STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Senator LINDA R. GREENSTEIN
District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes prisoner reentry peer support hotline.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning a prisoner reentry peer support hotline and supplementing Title 30 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The Commissioner of Human Services, in consultation with the Commissioners of Corrections and Health, the Executive Director of the Juvenile Justice Commission, and the Chairman of the State Parole Board shall establish and maintain on a 24-hour daily basis a prisoner reentry support toll-free telephone hotline service, operating through one of the existing telephone hotline services of the department. The hotline shall receive and respond to calls from formerly incarcerated persons who seek support in reentry following release from custody.
b. The operators of the hotline shall be peer recovery specialists, certified by the Addiction Professionals Certification Board of New Jersey, or peer recovery support specialists, certified by the Association for Addiction Professionals. The operators shall receive any further training as determined to be necessary by the Commissioner of Human services to carry out the purpose set forth in subsection a. of this section.
2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the fourth month next following the date of enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill establishes a toll-free hotline for peer-based prisoner reentry support. The bill requires the Commissioner of Human Services, in consultation with the Commissioners of Corrections and Health, the Executive Director of the Juvenile Justice Commission, and the Chairman of the State Parole Board to establish and maintain on a 24-hour daily basis a prisoner reentry support toll-free telephone hotline service, operating through one of the existing telephone hotline services of the department. Under the bill, the hotline will receive and respond to calls from formerly incarcerated persons seeking support in reentry following release from custody.
The bill provides that the hotline operators are required to be peer recovery specialists, certified by the Addiction Professionals Certification Board of New Jersey, or national certified peer recovery support specialists, certified by the Association for Addiction Professionals. The operators would receive any further training as determined to be necessary by the Commissioner of Human services, to carry out the purpose of the bill.