Jacob Zucker
CJ101
Mr. Lybarger
Prisoner Reentry into the Community There are many problems that exist when it comes to prisoner reentry. The first being the prison experience itself. Siegel (2017) writes, the psychological and economic problems that lead offenders to recidivism are rarely addressed by a stay in prison. Despite rehabilitation efforts, the typical ex-convict is still the same undereducated, unemployed, substance-abusing, lower-socioeconomic-status male he was when arrested. The point Siegel is trying to make is that the prison experience actually worsens the chances of an ex-inmates’ success during reentry. Another reason Siegel points out is the lack of supervision once a prisoner is released back into the community.
560). It is hard to imagine that a prisoner, who completes their maximum sentence, is released back into the community without any type of supervision. After being told what to do, how to do it, and when to do it for so long, a person is going to have difficulty transitioning back to an independent life. Personal and economic deficits add to the problems of prisoner reentry as well. Siegel (2017) mentions that young men and women with a long history of drug abuse and criminal behavior and who have an antisocial personality with childhood dysfunctions are more likely to fall back into their old criminal habits and end up reincarcerated. Along the same lines, those who are released from prison that do not have a stable family life, for example a good marriage, tend to have a harder time adapting back into the community. Economic problems persist with ex-inmates as well. Ex-inmates will have a harder time finding work because by law, ex-convicts are denied the right to work in certain occupations such as childcare, education, security, nursing, and home health care. More jobs are
On April 9, 2008, the Second Chance Act was signed into law. This federal legislation authorized various grants to government agencies and nonprofit groups to provide a variety of services, including employment assistance, housing, substance abuse treatment, and family programming, that can help to reduce reoffending and violations of probation and parole (Siegel, 2017, p. 564). Furthermore, in 2013, at the direction of the Attorney General, the Department of Justice launched a comprehensive review of the criminal justice system in order to identify reforms that would ensure federal laws are enforced more fairly and more efficiently. There were five goals identified as part of this review: To ensure finite resources are devoted to the most important law enforcement priorities; to promote fairer enforcement of the laws and alleviate disparate impacts of the criminal justice system; to ensure just punishments for low-level, nonviolent convictions; to bolster prevention and reentry efforts to deter crime and reduce recidivism; and to strengthen protections for vulnerable population ("Reentry Program | USAO-NV | Department of Justice," n.d.). The last two goals were set in place to directly assist with anticipating and to plan for problems that arose during a prisoners’ reentry
In America millions of offenders including men and women leave imprisonment in hope to return to their family and friends. On an article Prisoners and Reentry: Facts and Figures by The Annie E. Casey Foundation, in the year 2001 1.5 million children were reunited with their parents as they were released from prison. Also in 2005 the number of that passed prison gates were 698,499 and the number of prisoners that were released was approximated at about 9 million. Parole and Prison reentry has been a topic that really interests not only a lot of the communities around the world but is a topic that interest me. Recidivism is not only the topic that interests people but the offenders that get off on parole and how they cope with society after they
What is prisoner reentry? It is a term we use in society, to refer to the issues of transporting ex-offenders from incarceration to a community, while specifically involving the offender in programs that will promote them back into the communities and out of the criminal justice system. Upon reentering society, former offenders are likely to struggle with substance abuse, lack of adequate education, job skills, limited housing options, and mental health issues.
Policymakers on the national, state, and local levels are always finding ways to improve the nature of the reentry process. The reentry process starts in correctional facilities and helps inmates prepare themselves for release and proceeds with their transition back into society as law-abiding citizens. In comparison to the average American, ex-offenders tend to be less educated, less likely to gain employment, suffer from substance abuse, or have been diagnosed with a mental illness. All of these aspects discussed are shown to be risk factors for recidivism, which is the tendency that causes criminals to re-offend. Generally, the offender reintegration process needs to be improved by properly monitoring the outcomes for reentry programs in order to return prisoners back to society safely.
