Life after Prison: Tracking the Experiences of Male Prisoners Returning to Chicago, Cleveland, and Houston

Abstract

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.

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Introduction

This research brief provides a portrait of a group of 652 men who were surveyed shortly before their release from prison and interviewed two times following their release?once at two months after release and a second time at about seven months after release. The average age of these men at the time of release was 36 years. The study included:

• 652 men exiting Illinois, Ohio, and Texas prisons and returning to the Chicago, Cleveland, and Houston areas;
• Three waves of interviews, conducted shortly before and at two points (two and seven months) after release; and
• Questions about preprison characteristics, reentry preparation prior to release, expectations for release, postprison relationships, and engagement in pro- and antisocial behaviors.

Most exiting male prisoners in the study were African American or Latino, and they were typically no strangers to the criminal justice system, with multiple prior convictions and, in many cases, previous stays in prison:

• 76 percent were African American; 8 percent, Latino;
• 83 percent had at least one prior conviction (64 percent had two or more prior convictions); and
• 68 percent had at least one prior prison stay (45 percent had two or more previous stays in state prisons).

(End of excerpt. The full report is available in PDF format.)

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