I would ask that you take a look at that, because of the sense of frustration that we have felt.

It should not take calling your Senator to get an appointment as a veteran.

we can turn the curve, we can make a difference.

We are failing our Native people with a system that is just not working right now.

It's not just a Federal responsibility, it's not just a State responsibility, but I do believe it's the responsibility of government to foster community based systems of justice no matter what they are.

the best way to invest is to not have to have this level of system, an expensive system that sometimes works

I applaud this Committee for taking action on specific recommendations from the Law and Order Commission's report.

Thank you, Natasha, I appreciate it a great deal and know that I too, am really irritated at BIA, DOJ for thus far ignoring us on that letter, so we're going to get some action there.

40 to 45 percent of the children that are in custody in our State's juvenile system are Alaska Native children

Building more prisons is not the answer for us in Alaska, it's not the answer for us in the country.

What is needed is a new world order in rural Alaska, but one that is an old world order in Indian policy.

Well, we have all of them right here, so----

I was on an airplane yesterday and a gentleman came up and introduced himself to me and he says I'm so excited, I'm going down, I'm opening up a restaurant, it's part of a franchise and I said well, congratulations.

Well, I'm really glad that you brought up that piece of it because, again, you know, the hearing today is strengthening our Alaska Native families.

I really look forward to Senator Coghill's work at looking at those State barrier crimes.

Thank you, Denise. Thank you to each of you for, I think, very insightful comments and we've spent a lot more time hearing from you than what we typically might in a regular hearing.

Great, thank you, Senator Coghill, really appreciate your leadership on this.

I really appreciate the fact that you've taken the leadership role of directing some money to Alaska to form Tribal Justice systems.

we're just re-traumatizing them, we're just adding another ace onto the list.

Alaska Native people make up 15 percent of our state's population, but they constitute about 36 percent of all prisoners.

what level of support is there for the families, I think, is hugely important and I know that that's an area that we don't think about that part of them.

We both know that there is still more that can be done there, we both know that there continue to be horrible issues as they relate to substance abuse around our country.

The partnership that can exist between the tribes and the State and the Federal government, I think, is a long way towards the answer to this problem of recidivism and reentry.

There's got to be a better way to do it. I think community based justice is a better way.

So then as part of, again, community based justice, in order to successfully reenter, so you've got to have a place to live, you have to have some value there and that typically comes through a job, but now you've come back and you got a…