congress an important and historic message devoted exclusively to the crime problem in the United States. As chairman of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on National Penitentiaries, which is deeply con- cerned with improving the correctional process, I was particularly pleased that, in outlining the major goals of his message, the President made this point: We cannot tolerate an endless, self-defeating cycle of imprisonment, release, and reimprisonment which fails to alter undesirable attitudes and behavior. We must find ways to help the first offender avoid a con- tinuing career of crime. His message included significant proposals which, I am happy to say, became law during the 1965 session. Among these was the Law Enforce- ment Assistance Act which, among other things, authorizes a search for new ways to make the correctional process more effective. The President also appointed this summer his Commission on Law Enforcement and Admin- istration of Justice, and charged this body of distinguished citizens with the responsibility of finding answers tc a number of specific questions relating to the growing crime problem. One of these questions was: What correctional pro- grams are most promising in preventing a first offense from leading to a career in crime ? Our Subcommittee on National Penitentiaries had long been concerned with this very problem. We believe if society is to salvage offenders more effectively we must provide a wider range of facilities and more flexible procedures for their correctional treatment. In the Subcommittee report of February 27, 1964, we had urged that the Attorney General give study to several suggestions introduced in our January hearings. The report also expressed the intention of the subcommittee to develop legislation which would adapt the principle of Wisconsin's Huber Law to the federal jurisdiction, and extend the halfway house idea to selected adult federal prisoners. Provisions of the New Legislation Early in the new year, Attorney General Nicholas deB. Katzenbach transmitted to Con- gress a legislative proposal to facilitate the re- habilitation of persons convicted of offenses against the United States. It was designed to amend the provision of law which authorizes the Attorney General to designate where a convicted federal prisoner shall be confined and to transfer him from one institution to another. The new bill authorized the Attorney General to commit or transfer prisoners to residential community treat- ment centers, to grant them brief periods of un- escorted leave under certain emergency circum- stances or for purposes related to release pre- parations, and to permit them to work in private employment or participate in community training programs while continuing as prisoners of the institutions to which they are committed. It was my pleasure to join with Senator Roman L. Hruska, the Subcommittee's ranking minority member, in introducing on April 23, Senate bill 1808, which incorporated these new techniques for rehabilitation of inmates of federal penal and correctional institutions. A similar bill, H.R. 6964, was introduced in the House of Representatives by Congressman Emanuel Celler, chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, and hearings were conducted by a subcommittee headed by Congress- man Edwin E. Willis of Louisiana. The significance of the bill was made appar- ent by its inclusion in the legislative package re- quested by the Johnson Administration for an in- tensified national campaign against crime. The Attorney General described the measure as a greatly promising and practical way of helping to reduce crime. He said: The procedures would help to provide the Department of Justice with much needed additional latitude in dealing with salvageable convicted offenders. The pro- posal reflects the growing trend in the correctional field to augment inherently limited institutional resources with potentially greater community resources. The Fed- eral Government has exercised a leadership role in de- veloping programs of correctional treatment and should be enabled to employ every promising procedure which will bring about the reduction of criminal behavior in the United States.

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