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Problem: Rates of recidivism are not improving. Youthful offenders are more likely to come out of prison or youth correction facilities embittered and hardened rather than empowered to succeed without further dependence on crime. Too few have skills that enable them to find honest employment. Moreover, the support services that offenders need when they leave prison to successfully return to their homes and communities are declining. This further increases the risk of a return to crime. Our current approach to youth correction and imprisonment does not effectively deter further crime or do enough to help the offender find a more productive life path.
Source: Vinci, "U.S. Prison Population Surpasses 2 Million," Reuters, April 6, 2003:

"The number of people in U.S. prisons and jails has surpassed 2 million for the first time, according to a Justice Department report released on Sunday. Prisons and jails held one out of every 142 U.S. residents. The prison and jail population, long the world's largest, has almost doubled since 1990. There were 2,019,234 persons in prisons or jails at the end of June 2002, according to the report. About two-thirds of the total were in state and federal prisons, while the rest were in local jails."

"The Sentencing Project, a group which promotes alternatives to prison, said state and federal policies continue to drive up incarceration rates despite sharp drops in violent crime rates since 1994."

"In the 12 months ended June 30, the jail population went up by 34,235 inmates, a 5.4 percent rise and the largest increase since 1997, according to the report. State prisons added 12,440 inmates, a 1 percent increase, while the federal prison system grew by 8,042 inmates, a 5.7 percent increase. An estimated 12 percent of black males, 4 percent of Hispanic males and 1.6 percent of white males in their 20s and early 30s were in prison or jail. Among the other findings of the report:

-- A total of 7,248 jailed inmates and 3,055 state prisoners were under 18.

-- The federal government's prison system had the largest number of inmates at 161,681, followed by California with 160,315 prisoners and Texas with 158,131 inmates.

-- Twenty states experienced an inmate population increase of 5 percent or more during the 12-month period."

Source: Travis, Solomon, & Waul, From Prison to Home: The Dimensions and Consequences of Prisoner Reentry, Urban Institute, June 2001 (and related papers cited there):

"There are now more than a million people in state and federal prisons [in the United States] -- a fourfold increase since 1973. . . . [S]tate prisons now house 1,200,000 people, and federal prisons house 135,000. Another 605,000 are held in local jails [almost 2 million total in U.S. prisons and jails]. . . . The impact of this growth in incarceration rates on prisoner reentry is clear--the more people we put in prison, the more will eventually come out."

". . . nearly 1600 men and women leave prison each day. . . . The increasing volume of returning prisoners, the multiple challenges they face, and their high recidivism rates have serious consequences for public safety as well as state budgets."

"More prisoners are returning home, having spent longer terms behind bars, less prepared for life on the outside, with less assistance in their reintegration. Often they will have difficulty reconnecting with jobs, housing, and perhaps their families when they return, and will remain beset by substance abuse and health problems."

"At the same time, the level of per capita spending for parole supervision has been reduced and parole caseloads per officer have risen."

"Most [released prisoners] will be rearrested, and many will be returned to prison for new crimes or parole violations. . . . Nearly two-thirds of released prisoners are expected to be rearrested for a felony or serious misdemeanor within three years of their release. . . . [From 1985-1998,] the rate of parole violations has increased significantly [with 70 percent of prisoners completing their parole term in 1985, but only 45 percent doing so by 1998.] As a result, parole revocations now account for more than a third of prison admissions, up from 18 percent in 1980."

Studies on recidivism rates are incomplete. The most extensive study, however, conducted in 1989 by the Justice Department Bureau of Justice Statistics, covering 11 states and over 50 percent of total prison releases in 1983 found that during the three years following their release "63 percent . . . were rearrested for a felony or serious misdemeanor; 47 percent . . .were re-convicted, and 41 percent . . . were re-incarcerated."

"Such high recidivism rates translate into thousands of new [victims] each year. [In addition, this cycle contributes to higher costs to taxpayers and increased] "public health risks, disenfranchisement, homelessness, and weakened ties among families and communities."

"In summary, the burden on the systems that managed reentry has increased substantially, and the operational capacity to manage these increases has not kept pace. Furthermore, . . . the increase in the number of prison releases has placed significantly greater strains on the same communities where prisoner removal and return are most concentrated."

