Post-release Employment Research Articles

Minnesota’s Affordable Homes Program

The Affordable Homes Program (AHP) is a prison work crew program managed by the Minnesota Department of Corrections (MNDOC). To examine whether AHP has increased postrelease employment, lowered recidivism, and reduced costs to the State of Minnesota, this study uses a retrospective, quasi-experimental design in which propensity score matching was used to control for observable selection bias. The results show that during the 1998-2008 period, AHP (a) built 285 affordable homes, (b) significantly increased offenders’ odds of obtaining postrelease employment in the construction field, and (c) produced US$13.1 million in costs avoided. It did not, however, significantly reduce recidivism.

Incarceration and the Legitimate Labor Market: Examining Age-Graded Effects on Employment and Wages

Over the past 30 years, the U.S. inmate population has increased dramatically, and the penal system has acquired growing attention in accounts of recent trends in economic stratification. As the prison system has expanded, its population has aged; incarceration rates have risen sharpest among older age groups. A large body of research documents differences in criminal offending and incarceration over the life course, but little attention has been paid to how the effects of spending time in prison depend on the timing of incarceration in the life course. Using state administrative data that provide significant variance in the age of offenders, this article investigates how the timing of incarceration in the life course influences its effects on post-release employment and wages. We do not find consistent evidence that incarceration effects vary by age at admission. Instead, incarceration appears to have important consequences for employment and wage outcomes regardless of when individuals are admitted to prison. Even the most motivated offenders suffer sizeable and significant wage penalties and, over time, decreased likelihood of employment. These findings underscore the relevance of legal and institutional shifts associated with carceral expansion and the aging of the inmate population for life course theories of criminal desistance, accounts of labor market inequality, and prisoner reentry programs.

Coming Home From Jail: The Social and Health Consequences of Community Reentry for Women, Male Adolescents, and Their Families and Communities

Each year, more than 10 million people enter US jails, most returning home within a few weeks. Because jails concentrate people with infectious and chronic diseases, substance abuse, and mental health problems, and reentry policies often exacerbate these problems, the experiences of people leaving jail may contribute to health inequities in the low-income communities to which they return. Our study of the experiences in the year after release of 491 adolescent males and 476 adult women returning home from New York City jails shows that both populations have low employment rates and incomes and high rearrest rates. Few received services in jail. However, overall drug use and illegal activity declined significantly in the year after release. Postrelease employment and health insurance were associated with lower rearrest rates and drug use. Public policies on employment, drug treatment, housing, and health care often blocked successful reentry into society from jail, suggesting the need for new policies that support successful reentry into society.

A Multisite Evaluation of Prison-Based Therapeutic Community Drug Treatment

A quasi-experimental study examined multiple postrelease outcomes up to 2 years for inmates who participated in therapeutic community (TC) drug treatment programs ( n = 217) or comparison groups ( n = 491) at five state prisons. Statistical controls included level of need for treatment, current and prior criminal history, and postrelease employment. Prison TC was effective even without mandatory community aftercare, although main effects and interactions varied somewhat across different outcome measures and sites. TC significantly reduced rearrest and reincarceration rates but not drug relapse rates. Postrelease employment predicted drug relapse and reincarceration, and employment interacted with age to predict rearrest. Two sites had higher drug relapse rates than the other three. Implications for research and policy are discussed.

INTEGRATING HEALTH CARE INTO THE ONE-STOP SYSTEM FOR WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT AS A SAFETY NET FOR EX-OFFENDERS

Thank you for focusing on prisons and health in the October 2005 issue. Ex-offenders’ reentry into society is a public health topic that is not commonly recognized. The authors of “Coming Home From Jail: The Social and Health Consequences of Community Reentry for Women, Male Adolescents, and Their Families and Communities”1 stated that job training, postrelease employment opportunities, and access to primary health care were the key policies issues on which attention needs to focus. At FirstHealth of the Carolinas, a W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Voices partner, we are piloting a local model solution that addresses these policy areas by means of the One-Stop System for Workforce Development. The North Carolina Department of Corrections provides each prisoner with a list of community resources as part of his or her discharge action plan prior to reentry into the community. One of the sources listed is the local county JobLink program, which, in North Carolina, is part of the federal One-Stop System for Workforce Development. Each JobLink involves various community partners, including the Employment Security Commission, the local community college, the Department of Social Services, vocational rehabilitation services, the local chamber of commerce, and other partners who can assist with education and career development. All of these partners are available in the same area 1 day per week, essentially constituting a one-stop system for professional development. JobLink services are available free of charge for any citizen aged 14 years or older. FirstHealth of the Carolinas identified this one-stop system as an opportunity to partner with JobLink to provide consumers with linkage to health care. We placed a resource coordinator with the local JobLink program to offer services such as pharmaceutical assistance, general health care navigation information, and assistance with Medicaid applications. The North Carolina Department of Corrections was informed of the partnership so that ex-offenders who needed health care assistance in addition to workforce development services could be actively referred to us. This partnership helped to form a community safety net that addresses the aforementioned key policy issues at the local level. This model can be replicated in any county in the United States that has a One-Stop System for Workforce Development program. If the prison systems, One-Stop programs, and health care facilities work together, it could result in an opportunity to improve the reintegration of ex-offenders into society and assist them with overcoming 3 difficult reentry barriers: employment, training, and access to health care.

