January 9, 2009 - 9:21am
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FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL EXPECTED TO TESTIFY AT WEDNESDAY SECOND CHANCE HEARING IN PATERSON

FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL EXPECTED TO TESTIFY AT WEDNESDAY SECOND CHANCE HEARING IN PATERSON

(TRENTON) – Former U.S. Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach is expected to be among those testifying Wednesday when Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman convenes another Second Chance hearing to discuss improving education and training to help those released from prison avoid returning to crime.

The hearing will be the fourth in a series the Majority Leader is holding across New Jersey to discuss prison rehabilitation reform.

The hearing will be held from 3 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Eastside High School at 150 Park Place in Paterson.

Katzenbach served as U.S. Attorney General from February 1965 to October 1966, then as Under Secretary of State from 1966 to 1969. He has written and testified extensively on prison reform.

Previous Second Chance hearings were held in Newark, Somerset and Trenton. The hearings have drawn thousands of people and eceived an overwhelming response from community groups, religious leaders, advocates, law enforcement professionals and residents.

“We cannot expect to end the pervasive cycle of arrest, incarceration, release and re-incarceration if prison conditions don’t promote rehabilitation,” Watson Coleman said. “This insidious cycle has a terrible impact on our economy, our families and our communities and prison conditions must encourage reintegration into society.”

For more information or to testify at the hearing, call (609) 292-0500 or e-mail aswwatsoncoleman@njleg.org.

The next hearing after Wednesday’s is planned for Friday, Jan. 23 in Atlantic City from 3 to 8 p.m. at Second Baptist Church at 110 Rev. Isaac S. Coles Plaza.

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THESTER can be reached via email at thester@njleg.org.