The text below is an excerpt from the complete document. Read the full written testimony with references in PDF format.
Abstract
The traditional approach to incarceration is to keep inmates locked up—away from society—to keep us safe. With little treatment and transition planning, most individuals are released with the same problems that got them locked up in the first place. In the past decade, we have realized that almost everyone who is incarcerated will eventually return home; this is especially true of the jail population. The big question: how do we incarcerate and release individuals in a way that makes them less likely to reoffend and more likely to work, support their families, pay taxes, and be productive members of society?
Testimony
Senator Cardin, Ranking Member Graham, and distinguished members of the Subcommittee:
Thank you for the opportunity to speak here today on the important issue of jail reentry. I
am a senior research associate at the Urban Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research
organization in Washington, D.C. I have three goals this afternoon: to describe jail
reentry as a compelling problem that warrants increased national attention; to share some
of the innovation under way; and to explain how this subcommittee can spur more
innovation and evaluation in the area of transition from jail to the community.
Reentry from Prisons and Jails Warrants National Attention
Incarceration rates are at an all-time high. As of midyear 2008, nearly 2.4 million men
and women were incarcerated in this country's prisons and jails. One in every 100 adults
in the United States is now behind bars on any given day, according to the Pew Center on
the States.
The traditional business-as-usual approach to incarceration is to keep inmates locked
up—away from society—to keep us safe. With little treatment and transition planning,
most individuals are released with the same problems that got them locked up in the first
place. To be clear: business-as-usual does not produce the results we want.
- Recidivism rates are unacceptably high. Two-thirds of state prisoners are rearrested
within three years of their release, and half are reincarcerated for a new crime or a
technical violation.
- Public spending on corrections is at an all-time high. The United States spends about
$69 billion on corrections, up from $41 billion just 10 years earlier.
- The effect on families and communities is distressing and far-reaching. More than 2.4
million children have a parent in prison or jail. And in some of the most hard-hit
communities, as many as 1 out of every 8 adult males is incarcerated.
In the past decade, we have realized that "they all come back"—that almost everyone
who is incarcerated will eventually return home. This is especially true of the jail
population. The big question is, how do we incarcerate and release individuals in a way
that makes them less likely to reoffend and more likely to work, support their families,
pay taxes, and be productive members of society?
(End of excerpt. The full testimony with references is available in PDF format.)
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