The NJ Reentry Corporation’s recent conference brought together leaders in government, medicine, psychiatry, law, and public life to examine how trauma affects thinking, emotions, and behavior — and why reentry policies must include mental health and addiction treatment.
The NJRC, a nonprofit led by former Gov. Jim McGreevey, provides wraparound services for people reentering society after addiction treatment, prison, or wartime combat. The annual NJRC conference, “Trauma and Healing: Brain Science, Human Dignity, and Justice,” was held at Saint Peter’s University in Jersey City on April 2.
A video recap of the conference can be viewed here.
Gov. Mikie Sherrill opened the conference stating her commitment to effective reentry, public safety, and the importance of mental health care in sound justice policy. Her remarks underscored the fact that the criminal justice system increasingly confronts individuals whose actions are shaped not only by poverty, addiction, and instability, but also by untreated trauma and behavioral health needs.
“In too many cases we have seen a prison sentence be a lifetime sentence, so that’s why the work to create better job opportunities, to have mental health support, to have diversion programs …” is important, Sherrill said. “We are finding ways to make sure that people can thrive after incarceration, or if we’re really successful to avoid it in the first place.”
Trauma is a neurobiological condition that can impair cognition, emotional regulation, impulse control, and judgment. In her keynote, Harvard-trained neuroanatomist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor explained how trauma affects brain function. Other medical professionals who spoke reinforced the need for a more thoughtful, clinically grounded mental health and addiction treatment response for justice-involved individuals.
New Jersey Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin spoke about the need to build a system that responds intelligently to trauma, addiction, and behavioral health needs. A bipartisan panel of former New Jersey governors, including Thomas Kean, Donald DiFrancesco, Jon Corzine and Chris Christie, examined the intersecting realities of poverty, addiction, domestic violence, education, and instability, and underscored the need for clinically driven mental healthcare during incarceration and after release.
U.S. District Court Judges Madeline Cox Arleo, Zahid Quraishi, and Esther Salas also participated in the conference, reflecting the judiciary’s important role in shaping a more thoughtful and humane justice system.
Phil Alagia, Essex County Chief of Staff, noted prisons and jails are increasingly managing individuals with serious mental health and addiction issues. The Essex County Correctional Facility now functions, in effect, as the largest mental health hospital in the state, he said.
NJRC’s work is grounded in the understanding that behavioral health services, including mental health and addiction treatment, are essential for successful reentry and public safety so that the formerly incarcerated can live stable law-abiding lives.