The U.S. Departments of Justice and Education are offering new grants totalling nearly $1 million for innovative programs preparing inmates to reenter society with the support of education and workforce training. Eligible applicants include adult education providers partnering to connect education in state correctional facilities with local communities. The Justice Department says the program "provides an important opportunity for applicants to create new approaches and improvements for existing rehabilitation services."

More than 700,000 prisoners are released each year, but at least 40 percent commit new crimes or violate terms of their release within 3 years. Failure to support successful rehabilitation costs states more than $50 billion annually, the department says. The new grant program was announced Monday  during a Department of Education-hosted Correctional Education Summit that gathered outside experts who are developing innovations to improve educational opportunities for youth and adults in secure confinement facilities. The Department of Education released a new Reentry Education Model guidance document.