"Arguably, as the number of prison releases increases, the impact of recidivism may be disproportionately felt by families with histories of violence within the home. . . . Yet remarkably little is known about the effects returning prisoners have on domestic violence and child abuse, so these issues clearly warrant further attention."

"Managing reentry so that fewer crimes were committed would enhance public safety [,] would translate into significant cost savings [, and] would have far-reaching benefits for the families and communities [as well as for] the prisoners themselves."

"How can we craft strategies that increase the odds of successful prisoner reintegration? . . . [more to come from the Urban Institute report]

Source: Santana, "Inmate Inrush Worries D.C. Officials: City Lacks Services to Aid 2,500 Ex-Offenders, Administrators Tell House Panel," Washington Post, July 21, 2001, B1, B4:

"More than 2,500 prisoners from the District will be released over the next 12 months, and the city is ill-equipped to deal with their return, officials said yesterday at a subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill. The number of prisoners being released nationwide also will increase next year and in future years, according to correction officials. They said the trend is due in part to tough sentencing guidelines enacted in the 1980s and early 1990s, explaining that many of the offenders who received prison sentences during those years will soon have finished serving their time." (B1)

"The District faces a particularly difficult challenge in reintegrating convicted felons because its ex-offenders have unusually high rates of recidivism and substance abuse, according to officials who testified at the hearing held before the house Government Reform subcommittee on the District. '[The District's] prisoners are nearly twice as likely as the national average to have prior convictions, and they are more likely to have serious drug and medical problems,' said Rep. Constance A. Morella (R-Md.), the subcommittee chairman. . . . '[A]s many as two-thirds of released prisoners are rearrested within three years," Morella said. " (B1)

"Also the district has a shortage of 250 hallway house beds, officials noted. 'At least 40 percent of those leaving the prison system have no home and are especially susceptible to committing crimes if halfway house beds are unavailable,' according to Jasper Ormond, interim director of the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency. . . . He said studies have shown that a well monitored stay of 120 days at a halfway house reduces recidivism. Yet as many as one-third of released D.C. inmates who need this regimen are staying halfway houses for much shorter periods because of the lack of beds, he said."(B1, B4)

Solutions:

Louisville, Kentucky's "Project Now" provides an intensive four to seven day stay at a nearby camp, which works with youthful offenders to "reduce their pattern of negative behavior and poor decision making." This course is followed by a one-year mentoring program. "Initial results show that well over 75% of participants remained arrest-free throughout the program and have experienced improvement in their family relationships."

According to the U.S. Justice Department, "Communities across the Nation cannot afford to release offenders without support networks and accountability systems to enhance offenders' chances for successful reintegration. The Office of Justice Programs has two initiatives underway to address these offender reentry issues--the Reentry Partnerships and Reentry Courts initiatives. The programs rely on the involvement of other crucial partners - such as institutional and community corrections, law enforcement, faith-based organizations, social services, victim support groups, and neighborhood organizations to build the monitoring, coordinated services, and community linkages essential to support the offender's successful reentry and enhance public safety."

California Institution for Men (Chino, CA) has developed an Arts-in-Corrections Program. This community beautification and arts program helps 60-100 inmates that are less than three years from their release date and who present no behavioral problems. The program enables them to beautify the community as they develop creative skills that could help them after their release. Kennedy-Ross, "Chino: Prison Program Releases Art Talent," Los Angeles Times, October 10, 2001.

The Prison Pet Partnership Program has showed promising results in a women's maximum security prison in Washington State. "This beneficial program helps inmates at the Washington state Corrections Center for Women learn how to train, groom and board dogs within the prison walls [for eventual placement with handicapped individuals]. . . . Animals are placed regionally in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. More than 500 dogs have been placed with handicapped and disabled individuals and families since the inception of the program. . . . The Prison Pet Partnership Program gives inmate trainers the opportunity to learn valuable pet industry-related vocational skills to use in finding employment when they resume their lives outside of prison. They are able to work toward Pet Care Technician certification, levels one and two, through the American Boarding Kennels Association. They are also able to obtain Companion Animal Hygienist certification under the auspices of the World Wide Pet Supply Association. At this time, 100 percent of the inmates who have been released have found employment. Additionally, over the past three years the recidivism rate has been zero. "  A similar program, the Wisconsin Correctional Liberty Dog Program, has worked well at a men's minimum security prison in Wisconsin.

