A Future Beyond the Wall: Improving Post-release Employment Outcomes for People Leaving Prison Final Report

Abstract

Australian incarceration rates are rising and over a quarter of released prisoners are reconvicted within three months of release and more than a third reimprisoned within two years. A key aim of correctional programs is to break this cycle of offending. Approximately two-thirds of re-incarcerated people are unemployed at the time they commit an offence and employment has been identified as a factor in an individual remaining crime free. Despite this, ex-prisoners1 have the highest rates of unemployment of any group in Australia—an irony given the established links between employment and desistance. The fact that prisoners are amongst the most socially disadvantaged Australians is a key factor in this phenomenon. Reintegration (or integration, given many were not integrated into the broader community prior to incarceration) is the process of a prisoner returning to the ‘community’ (that is society outside prison), living a productive life and ceasing to offend. As being employed has been linked to desistance and successful reintegration, helping ex-prisoners to find and keep a job is a major focus of correctional programs around the world. The economic and social benefits of reducing offending and reoffending are obvious. Despite the acknowledgement of the benefits to society of ex-prisoners gaining employment and staying crime free, these job seekers are profoundly disadvantaged in gaining employment. The barriers to employment for ex-prisoners include: personal characteristics such as disability, attitudes, mental and physical health, level of education, skills and substance use; structural and subsistence conditions such as poverty, discrimination, finance and housing; and support conditions, which include the presence or absence of both formal services and informal supports. Given that being employed is directly associated with each of these factors, the provision of employment support for ex-prisoners is a key element in addressing recidivism. While there has been considerable international and Australian research into the factors that promote the employment of ex-prisoners, there have been few attempts to analyse evidence-based practice in employment support across Australian correctional systems. As a consequence, in part at least, there have been relatively few attempts to provide theoretical frameworks for the role of employment in desistance. This project, A Future Beyond the Wall: Improving Post-release Employment Outcomes for People Leaving Prison (hereafter, the ‘PEOP study’) described and analysed offender employment initiatives, pre- and post-release, across Australian correctional systems. It explored the contribution of offender employment programs to successful desistance and reintegration into the community through an investigation of both employment and recidivism outcomes. The project critically reviewed various theoretical perspectives and developed an overarching framework for effective prison and post-prison employment programs. An important innovation was the investigation of the impact of offender diversity on the effectiveness of offender employment programs. Indigenous Australian2 offenders and those with mental and/or cognitive disability have unique needs and are over-represented in the prisoner and ex-prisoner population. The PEOP study recognised the importance of investigating initiatives that attempt to address these needs.