READING — Gov. Tom Wolf and Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro Wednesday in Reading announced the Pennsylvania Reentry Council’s (PARC) efforts to support reentering citizens as well as recommendations for enhancing the successful entry of returning citizens. PARC, which was founded in 2017, is a collaborative organization bringing together government agencies, service providers, advocates, returning citizens, and other stakeholders from across the Commonwealth.

In the report, PARC noted that returning citizens often have limited access to housing, employment, social services, mental and physical healthcare (including substance use disorder treatment), education, and family services — all of which contribute to Pennsylvania’s 67 percent recidivism rate.

PARC’s report includes 37 recommendations across a wide range of service needs, including:

Treating substance use disorder upon release, when continuation of treatment for individuals with substance use disorder is crucial for improving the likelihood of success for returning citizens, and decreasing the rate of re-incarceration in Pennsylvania;

Advocating for continuity of care for physical, mental health, and substance use disorder treatment needs for returning citizens, with the understanding that often individuals suffering from substance abuse disorder also have a co-occurring mental health or trauma history. A lack of access to healthcare can hinder, or even exacerbate, the recidivism rate in Pennsylvania;

Making it easier for returning citizens to find stable housing. Recommendations include creating legislation to protect Pennsylvanians with a criminal record — including those who have served their entire sentence and have been released—from housing discrimination, and establishing landlord incentives like tax credits to help encourage them to rent to returning citizens; and

Establishing a state-wide internet platform to provide reentering citizens, judges, corrections officials, probation and parole officers, and others with access to available services for reentering citizens across the Commonwealth.