The successful reintegration of county, state and federal prisoners into communities has become a critical national and local policy issue. According to a 2014 report funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, nearly 68 percent of state prisoners in 2005 were re-arrested within three years of their release. More than 75 percent were in custody within five years.
There are several factors contributing to these high recidivism rates. It shows most inmates return to communities with considerable deficiencies including limited education, few marketable job skills, no stable housing, chronic health issues, substance abuse and fragile support networks, the report revealed.
In 2008, the Second Chance Act: Community Safety Through Recidivism Prevention (SCA) program was implemented across the nation in 22 states to address these issues. To start this process, the Bureau of Justice awarded hundreds of grants in these communities to improve reentry results, it was reported.
With the use of these funds, re-entry programs must create strategic sustainable plans to facilitate successful re-entry and ensure collaboration among state and local criminal justice and social service systems, the report included.
“Each program targets adult offenders who are under state or local custody (and who are about to return to the community) for comprehensive re-entry programming and services designed to promote successful reintegration and to reduce recidivism,” the report adds.
In the state of California, funding was used for “intensive pre-and-post release case management, gender-specific cognitive based therapies, peer mentoring, transitional housing, employment assistance, parenting and assistance with basic needs” for medium- or high-risk female offenders, currently or recently incarcerated in Solano County Jail, the reports read.
Florida is among the states that used funds to strengthen its pre-release module by allowing participants to begin receiving services in advance of release. This enabled applicants to discern before they returned to the community what benefits, if any, they were entitled to receive. This process shortened the time it took to receive benefits for food stamps, Medicaid and emergency assistance, the reported noted.
To monitor the allocation and use of these appropriations, the SCA requires providers to create task forces to measure performance outcomes for health, housing, child services, education, substance abuse, mental health treatment, victim and employment services, according to the report.
In 2014, these programs were fully operational and largely stable. The most common modifications made since the initial program started were efforts to increase and promote the pre-release contact between participants and community providers. It is extremely important for that relationship to be established before the inmate is released. This enables participants to know before they returned to the community what benefits they are entitled to receive, plus it shortens the waiting time, the report stated.
The report noted, “Stakeholders from several sites felt that it was helpful to have staff and volunteers who have criminal histories or have family members who were or are incarcerated.”
Agencies needing experienced staff found street creditability not only helps the participants understand his/her perspective, but helps them feel they are being assisted by someone who epitomizes a role model for success, the report concluded. Representatives in California want to assemble a fraternity of women who can help one another in the future.
