In the past twenty years, there has been an incredible increase in the number of Americans who are involved in the correctional system, either as a prisoner, a parolee or a former prisoner. Between 1985 and 1997, the prison population nearly tripled.

NCIA strongly believes that once a sentence has been served, the punishment should be complete. However, this is not the case in much of the United States. The collateral consequences to those who have been convicted of a crime are significant. Restrictions on housing, employment, voting and licensing have been enacted with little public awareness or debate. Although the American Bar Association and other legal organizations have recommended abolishment of these restrictions, most are still in place. NCIA has conducted a study to analyze the effects these restrictions have on individuals who have left the correctional system, and their families.

In December of 2002, Attorney General John Ashcroft ordered all federal prisoners who had six months or more to serve on their sentences and who were currently in half-way houses, to return to prisons to serve out the remainder of their terms. Many of these prisoners had successfully served the bulk of their sentences, had been working in the community and were very close to finishing their terms. They were ordered back to overcrowded federal prisons, and where there wasn’t room in their jurisdiction, to prisons far from their families. NCIA is working with numerous other organizations to overturn this ruling.