After five years of negotiations, the Second Chance Act has become reality. It will provide $326 million dollars in grants to a variety of groups that help former convicts find housing, medical assistance, employment, and drug rehabilitation.  In signing the bill, President Bush said he believes “those who have struggled with a dark past can find brighter days ahead.”

“One way we act on that belief is by helping former prisoners who’ve paid for their crimes we help them build new lives by becoming productive members of our society.”

Prison Fellowship president Mark Earley says the law helps rehabilitate non-dangerous criminals instead of just “warehousing” them in prison.

“If we don’t do something to give the individuals who want to change their lives the opportunity to do it, simply by warehousing people we’re probably only making sure they come out of prison more criminally savvy, more anti-social and more apt to really create new victims.”

Grant money from the Second Chance Act will help churches and community groups mentor former prisoners; something Prison Fellowship has long been doing with great success.

“We have the program that we do with reentering inmates studied three years ago by the University of Pennsylvania showed that for those who graduated from Prison Fellowship’s program they only came back to prison at a rate of 8-12 percent.” (That’s compared to 50 percent nationally.)

Nationally, more than half of the offenders end-up back behind bars, largely due to lack of proper rehabilitation.