Over nine million people pass through America’s local jails each year. These people often don’t receive services, support, or supervision as they leave jail and reenter the community. To address these issues during transition, the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) partnered with the Urban Institute in 2007 to launch the Transition from Jail to Community (TJC) initiative.
This brief from the National Reentry Resource Center highlights advancements made in state and local governments’ approaches to reentry and reducing recidivism since the passage of the Second Chance Act in 2008. It underscores the involvement of diverse constituencies and systems in these efforts, the field’s increasing understanding and application of what works to reduce recidivism, and promising recidivism outcomes in a number of states. Finally, this brief points to the critical work that is still ahead to transform systems, continue to improve reentry for people returning to the community after incarceration, and reduce recidivism in state and local jurisdictions across the country.
NIJ-supported research has shown that there is no one-size-fits-all model for successful reentry. However, NIJ-supported researchers have evaluated reentry programs with effective and ineffective attributes, and these studies have identified some efforts that could actually be counterproductive.
Pre-release handbook that focuses on topics including housing, employment, health, and financial needs. Resource includes worksheets to assist individuals in determining their individual needs.
Jails and prisons may find this checklist useful for guiding reentry planning and helping to ensure the safety of employees and people who are returning to their communities.
This online toolkit, created by National Correctional Industries Association (NCIA) and the National Institute of Corrections (NIC), outlines key components of successful reentry programming. Definitions and key practices associated with each component are provided. These components are: incorporate strategic planning; maintain financial stability; recruit, develop and retain staff; engage stakeholders; replicate private industry environment; provide certified technical skills training; maximize job opportunities for incarcerated individuals; and create a culture of employment readiness and retention for incarcerated individuals.
CSG Justice Center staff spoke with four Second Chance Act (SCA) Innovations in Reentry Initiative grantees—New York City’s Harlem Reentry Court; the Executive Office of the Governor of Delaware’s Individual Assessment, Discharge, and Planning Team (I-ADAPT) Program; the Indianapolis, Indiana, Department of Public Safety Second Chance Act Offender Reentry Project; and the Alameda County, California, Transition Day Reporting Center (TDRC) Demonstration—about their experiences fostering effective partnerships between criminal justice practitioners and the researchers evaluating their programs. These programs span the country and the justice system, serving clients within courts, prisons, jails, and in the community.
During the reentry process, people work across various sectors to offer support to people who are being released from incarceration by providing connections to care for behavioral health, housing, transportation, and other supportive services. While there are challenges providing connections to care, there are also some success stories that Second Chance Act grantees can offer insight on. This webinar features two grantees who have utilized innovative ways to provide post-release connections to care for people who are returning to various communities. Video Run Time: 1 hr., 12 mins
As telehealth expands, communities across the country are looking for information on how best to facilitate connections to care for people with serious mental illnesses being discharged from jail. This webinar hosted by the Stepping Up partners focuses on increasing connections to care in a changing world, featuring tips and strategies directly from counties.
This web-based resource shares personal experiences and insights from returning individuals about their transition related to community reintegration, securing housing, mental health services, substance use disorder treatment, employment, healthcare, family reunification support. The conversations, a unique partnership between American Institutes for Research (AIR) and JustLeadershipUSA (JLUSA), featured a series of facilitated group discussions with individuals returning to the community from across the United States that occurred between August and October 2022. In the final segment of the group discussions, the topic turned to each person’s experiences with integration into their community. This segment was an opportunity for the participants to reflect on the reasons they have been successful as well as to identify the kinds of supportive services they felt were missing that would have been helpful. We also invited the participants to share whether they experienced any barriers related to a sense of stigma associated with their convictions. Here we present a series of themes that emerged from the participants’ collective responses. Each theme (a bulleted statement in boldface) is supported by direct quotes from the participants.