Soc 329 Reentry Prisoner Reentry in Perspective Urban Institute Justice Policy Center 2001 “Research for Safer Communities”

Soc 329 Reentry Study is ten years old but much useful info Executive Summary Huge increases in incarceration, releases, etc. Rate of releases decreased in 1990s because of longer prison terms – longer stays means less contact with families and less participation in drug/job/educ programs

Soc 329 Reentry But as volume of released prisoners increased in 1990s aggregate crime rates dropped (note: drop in crime rates “masked” problems with release increases) Widely assumed that “supervision” reduces recid -- but unsupervised have lower rates of recid

Soc 329 Reentry Increase of “churners” 75% of first time releases “successful” (2001 – this is now down to about 40%) Few churners “successful” (about 20%) Pool of churners increasing rapidly (then) (increasing even more rapidly now)

Soc 329 Reentry Rel prisoners concentrated in few large states Core counties, central cities, metro areas Calif, NY, Texas, Florida, Mich, Ill, Ohio, Georgia, etc. LA, NYC, Houston-DFW, Miami, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, etc.

Soc 329 Reentry Appears to be a transition from inner cities to adjacent working class neighborhoods – impact might destabilize near-poor communities Excons competing with “welfare-leavers” Note: consistent with Parenti’s explanation – poor being driven out of inner cities and into adjacent working class communities

Soc 329 Reentry One key point – ten years ago we were at the tail end of huge drops in serious crime. We now know this was mainly driven by demographics (aging population) plus a strong economy (driven by tech markets) So emerging problems with released prisoners were not very visible to policymakers “masked”

Soc 329 Reentry Introduction Various policy proposals put forward: who should deal with this problem?  More community supervision  Reentry courts  Focus on individual responsibility  More supervision for some, less for others  Zero tolerance approaches

Soc 329 Reentry Three measures of overall release population: Annual releases (short focus) Parolees (longer focus – under supervision) Ex-prisoners not under supervision (much longer and broader focus -- millions of ex-prisoners)

Soc 329 Reentry Annual Releases The number of prisoners released each year has increased, but the rate of increase has declined Parolee expenditures have doubled -- but the parolee population has tripled So less spent per parolee (and still dropping)

Soc 329 Reentry The number of prison releases has increased more slowly than the prison population has increased We built more prisons in the prosperous 1990s and lengthened sentences across the board Theoretically, this should lower crime rates thru incapacitation and deterrence But research now shows that it doesn’t

Soc 329 Reentry Proportion of violent offenders stable 25% But absolute numbers increasing: , ,000 and numbers continue to increase Much bigger proportionate and absolute increases among less serious offenders

Soc 329 Reentry Churners increasing rapidly – now constitute more than half of admissions Spending longer in prison makes it harder to adjust when they get out, thus they are more likely to “fail” parole and return to prison, and more likely to repeat the pattern, thus become increasing proportion of prison population.

Soc 329 Reentry Huge increases in “first timers” to prison -- half of all prison admissions Mostly minorities from poor communities Most released into communities containing large numbers of churners First timers, churners, ex-welfare and jobs

Soc 329 Reentry Most prisoners do not participate in programs pre-release, educ, vocational Proportion still dropping Absolute numbers getting out after getting no help increasing rapidly

Soc 329 Reentry The Parole Population as the Reentry Population (population under supervision) Huge increases but growth is slowing -- mainly because of growth of unsupervised release Decline of parole – “truth in sentencing”

Soc 329 Reentry Unconditional releases have better record But - because can’t be returned on tech viol plus some are less serious offenders Not enough research to know whether they are a larger or smaller risk to communities

Soc 329 Reentry Time on parole increasing for first timers (“get tough” changes?) But decreasing for churners (tech viols?)

Soc 329 Reentry First timers are much more successful on parole (more than 50%) than are churners (20%) So key to successful reentry is parole success after first term in prison Dilemma – tech violations create more churners from first timers, but might also lower crime rates among first timers

Soc 329 Reentry Returning to Communities Not just one reentry problem for communities More violent offenders More first time prisoners More churners Each poses different problems

Soc 329 Reentry It is also very doubtful if “communities” “want” returning prisoners back at all Returning prisoners – in the long run several million - are returning mostly to core counties in a few states, and mostly to specific n’hoods within those core counties (the badlands) Most are petty offenders (drug, property) and most have no “prospects” (job skills, etc.)

Soc 329 Reentry “Attachments to society” are overall weak 2/3 +/-single unattached 2/3 +/-had children 2/3 +/-employed (but very low pay) 2/3 +/-less than high school educ Longer stays in prison further weaken attachments

Soc 329 Reentry Contact with families has decreased Divorces have increased Mismatch of jobs and work skills Racial discrimination Core counties have high unemployment Many working residents below poverty level A growing intractable surplus population?