In June 2020, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy nominated Fabiana Pierre-Louis to be the next justice on the New Jersey Supreme Court. After being confirmed by the State Senate, she was sworn in on September 1. She is the first Black woman to serve on the state’s highest court. Her selection received enthusiastic praise from politicians and the media. Her bio, from the court’s website, is here.
Several of us involved in the early planning of the CookWell program met Ms. Pierre-Louis in January 2018, when she was an assistant US attorney for New Jersey and headed the Trenton office. She told us of a new concept to help ex-offenders transition from federal incarceration into civilian life: reentry court. This became a reality thanks to Ms. Pierre-Louis and U.S. Magistrate Judge Tonianne Bongiovanni, who founded the Trenton district program now known as ReNew Court.
According to the website of the US Probation Office, District of New Jersey,
ReNew Court focuses on individuals who pose a significant risk of violating the conditions of supervision. Some participants are selected while in custody so that they may join the program immediately upon their release. Others are selected during the early stages of their reentry into the community. Participation is voluntary, and acceptance into the program is determined by the reentry team. Participants are granted a reduction of their supervision term of up to one year upon successful completion of the program.
The presiding judge – with the aid of an Assistant Federal Public Defender and an Assistant United States Attorney – assists the United States Probation Office with the supervision of participants by conducting regular court sessions attended by all program participants. During each court session, the judge talks to each participant about their progress in reaching goals set by them and the ReNew team. The program adds to the regular oversight of a person under supervision, and utilizes a blend of treatment, education, and job skills training to aid the participant. Sanctions are utilized to address non-compliant conduct or to ensure the safety of our communities.
Upon hearing of our vision for CookWell, Ms. Pierre-Louis encouraged us to move forward with our plans and to consider the Renew Court as a potential source of program participants. As it turned out, one of the first five CookWell trainees (Jamal) was a ReNew Court client, and he became the first to earn a CookWell completion certificate.