The book titled Beyond Bars: Rejoining Society After Prison offers invaluable lessons of how both men and women may successfully depart prison and return to society. The book was written by Jeffrey Ross and Stephen Richards, both of whom are college professors and criminal justice experts. The population of prisons across the United States has increased dramatically in recent decades despite overall crime rates decreasing during the same time period. Approximately seven million American people are in some form of correctional custody. Between the years1980 and 2000, America’s prison population increased by 500 percent. During the same time period, the number of prisons grew by 300 percent (Ross and Richards, xii). Close to 50 percent of people admitted to confinement have previously served time, exemplifying that the criminal justice system “recycles” inmates through the system again and again (Ross and Richards, xi). Unfortunately, many convicts simply do not remember how to or are ill-equipped to return to society once their sentence ends. Ross and Richards, through their valuable lessons within their book, seek to lessen the problems that ex-prisoners may face when released from prison.
Because these changes in sentencing policy have created greater prison populations, laws like the Three Strike Policy have parole officers with a heavier burden. This increased work load transformed the focus of parole supervisors from rehabilitation of ex offenders, to law enforcement. (Travis 241) New modes of surveillance were introduced and by 1997, the rate of successful reentry was at a low of 44%— successful reintegration back into society was not the norm for most individuals. (Austin
Bureau of Justice Statistics studies have found high rates of recidivism among released prisoners. One study tracked 404,638 prisoners in 30 states after their release from prison in 2005. The researchers found that: Within three years of release, about two-thirds (67.8 percent) of released prisoners were rearrested. Within five years of release, about three-quarters (76.6 percent) of released prisoners were rearrested. Of those prisoners who were rearrested, more than half (56.7 percent) were arrested by the end of the first year. Property offenders were the most likely to be rearrested, with 82.1 percent of released property offenders arrested for a new crime compared with 76.9 percent of drug offenders, 73.6 percent of public order offenders and 71.3 percent of violent offenders. (Durose, April 2014) After being released most ex-cons describe the world as a place where laws have to be followed but you have some extent of freedom. While others feel it is the same inside or outside of jail the only difference is that jail does offer 3 meals and a cot. Most of the time the ex-cons feel this way because after getting out they cannot find a job, place to stay or even get meals; and this results back to their criminal
Rehabilitation also involves programs in prisons that have the goal of helping offenders return back to society (Goff, 2014, p.20). Prisons have also put in place programs to assist inmates, “the goal of these release programs are to ease the transition of offenders from the institution into the community while simultaneously promoting stable employment after release” (Cullen & Jonson, 2011, p.309). If a person has been in an institution for a long period of time it is often hard to adjust to life outside, which is why these programs are important in the justice
Prisons and correctional facilities in the United States have changed from rehabilitating people to housing inmates and creating breeding grounds for more violence. Many local, state, and federal prisons and correctional facilities are becoming more and more overcrowded each year. If the Department of Corrections (DOC) wants to stop having repeat offenders and decrease the volume of inmates entering the criminal justice system, current regulations and programs need to undergo alteration. Actions pushed by attorneys and judges, in conjunction current prison life (including solitary confinement), have intertwined to result in mass incarceration. However, prisoner reentry programs haven’t fully impacted positively to help the inmate assimilate back into society. These alterations can help save the Department of Corrections (DOC) money, decrease the inmate population, and most of all, help rehabilitate them. After inmates are charged with a crime, they go through the judicial system (Due Process) and meet with the prosecutor to discuss sentencing.