Another part of the solution involves Community Reentry Programs that support ex-offenders in their return to communities and assist them to develop productive lives that do not result in their return to prisons. This protects the community and reduces the potential for overcrowding. For examples of these types of programs, see:
- In Los Angeles, CA: Susan Burton's A New Way of Life Reentry Home. See Murillo, "Helping Women Get a New Start After Prison," Los Angeles Times, March 18, 2002, B3: Susan Burton went to prison six times before getting the help she needed to get off drugs, find work, and put away enough money to begin helping other women facing the same challenges. "In late 1999, Burton opened [her three bedroom house in Watts] to women with nowhere else to go upon release from prison. A New Way of Life Reentry Home, the name she gave to this program, provides women with housing, food and social services until they are able to stand on their own. . . . The women are given $200, known as 'gate money,' upon release from prison and often spend much of it for a bus ticket home. If they don't have any family or support system, they can be left with little more than $100 with which to start life anew. . . . [But] Burton visits state prisons once a month to tell women about her home. . . . The women in Burton's home must pay rent, go to school or work and attend regular 12-step meetings. Rent is $400 a month and includes room, meals, transportation, and some clothing. For six months after their release, the Department of Corrections sponsors some of the women who have undergone drug treatment program in prison . . . Others are sponsored by Walden House, a nonprofit organization that provides social services to drug and alcohol addicts. Burton says that many of the women who reach out to her do not have the money to pay right away, but that they usually work something out. Rent goes toward the $1,000 mortgage payment, utilities, insurance, food [and other expenses]. There are 10 beds at A New Way of Life. Eight of them are currently occupied. . . . In Los Angeles County, there are 400 to 500 sober living programs, according to the Sober Living Network, a coalition of such facilities in Southern California. Few are designed specifically for women emerging from prison. . . Unlike Burton's program, most traditional sober living programs are hesitant to take clients with mental health problems . . . [and] few program are willing to serve women who can't pay. Burton takes in women regardless of whether they have been in drug treatment, recognizing that it can be difficult to get into a treatment program while in prison. As long as they're committed to their recovery, Burton says, she can work with them."

- To help provide released prisoners with the help and support they need to return to society without returning to crime, the District of Columbia's Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA) has created a new program. The program aims at assisting ex-offenders find a job and a place to live, deal with drug or alcohol addiction, and manage emotional and family problems. The program involves a "partnership with local houses of worship to help ex-offenders reintegrate into their communities." Called the "CSOSA-Faith Community Partnership," the new program will enlist churches, synagogues, and mosques, with each one being asked "to provide at least three people to mentor ex-offenders, and these support teams will receive special training. About 40 religious leaders have expressed interest in joining the partnership. . . " The Court Services Agency currently supervises more than 10,000 people on parole, probation, and supervised or pre-trial release. An additional 2500 men and women are expected to be released this year. One of those participating will be the New Commandment Baptist Church that already has a job training program for ex-offenders. This program has graduated 50-60 offenders from its 12 week program. Broadway, " A Spiritual Path to Freedom: D.C. Agency Urges Congregations to Help Inmates Make Transition," Washington Post, January 12, 2002, B9. Information on the new CSOSA-Faith Community Partnership may be found at www.csosa.gov.

- There are a variety of half-way houses and prisoner re-entry programs that are helping ease the transition from prison to community life around the country and providing models for new programs. These include Alvis House in Columbus, OH; Congregation/Offender Partnership Enterprise (COPE) in St. Louis, MO; Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry in Cleveland, OH; Offender Preparation & Education Network, Inc. (OPEN) in Dallas, TX;   [more to come]

- In addition, there are a number of valuable resources, publications, and materials to help prepare prisoners returning to community life and train volunteers and professionals working this re-entering ex-prisoners. These include: [more to come]

Source: Webster, J. and Wright, W., "40% of Parolees Fail in 2 Years, Study Finds," Honolulu Advertiser, August 17, 2001, B1, B4:

"About 40 percent of Hawai'i's parolees return to prison within two years of being released, but longer sentences are not necessarily the solution to crime prevention, according to a report released by the [state] attorney general's office yesterday."   The study was conducted in conjunction with University of Hawaii-Manoa's Social Science Research Institute. (B1)

