Abstract
California is experiencing an unprecedented influx of recently released ex-offenders from the penal system. Nowhere is this public health burden felt more than in Alameda County, where 16,800 adult parolees preside. The public health impact of ex-offenders has potentially serious social, political, economic and health implications. Faith-based communities in Oakland are an untapped resource that can assist in reentry efforts for ex-offenders and their families. In 2008, the Alameda County Public Health Department (ACPHD) commissioned Regional Congregations and Neighborhood Organizations Training Center (RCNO) and its local affiliate, Bay Area Action Council (BAAC), to survey 50 Alameda County African American faith-based organizations. The purpose of this study was to obtain baseline information regarding the feasibility of utilizing faith-based community assets to develop new public health strategies. The results of this descriptive key informant study indicates that faith-based organizations in Oakland have the potential to establish partnerships to improve the public health and safety of residents returning from prison, their families, and the communities that receive them from prison. Our findings indicate that 13 (27.1%) of the 48 faith-based organizations in the study have transitional housing capacity. The resources available and the challenges of maximizing faith-based organizational capacity are presented.
Highlights
The United States corrections system is in crisis
African American faith-based organizations have played a significant role in reintegrating residents returning from prison, reducing homelessness, and reducing drug and alcohol dependency
The task force developed a set of policy recommendations to increase public health services to recently released residents. (b) More than 200 members of Bay Area Action Council (BAAC) attended an Alameda County Board of Supervisors’ meeting on March 11, 2008 to support a resolution sponsored by Supervisor Keith Carson
Summary
The United States corrections system is in crisis. Currently there are 2.2 million people in prison and another 4.3 million formerly incarcerated people walking American streets (The Pew Center on Safety, Public Spending Report, 2008). Since 1980, the total corrections population has grown from 1.8 million people to almost seven million (TPCS, 2008). Six hundred fifty thousand residents return from prison to local communities each year. Prisons face various challenges; one includes being overcrowded with limited resources, making it difficult for the prisons to effectively prepare inmates for successful reintegration into the community after release (Urban Institute, 2008). Since 80 percent of inmates serve sentences that are one month or less, jails have little time to address the deep-rooted and often related issues that affect their success and well-being upon their release into the community (Solomon, Osborne, LoBuglio, Mellow, & Mukamal, 2008). More than half of released prisoners will return to prison within three years (PCS, 2008). The damaging cycle of removal and return of large numbers of young adults, mostly men, creates specific health needs and risks for returning prisoners, their families, and the community at large (Travis, 2002)
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