Citation URL: http://www.urban.org/LisaEBrooks

The Massachusetts Recidivism Study aims to better understand the experiences of recidivists and how their previous incarceration and time in the community relate to their returns to prison. This report presents findings from interviews with male prisoners returned to the DOC within three years of release. The report describes respondents' incarceration experiences, preparation for reentry, and life in the community, as well as criminal offending and the circumstances leading up to their reincarceration. We also examine the role of parole supervision in prisoner reentry and the connection between technical parole violations and underlying criminal behavior.

This research brief presents highlights from Returning Home - Texas, a longitudinal study of the challenges and successes of those leaving prison and returning to Houston area communities. Based on interviews with 352 men and women both before and up to a year after their release, this brief examines the role of in-prison and post-prison programs in the reentry process. Findings indicate that those who participate in job training, educational programs, and substance abuse treatment while incarcerated have better reentry outcomes and are less likely to return to prison. In addition, those on post-release supervision have greater access to community-based treatment.

This study evaluates the impact of the Maryland Reentry Partnership Initiative (REP) on crime in Baltimore between 2001 and 2005. It compares 229 REP clients to a contemporaneous cohort of 370 prisoners released to non-REP neighborhoods in Baltimore City. The quasi-experimental design tests whether REP reduced the prevalence and incidence of criminal justice contact, and whether the program was cost-beneficial. REP clients committed fewer new crimes, and that REP was cost-beneficial, returning $3 in benefits per dollar in new costs. The total net benefit to the citizens of Baltimore is $7.2 million, or $21,500 per REP participant.

In 2001, nearly one in five people released from the Ohio prison system returned to Cleveland. This report, which is part of a larger four-state longitudinal study of prisoner reentry entitled Returning Home: Understanding the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry, describes findings from six focus groups conducted with residents of three Cleveland neighborhoods to which large numbers of released prisoners return. Focus group participants discuss their experiences with returning prisoners; the impact of returning prisoners on the community; and the role of the community in the reintegration process. Though residents describe communities struggling to support prisoners in transition, they believe that enhanced services and supervision can promote successful reintegration.

This report describes the process of prisoner reentry in Massachusetts by examining the trends in prison admissions and releases in the state, the characteristics of the state's released prisoners, the geographic distribution of prisoners returning to communities in Massachusetts, and the social and economic climates of the communities that are home to the highest numbers of returning prisoners. In addition to state prisoners, the report examines characteristics and release trends among Suffolk County inmates and juveniles in the custody of the Department of Youth Services. Conducted in conjunction with the National Governors Association's Prisoner Reentry State Policy Academy, the report consolidates existing data on incarceration and release trends and presents a new analysis of data on Massachusetts prisoners released in 2002. The data used in this report were derived from several sources, including the Massachusetts Department of Corrections, the Suffolk County Sheriff's Office, the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and the U.S. Census Bureau.

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