Coming Home From Jail: The Social and Health Consequences of Community Reentry for Women, Male Adolescents, and Their Families and Communities

Each year, more than 10 million people enter US jails, most returning home within a few weeks. Because jails concentrate people with infectious and chronic diseases, substance abuse, and mental health problems, and reentry policies often exacerbate these problems, the experiences of people leaving jail may contribute to health inequities in the low-income communities to which they return. Our study of the experiences in the year after release of 491 adolescent males and 476 adult women returning home from New York City jails shows that both populations have low employment rates and incomes and high rearrest rates. Few received services in jail. However, overall drug use and illegal activity declined significantly in the year after release. Postrelease employment and health insurance were associated with lower rearrest rates and drug use. Public policies on employment, drug treatment, housing, and health care often blocked successful reentry into society from jail, suggesting the need for new policies that support successful reentry into society.

TURNING OFFENDERS INTO RESPONSIBLE PARENTS AND CHILD SUPPORT PAYERS*

This article describes four demonstration projects that strive to promote responsible behavior with respect to parenting, child support payment, and employment among incarcerated and paroled parents with child support obligations. These projects, conducted in Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Texas, with support from the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement and evaluated by the Center for Policy Research, led to a number of common outcomes and lessons. The projects revealed that inmates want help with child support, parenting, and employment and that prisons can be effective settings in which to conduct such interventions. Family reintegration programs were popular with inmates and may have helped to avoid the rupture of parent–child relationships commonly associated with incarceration. Although employment is the key to child support payment following release, rates of postrelease employment and earnings at all project sites were low and the employment programs were of limited utility in helping released offenders find jobs. Agencies dealing with child support, employment, and criminal justice need to adopt more effective policies with incarcerated parents including transitional job programs that guarantee immediate, subsidized employment upon release, child support guidelines that adjust for low earnings, and better training and education opportunities during incarceration.

Evaluating a Prison-Based Drug Treatment Program in Taiwan

Using data collected from prerelease and 12-month follow-up interviews with drug-using offenders, this article evaluates the efficacy of the first prison-based drug treatment program in Taiwan. A quasi-experimental design matching drug-abusing offenders into treatment and nontreatment groups was adopted. Program outcomes were measured in five domains: criminal recidivism, post-release drug use patterns, improved family and social relationships, problems adjusting to community life, and mental health after release. Logistic and OLS regression were employed to identify possible correlates of program outcomes. The results generally failed to confirm positive outcomes generated by the compulsory drug treatment program. Program participants reported higher rates of recidivism and post-release illicit drug use than nonprogram participants. Program participants also reported more problems adjusting to community life after release. Post-release living arrangements, friends or family members abusing illicit drugs, and problems adjusting to community life after release were also found to be significant correlates of recidivism and post-treatment drug use. Post-release employment status and mental health status were significantly related to post-treatment drug use, but not to recidivism. Since multiple factors lead to drug addiction, the article concludes that the structure and implementation of Taiwan's prison-based drug treatment program needs reform to effect positive behavioral change on drug-abusing offenders.

The Effectiveness of Prison Education Programs

Abstract The paper reviews research studies on the effectiveness of prison education programs. Such programs are common in prisons, but there have been relatively few evaluative studies carried out. The research which has been done is not conclusive. Most evaluations have shown that inmates make substantial improvements in learning, but this does not necessarily have an impact on rates of post-release employment and recidivism. The review of the literature suggests that programs will be most likely to succeed if they are intensive, if they can establish an alternative community within the prison, and if they offer post-release services to inmates.