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

Abstract

The Returning Home Study Returning Home: Understanding the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry is a longitudinal study of prisoner reentry in Maryland, Illinois, Ohio, and Texas led by staff at the Urban Institute's Justice Policy Center. The study explores (1) the individual reentry experience through interviews with prisoners before and after release from prison; (2) the family perspective on reentry from interviews with family members of returning prisoners; and (3) the community context of reentry based on interviews with key community stakeholders and focus groups with residents. Additional information on Returning Home, including other publications that present findings from individual states, can be found online at http://www.urban.org/projects/reentryportfolio/index.cfm.

The Effect of Statewide Residency Restrictions on Sex Offender Post-Release Housing Mobility

“…Low levels of residential movement, as defined by one to two moves, appeared to overlap between the groups and suggest that some level of movement amongst sex offenders is to be expected during the process of transition to the community. This finding consistent with research conducted using general parolee samples (Visher, Yahner, & La Vigne, 2010). …”

Exoffender Accounts of Successful Reentry from Prison

“…Research has found that released prisoners tend to have spotty work histories (Apel & Sweeten, 2010;Hlavka, Wheelock, & Cossyleon, 2015), are frequently uneducated or undereducated (Petersilia, 2003), and often live with family members with legal troubles of their own (Visher, Yahner, & La Vigne, 2010). In addition, many jurisdictions prohibit individuals with felon status from a wide range of civic, educational, and employment opportunities (Wheelock, 2005;Wheelock & Uggen, 2008;Wheelock, Uggen, & Hlavka, 2011), and the low-wage labor market continues to discriminate against individuals with a criminal record (Pager, Western, & Bonikowski, 2009).…”

Prevalence and correlates of alcohol dependence in adult prisoners vary according to Indigenous status

“…9,10 In Australia, most prisoners spend a relatively short time in custody before returning to the community, 8 and despite the provision of substance abuse programs in prison, many with a history of risky drinking return to pre-incarceration patterns of alcohol consumption quite rapidly. 11,12 Risky drinking in this population is associated with health risk behaviours such as unsafe sex, 13 violence and aggression, 14 and both fatal 15,16 and nonfatal 17 drug overdose. Risky drinking is also a key risk factor for recidivism.…”