U.S. District Judge Jennifer Wilson - CARE

United States Judge Jennifer Wilson for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

Reentry programs and reentry courts are designed to help returning citizens successfully "reenter" society following their incarceration, thereby reducing recidivism, improving public safety, and saving money.

A primary focus of reentry efforts is to remove or reduce barriers to successful reentry, so that motivated individuals - who have served their time and paid their debt to society - are able to compete for a job, attain stable housing, support their children and their families, and contribute to their communities. 

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania participates in a variety of reintegration programs:

The office supports one of the first federal court reentry programs in the country.  The early efforts to support court-assisted reentry helped inspire the changes now taking place in courts and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices across the country.

The United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania conducts a Court-Assisted Re-Entry Program (CARE), a four-phase program designed to aid the rehabilitation and re-integration of persons recently released into the community under federal supervised release and who face a moderate to high-risk of recidivism.

The CARE Program relies upon support from public institutions and agencies as well as volunteer private entities and individuals.  The Middle District of Pennsylvania CARE Program has existed  since 2009.  While CARE was an early federal reentry program, it was not the first.  The CARE Program was modeled after court sponsored reentry programs in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the Western District of Michigan and the Eastern District of New York.