I. The Problem
Virtually every person incarcerated in a jail in this country – and 97 percent of those incarcerated in prisons – will eventually be released. This results in nearly 650,000 people being released from prisons and over 7 million different individuals being released from jails in this country each year. Re-entry is the process of transition that these individuals, who are predominantly male and disproportionately nonwhite, make from prison or jail to the community.
Re-Entry is an issue which has tremendous costs for both state budgets and public safety. Although spending on corrections has increased nearly seven-fold in the past two decades, going from $9 billion a year in 1982 to $60 billion in 2002, the likelihood of a former prisoner succeeding in the community upon his or her release has not improved over that time period. Indeed, approximately two out of every three people released from prison in the US are re-arrested within three years of their release. As the number of people re-entering society has increased fourfold in the past 20 years, they have been no better prepared to re-integrate upon their release.
People leaving prison and jail have a host of complex needs, which often serve as barriers to successful re-entry. Three-quarters of those released from prison and jail have a history of substance abuse, two-thirds have no high school diploma. Nearly half of those leaving jail earned less than $600 per month immediately prior to their incarceration, and their opportunities for employment are significantly diminished once they have a criminal record. More than a third of jail inmates report having some physical or mental disability, with a rate of serious mental illness which is at least three to four times higher than the rate among the general population. Fifty-five percent of re-entering adults have children under 18, and incarcerated parents owe average of more than $20,000 when they are released from prison.[1]
Budget crunches in nearly every state have made it nearly impossible for policymakers to address this issue by simply building more correctional facilities and keeping people incarcerated indefinitely. Given the multi-faceted–and costly--needs of people returning to their families and communities requires a re-inventing of re-entry akin to the reinvention of welfare in the 90s. It also requires a multi-system, collaborative approach that takes into account all aspects of this problem.
II. About the Re-Entry Policy Council and Its Report
To assist policymakers and practitioners seeking to make the transition from prison or jail to the community safe and successful for both men and women, the Council of State Governments (CSG) established the Re-Entry Policy Council. The Policy Council is a diverse group of 100 key leaders in communities and state, local, and federal governments, including state lawmakers’ criminal justice policymakers and practitioners; workforce development and employment services officials, housing providers and housing system officials; representatives of health, mental health, and substance abuse treatment systems; victim advocates; people who have been incarcerated and their families; and ministers and others working in faith-based institutions.
Together, the members of the RPC developed bipartisan recommendations that policymakers and practitioners can use to improve the likelihood that adults released from prison or jail will avoid crime and become productive, healthy members of families and communities. From both sides of the aisle and all over the country, these individuals found consensus on a wide range of issues related to re-entry, and it is their recommendations that fill the pages of the RPC Report.
The report addresses the entire criminal justice continuum and recognizes the roles that are played by those inside correctional facilities as well those who are based in the community. Throughout the Report, collaborations between untraditional partners are encouraged, as is the notion that the problems faced by re-entering adults are not merely the problems of corrections or community corrections, but also of public health workers, housing providers, state legislators, workforce development staff, and others. Indeed, the solutions often lie in refining missions and sharing responsibilities.
The target audience of this report is broad and diverse, paralleling the composition of the Re-Entry Policy Council. It addresses elected and appointed officials in government, but it also speaks to practitioners who work in criminal justice, health, mental health, substance abuse treatment, housing, and workforce development systems. Although policymakers and practitioners at the local, state, and federal levels of government are the primary audience, the information provided in this document should be equally valuable to researchers, advocates, and others interested in improving the transition people make from prison and jail to the community.
The Report provides 35 policy statements, each of which is a consensus-based principle that should be a critical underpinning of a re-entry initiative. Below each policy statement is a series of research highlights, an overview of research and statistics that correspond to the statement and inform the recommendations which follow. The bulk of the report are the recommendations. Each policy statement includes several recommendations which explain how to operationalize the policy statement. Woven into the discussion or explanations of the recommendations are examples of programs, policies, practices, or statutes which illustrate a particular recommendation. While the hundreds of examples cited in the report draw attention to interesting re-entry efforts in a variety of communities, it is worth noting that many of these initiatives are so new that they have yet to be evaluated to certify their positive impact on individuals and systems. Still, they may be valuable ideas for those in other jurisdictions to consider or build upon as they develop their own, locally tailored re-entry initiatives.
III. Policy Statements
The policy statements in the Report of the Re-Entry Policy Council reflect that throughout the criminal justice process, there are numerous opportunities for an agent of change to focus his or her efforts to improve the likelihood that a person will safely and successfully transition back to the community. Further, there are opportunities within systems that are traditionally considered outside the criminal justice system to effect change and improve re-entry. These policy statements are summarized in the chart below.
The first seven policy statements comprise Part I of the Report, “Planning a Re-Entry Initiative.” These policy statements describe the considerations and challenges that policymakers or practitioners at the federal, state, or local level must address if they seek to establish a successful re-entry initiative. The first chapter in Part I, “Getting Started,” offers key steps for engaging the relevant stakeholders in the re-entry initiative and developing the knowledge base that will undergird the project. The second chapter, “Addressing Core Challenges” recommends strategies for overcoming some of the central challenges that will affect a re-entry initiative, including redefining missions, funding, integrating systems, measuring performance, and informing the public. Many of the issues raised in Part I are ones to which policymakers will need to return throughout the life of the project to ensure its long-term sustainability and effectiveness.
Part II of the Report, “Review of the Re-Entry Process: From Admission to the Institution to Return to the Community,” tracks the process of a person’s re-entry from the moment of admission to a correctional facility after sentencing until he or she completes his or her sentence in the community. This part is organized into chapters that delineate the key events or decision points during that process, including admission, institutional programming, release decision-making, transition, and community supervision. These policy statements emphasize the need for collaboration between staff inside correctional facilities and those on the outside, including community-based health care and social services providers, relatives, victims, and community members.
Recognizing that policy statements and recommendations in preceding sections of the Report are predicated upon the availability of accessible and effective services and supports, Part III, “Elements of Effective Health and Social Systems,” explains what improvements must occur within systems that provide housing, workforce development, substance abuse treatment, mental health services, children and family supports, and health care to needy communities.
The Re-Entry Policy Council’s recommendations address people who have been sentenced to prison or jail. The target population includes people who have been convicted of misdemeanors and/or felonies, but excludes the relatively small number of individuals whose sentences preclude them from ever being considered for release. The age category of the target population is adults, with one exception: juveniles who have been sentenced as adults. The recommendations suggest elements of policies, programs, or legislation that address offenders after they have been sentenced. In short, the target population comprises nearly every person sentenced to jail or prison, as 97 percent of the people in prison—and virtually all of those serving time in jails—will be released to the community at some point.[2]
Notes