"Hawai'i's parolees may need more drug treatment, better jobs, and nicer friends to be successful outside of prison, said researcher Janet Davidson-Coronado. The study of 314 prisoners paroled in 1998 suggests that whether parolees fail is not related to time spent in prison, but that prior criminal history is the biggest predictor. The next most important factor is whether the parolee had a conventional life style before going to prison -- good companions, no drug use, and a good and steady job." (B1)

"The study showed that [only] 10 percent returned to prison because they were convicted of a serious crime." (B1)

"The U.S. Criminal Justice Institute reports the national recidivism rate is about 33 percent over a three-year period. But that estimate can be as high as 40 to 60 percent, depending on the reporting organization." (B1)

"[Hawai'i Paroling Authority chairman, Al] Beaver said he needs more money for treatment and education programs and more parole officers if the expectation is to rehabilitate and train. 'We don't want the criminal justice system to be overburdened with new crimes committed by released individuals,' said Beaver. 'And we don't want to be sending people who need treatment to what is essentially a criminal's college, showing people how to become criminals.'" (B4)

Problem: Some have argued that sentencing more people to prison time is a key reason why violent crime rates have fallen. However, a recent paper by Piehl, Liedka and Useem, entitled "The Crime-Control Effects of Incarceration," concludes that there is a "non-linear relationship between prison and crime."
Source: Hanna, "Locking Down Crime?" Harvard, July-August 2001, pp. 9-10:

The paper notes, "[D]espite the fact that the prison population has quadrupled over the last 20 years . . . the crime rate has not fallen to 25 percent of 1980 levels."

Piehl and her co-authors examined the variation in state prison populations over the last 25 years relative to the crime rate and concluded that a 5 percent drop in the crime rate is a more accurate estimate of the effects of increased incarceration rates.

Problem: Repeat offenders often are mentally ill and/or alcoholics or drug addicts. The current criminal justice system offers them little or no treatment, and mentally ill inmates are more expensive to house and are confined almost twice as long as other inmates.
Source: Parker, "Court Offers Mentally Ill an Alternative to Jail," USA Today, June 27, 2001, A1-2:

When de-institutionalization of mental patients occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, it was expected that "patients could be sent home and be treated at local [mental health] clinics. But the government money to build community treatment centers never materialized. Tens of thousands of mentally ill people were left to fend for themselves, and they often ended up on the streets and in trouble with the law. . . . As that scenario has played out literally millions of times, America's jails essentially have become its mental wards."

According to Justice Department estimates, "about 16% of inmates in U.S. prisons are mentally ill. That's about 283,000 inmates -- more than four times the number of mental patients in hospitals."

"Mentally ill inmates are more expensive to house in jail and are confined almost twice as long as other inmates because their illness often delays their release."

"Half [of the mentally ill seen in Seattle's Mental Health Court] are homeless. . . . About 80% have substance-abuse problems as well as mental illnesses. . . . 'For some, this is essentially their part-time residence,' says . . . King County jail's chief of psychiatric services. 'They just keep coming back. We've had dozens of people who've been booked 30 or 40 times. . .'"

Solutions:

Mental Health Courts: In Seattle-King County, Washington -- as well as a number of other cities in Alaska (Anchorage), California (San Bernardino) , Florida (Broward County), Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania -- special mental health courts are attempting to promote treatment in lieu of incarceration for offenders who are mentally ill. These courts are a voluntary alternative to criminal courts for non-violent, mentally ill offenders. "By arranging treatment for mentally ill defendants, King County judges, lawyers, and jailers hope to improve the defendants' lives, while reducing jail crowding and enhancing public safety." The results of the Seattle experiment were "praised recently in a University of Washington study for its success at breaking the cycle of arrest-jail, arrest-jail experienced by many mentally ill people. . . . Last fall, Congress approved legislation calling for 100 pilot courts to be set up nationally." Parker, "Court Offers Mentally Ill an Alternative to Jail," USA Today, June 27, 2001, A1-2.

[more to come]

Problem: Prison may be ordered by due process of law, but not prison rape, AIDS, suicide, or murder. Women in prison are subject to rape and sexual abuse as well as men.
Source: Amnesty International, "Not Part of My Sentence--Violations of the Human Rights of Women in Custody," (1999):

According to Amnesty International: "Custodial oversight of women is largely assumed by male guards, contrary to international standards that call for female prisoners to be supervised only by female guards. Seventy percent of guards in U.S. federal women's institutions are men. Conversely, in Canada 91 percent of guards in women's facilities are women."

