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WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice announced today that it will devote more than $62 million in grants to strengthening reentry programs for people rejoining their communities after prison. The grants include funding for probation, parole, and substance abuse programs.

"Helping formerly incarcerated people obtain access to housing, employment, and other services that they need to reenter society is smart justice," said Laura W. Murphy, director of the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office. "This and other recent announcements by the Attorney General related to federal criminal justice system reform are of critical importance given our country’s addiction to incarceration."

A study by the Pew Center on the States in 2011 found that more than four out of 10 adult Americans return to prison within three years of their release.