They may find it more difficult to get housing, obtain employment, and may have higher re-occurring substance abuse issues. Although, offenders without mental illness may face the same challenges, it is assumed that the mental disorder only adds to the increased chances of recidivism when unable to obtain necessities to be successful while living independently. Inadequacies in the very systems that are designed to assist in reintegration may actually exacerbate barriers faced by mentally ill offenders. An example of this is that many community-based advocacy and treatment programs are ill-prepared to meet the unique need of mentally disordered offenders. There also is issues with overloaded case managers and the lack of funding to increase staff positions. Specialized treatment programs are needed for mentally ill offenders. (Torgersen, 2013).One study conducted in a small New York State prison found that 64 percent of mentally ill offenders who were returned to the community were re-arrested and returned to prison within 18 months of release compared to 60 percent of offenders without a mental illness diagnoses (Hall, Miraglia, Lee,Chard-Wierschem, & Sawyer, 2012). While not a major difference in percentage rates the study does prove that prisoners with mental health diagnoses appear to be more prone to re-entry if they are unable to link with proper resources in the community. (Torgerson,
What exactly is the importance behind having prisoner reentry programs put in place for those that are released from prison? Two-thirds of released prisoners are rearrested within three years of release. One and a half million children have a parent in prison. Four million citizens have lost their right to vote. Men and women enter U.S. prisons with limited marketable work experience, low levels of educational or vocational skills, and many health-related issues, ranging from mental health needs to substance abuse histories and high rates of communicable diseases. When they leave prison, these challenges remain and affect neighborhoods, families, and society at large (Solomon). Prisoner reentry is defined as “All activities and programming
How many do you think are being reformed? How many are being taught fundamental lessons in life that could thus benefit them in a positive way? Reentry in society begins within prison programs that provide the inmates the necessary skills to be able to transition into their communities. These programs teach them trade in a way that they can reflect back on actions that they have done. Accepting and understanding their wrong doings and change. Implementing programs that allow criminal offenders to turn the negativity in their lives to positivity. The Federal Bureau of Prisons believes that affect reentry into society begins the day you enter prison. You must examine each individual's “criminogenic factors” such as criminal history, substance abuse and education level. Evaluating one's individualist needs allows for the justice system to understand characteristics,traits , mental and emotional problems within imates that might reduce in the recidivism of reoffending the
The lack of rehabilitation programs and other activities are a huge downside to the private prison system. Prisoners need a rehabilitee program to help them get ready for when they are out of the prison. According to Lisa Wade, PhD, “Likewise, there’s no motivation to rehabilitate prisoners; doing so is expensive, cuts into their profits, and decreases the likelihood that any individual will be back in the prison system.” Private prisons want prisoners to come back to their cells again. Therefore they cut the budget of the rehabilitation programs, so rehabilitate prisoners will not get the full treatment. Unfortunately the prisoners who have not received any sort of rehabilitation program or activities in which they are reintroduce to life outside of prison, will reenter in a matter of months. The private prison programs are not as fully efficient as the government prisons, according to Lisa Wade, PhD, “state prisons are much more likely than private prisons to offer programs that help prisoners: psychological interventions, drug and alcohol counseling, coursework towards high school or college diplomas, job training, etc.” According to the research of Cassandre Monique Davilmar, there have been similar studies that show that “private prison inmate groups had a greater
More than 600,000 prisoners are released into the main population of the United States every year. Of that 600,000, 30 percent end up back behind bars within six months of their release, and 70 percent end up returning to jail within three years (Reisig, 409). Upon release, many criminals find that life on the outside is harder on them than it was when they were convicted, sentenced, and locked away. People who know them may become just as prejudiced as the interviewers and landlords who deny them the chance to earn a living or a place to stay. Through the continued use of labels like criminal, thug, crook, and felon, many released offenders feel ostracized and isolated. Their friends and families may turn their backs on them, taking away the few things they have left...
Recidivism refers to the tendency of reversion to criminal activities of the released inmates. It is measured by the frequency with which released offenders return to incarceration for new crimes. The rates reflect on the effectiveness of instituted programs that focus on integrating the released offenders into the society (Schmalleger, 2007). When the rates are healthy, it means that the programs in place are doing well in helping the offender restrain from criminal activities. The importance of correctional programs cannot be downplayed for any reason. The programs whether in the prison or out are effective in saving the nation a huge amount in providing public safety and taxes (Pollock, 2004).
This paper examines the advantages and disadvantages of ex-offender reentry. Factors contributing to recidivism include law enforcement officers mistrust for reentry prisoners; lack of familial and community support; difficulties gaining employment due to criminal background, obstacles pertaining to housing. Factors that may reduce recidivism, increase public safety and facilitate ex-offender reintegration transitions, as well as detrimental factors of recidivism are examined. Lastly, the important role of parole officers for ex-offenders and the level of supervision ex-offenders receive are also explored in this paper.