12 states have no law prohibiting sexual contact between women and their jailers. They include Alabama, Kentucky, Massachusetts, [until 2001, Minnesota], Montana, Oregon, Nebraska, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin. The legislature in Virginia, a target of Amnesty's actions, last week adopted a measure prohibiting custodial sexual contact in state facilities."

"Even in states that criminalize custodial sexual contact, law enforcement is lax. For example, In Michigan, the Justice Department has launched an investigation of widespread abuse. In California, numerous lawsuits have been filed alleging systematic abuse by prison authorities in the state system. In the federal system, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California recently issued a 17-count indictment against a guard for sexual abuses that date back to 1992 at the federal prison at Dublin. That facility was at the center of a settlement agreement between the Justice Department and three women inmates last year, which pushed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to institute corrective training and victim complaint policies at federal facilities nationwide."

Source: Kayton, K., "Hawai'i Women File Prison Suit: Sexual Abuse, Torture Alleged in Oklahoma," The Honolulu Advertiser, August 12, 2001, A1, A6: "Three Hawai'i women who served time in a privately run Oklahoma prison claim they were sexually assaulted by prison staff there, and a fourth woman alleges she was 'tortured' by prison officials after she complained that a prison lieutenant was sexually preying on women inmates. One Kauai woman says she was forced to have sex with a guard, became pregnant and underwent an involuntary abortion at a prison medical facility. . . . Interviews with attorneys, officials and former prison employees by the Advertiser as well as as a review of court documents, suggest a troubling pattern of sexual, physical and mental abuse in a facility where Hawai'i continues to send female prisoners. . . .The federal court lawsuit alleges that 'more than a dozen' women locked up at the prison were raped or endured 'unwanted sexual advances and other forms of improper behavior' by prison staff. . . . When the Oklahoma Department of Corrections investigated allegations of sexual misconduct at the prison, authorities concluded 'there probably was some sexual activity that took place' between staff and inmates, according to Jerry Massie, spokesman for the Oklahoma state agency."

Source: Across the USA: News from Every State, "Florida: Lake City," USA Today, June 28, 2001, 7A: "An autopsy will be conducted on a jail inmate who died in a restraining chair, Columbia County officials said. Albert Cothran, 45, was taken to jail on a loitering and prowling complaint, police said. Cothran was combative and had to be carried into the jail, they said. He was put into the restraining chair, which has Velcro straps to limit mobility, after refusing to calm down, officials said."

Source: Across the USA: News from Every State, "Connecticut: Hartford," USA Today, August 10, 2001, 6A: "A state agency reported that a mentally ill inmate at the Hartford jail was dead or near death in 1999 after staff members physically restrained him and before they administered tranquilizers. The state advocate for people with disabilities urged both the state prison and mental health departments to make changes in their restraint policy as a result of the death of Timothy Perry."

Solutions:

New Minnesota (model) law protects women prisoners from sexual abuse: "Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) today commended lawmakers in Florida and Minnesota for passing legislation designed to protect women in prison from custodial sexual misconduct and urged other states with substandard legislation to follow suit. The Florida legislation, signed . . . by Governor Jeb Bush, requires the Criminal Justice Standards and Training commission to develop a course relating to sexual assault identification and prevention as part of its correctional officer-training program. It also extends the reach of the already-existing State statute to cover custodial sexual misconduct in county jails. Previously the statute only applied to state prisons. . . . the Minnesota law, signed by Governor Jesse Ventura on May 29, 2001, is one of only three that meet all six of Amnesty International's standards. The organization maintains that legislation designed to protect women from custodial sexual misconduct can't penalize the inmate for custodial sexual contact, must cover all forms of sexual abuse for all custodians in all locations, must not allow inmate consent as a defense, and must make unlawful sexual contact a felony. Kansas and Oklahoma are the only two other states that meet these requirements. 'The Minnesota statue provides a blueprint for the many states that fail to protect women in prison,' said Nancy Bothne, Midwest Regional Director for AIUSA, who testified before the Minnesota Senate in support of the statute. 'We hope that other states will follow suit and begin to make significant strides in improving their own legislation.'"

See Justice Now in Oakland, CA., winner of a Ford Foundation Leadership for a Changing World Grant. Justice Now focuses on the 8,000 women prisoners in the two largest women's prisons, providing "legal assistance and information, and [organizing] community-based campaigns against inhumane treatment within the penal system."

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