I have told many of you over the years that one the most encouraging dynamics to me personally is the positive change in tone and dialogue surrounding the needed investment to help people that are incarcerated in our country so they are better prepared once they are released from prison. So I applaud the Senate for taking up and passing the First Step Act during this Congress. This is an action we urged in a strong letter of support for the legislation and with advocacy throughout the year. We look forward to the First Step Act being passed by the House and signed into law by President Trump.

I’ve said for years that America’s high recidivism rates are a tragic and unacceptable national crisis. This legislation is, indeed, an important “first step” in helping inmates successfully reenter our communities and stay out of prison. Solving this challenge is going to require many different parts of our society working together. We must all remain committed to the hard work ahead.

At CoreCivic, we’re proud of the role that we’ve been playing through unprecedented commitments to strengthen the reentry programs in our facilities and to advocate at all levels of government for policies aimed at reducing recidivism. We’ve also invested hundreds of millions of dollars in building a national network of residential reentry centers that help thousands of people every day get ready with the skills and opportunities needed to succeed after prison.

We feel strongly that our well-planned and executed effort, more than five years in the making, to diversify and transform our company toward reentry has been right for our business and our country. We’ve never been better positioned to be part of the solution to one of the most costly, complex and longstanding challenges our country faces. Our nearly 17,000 people view helping people through successful reentry as our purpose. We couldn’t be more excited about the work ahead and the difference we feel we can make for the American people.