Defining the Problem
Each year more than 600,000 adult inmates are released from state and federal prisons, while an estimated 100,000 juveniles and youthful offenders are released from secure and residential detention centers. Unfortunately, ex-offenders returning to their communities can threaten the fragile cohesion of many of our most troubled neighborhoods. More often than not, the conditions that led them to crime and subsequently to prison—a lack of adequate education, little or no access to labor markets, and few or no connections to positive social support networks—are still present when they are released. Ex-offenders also experience substance abuse and addiction, mental illness, domestic violence, and myriad other challenges that can increase the likelihood that they will return to jail. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, more than 50 percent of those released from incarceration will be in some form of legal trouble within 3 years.
Planning Partners
Communities have learned that reentry programs must assist offenders in acquiring the life skills they need to succeed in the community and to become law-abiding citizens. This means that ex-offenders need help obtaining adequate housing, remaining drug free, maintaining healthy relationships with family and friends, and securing and sustaining legitimate employment. Effective reentry programs integrate a comprehensive case management approach, providing wraparound services that help ex-offenders remain outside the criminal justice system's revolving door. In addition to the more obvious partners—corrections agencies, judicial systems, and law enforcement departments—other key players are—
- Housing programs.
- Vocational and remedial education programs.
- Faith- and community-based organizations.
- Child welfare organizations.
- Employment programs such as the U.S. Department of Labor's One-Stop Career Center System and other reentry-specific initiatives.
- Substance abuse and mental health treatment facilities.
Prevention and Intervention Strategies
Ideally, prisoner reentry programs begin while individuals are still incarcerated and continue throughout an offender's transition to, and stabilization within, a community. The U.S. Department of Justice's Prisoner Reentry Initiative focuses on three phases that Weed and Seed sites and community antidrug coalitions can adapt to fit their needs:
- Phase 1—Protect and Prepare (institution-based preparation): Prepares offenders to reenter society. Services include education, mental health and substance abuse treatment, job training, mentoring, and full diagnostic and risk assessment.
- Phase 2—Control and Restore (community-based transition): Works with offenders before and immediately after their release from correctional institutions. Services include assessment, education, monitoring, mentoring, life-skills training, job-skills development, and mental health and substance abuse treatment.
- Phase 3—Sustain and Support (community-based long-term support): Connects those who have left justice system supervision with a network of social service and community-based organizations for ongoing services and mentoring relationships.
Reentry courts also contribute to ex-offender success. Similar to drug courts, they hold ex-offenders accountable for their actions while providing treatment and other services as these individuals reenter society. They also offer more extensive management and treatment beginning at the sentencing phase.
Several federal programs provide funding for the kind of reentry programs that may interest Weed and Seed sites.
| Potential Funding Sources | |
|---|---|
| Agency | Description |
| U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance | With the support of several federal agencies, the Prisoner Reentry Initiative (PRI) reduces recidivism by helping returning offenders find work and access other critical community services. |
| U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance | As part of PRI, the Gang Member Reentry Assistance Project focuses on developing tools, strategies, and training products that will help law enforcement and corrections agencies address issues faced by returning juvenile and adult gang offenders. |
| U.S. Department of Labor, Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives | The Prisoner Reentry Initiative provides mentoring and other transition services for men and women returning from prison. The initiative has received no new funding since 2005, but the site continues to be a source of information and potential opportunities. |
[Editor's Note: This article was adapted from The Weed & Seed Toolbox (Strategizer 51), a new publication developed by CCDO in collaboration with Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America. This indepth manual provides Weed and Seed communities and coalitions with the tools to craft better and more sustainable prevention and intervention strategies.]
