Corrections, Reentry, and Community Supervision

Female prisoners returning home face reentry challenges with fewer skills and more deficits than men, and those differences are manifested in higher rates of relapse and recidivism. Nancy La Vigne encouraged a House subcommittee to consider measures to ensure that female D.C. Code violators are housed in prisons close to their homes. Doing so will enhance the women's ability to maintain contact with their children, a critical factor in successful reintegration, and help them link to substance abuse treatment and mental health services.

In 2006, the Corporation for Supportive Housing launched its Returning Home Initiative (RHI) with two goals: 1) to establish permanent supportive housing as an essential reentry component for formerly incarcerated persons with histories of homelessness, mental illness, and chronic health conditions; and 2) to promote local and national policy changes to integrate the corrections, housing, mental health, and human service systems. The Urban Institute assessed the process of system change stimulated by the RHI activities in three communities that received significant RHI investment and other jurisdictions. In addition, the report identifies challenges and lessons learned from the RHI to date.

This research brief describes the experiences of 652 male prisoners in Illinois, Ohio, and Texas, who participated in the Urban Institute's longitudinal study of prisoner reentry, Returning Home: Understanding the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry. The men were surveyed shortly before release from prison and interviewed two times following their release—at two and seven months after release. This research brief describes characteristics of the men and their reentry experiences—including program participation, housing, family relationships, substance use, employment, reoffending, and reincarceration. The brief also summarizes findings from previous Returning Home reports regarding predictors of reintegration outcomes.

City and county governments, caught between escalating and costly criminal justice populations and strapped budgets, are searching for ways to control costs without compromising public safety. In testimony before the U.S. House Crime Subcommittee, the Urban Institute's Nancy La Vigne explained how justice reinvestment -- a process for identifying the drivers of criminal justice costs and developing new ways of reinvesting those scarce resources – can benefit localities.

Successfully reintegrating prisoners into society hinges on connecting them to jobs, housing, substance abuse treatment, faith-based institutions, and other resources, Nancy La Vigne told a U.S. House subcommittee. Reaching that goal is made more difficult by the long distances that often separate incarcerated men and women from their families and communities. District of Columbia felons are typically incarcerated over a hundred miles from their families, potential employers, and postrelease services. As much as 20 percent are housed more than 500 miles from their homes.