Implementing a Bipartisan Bill that provides Texas SNAP Benefits for formerly incarcerated individuals needing support in the days and weeks after transitioning out of prison and back into the community.
Implementing Bipartisan Bill That Provides Texas SNAP Benefits For Incarcerated Person Prior Release (PHOTO: San Antonio Report)
Incarcerated Individual To Have Access To Texas SNAP Benefits
Recently proposed legislation by Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas) and Rep. Jeff Leach (R-Plano) in the Senate (SB 727) and House (HB 1743) that authorizes people to leave the criminal justice system by implementing pre-release registration for Texas SNAP benefits.
Celia Cole, CEO of Feeding Texas said that having early access to Texas SNAP benefits ensures Texans Incarcerated individuals exiting the criminal justice system have immediate resources for food so they can focus on rebuilding their lives.
Around 300,000 Texas individuals are on parole or probation. These Texans re-enter their communities facing a set of difficulties with needs and challenges, including food insecurity, unstable housing, and hindrances in looking for and maintaining quality employees. Numerous struggle to reintegrate and a large percentage are rearrested or reincarcerated within a few years of freedom.
Research shows that people leaving the criminal justice system are particularly vulnerable immediately after release. Texas SNAP benefits provide basic food assistance and supplement limited income for formerly incarcerated individuals who frequently have no assets of buying food for themselves or their families.
Texas SNAP Benefits Take Days Before Approval
According to research that the SNAP program helps ease food insecurity and poverty and supports improving health and well-being for individuals and their families. However, accessing SNAP benefits approved after applying can take several months, supplying a slight relief for previously detained individuals needing help in the days and weeks after transitioning out of prison and back into the community.
The Texas SNAP benefits rules demand that states process applications within 30 days of an individual filing the request. For people with zero resources for nutrition, this is too long to wait. Moreover, recent staffing lacks at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HSSC) contains pushed this processing time to over 60 days.
READ ALSO: $100 Or More Google Pay Users Are Receiving Surprise Payments –Here’s How!
