A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to appropriate funds to establish a competitive grant program for local communities to develop proposals for effective prisoner reentry and transition back into the community, to appropriate funds to increase access to substance abuse services in the state prison system, and to direct the department of correction to study methods for increasing inmates' access to educational and vocational training and increasing participation in work release programs.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Correction the sum of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) for the 2007‑2008 fiscal year to establish a competitive grant program for local communities to develop proposals for programs to provide for effective prisoner reentry and transition back into the community. The maximum amount of each grant shall be one hundred twenty‑five thousand dollars ($125,000), and all grants shall be awarded by February 1, 2008. The Department shall report the results of this grant program to the Joint Legislative Corrections, Crime Control, and Juvenile Justice Oversight Committee and the Chairs of the House of Representatives and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Justice and Public Safety by March 1, 2008.
SECTION 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Correction the sum of two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) for the 2007‑2008 fiscal year to increase access to substance abuse services in the State prison system with a full continuum of care throughout incarceration by providing 35 residential beds at a medium custody prison facility.
SECTION 3.  The Department of Correction shall study methods for (i) increasing inmates' access to educational and vocational training opportunities at all State prison facilities and (ii) increasing the number of work release slots at minimum security prisons. The Department shall report the results of its study to the Joint Legislative Corrections, Crime Control, and Juvenile Justice Oversight Committee and the Chairs of the House of Representatives and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Justice and Public Safety by May 1, 2008.
SECTION 4.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2007.