Returning Home: Preliminary Findings from a Pilot Study of Soon-to-be-Released Prisoners in Maryland

Abstract

In 2001, researchers at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C., launched a pilot study in the state of Maryland for a four-state, longitudinal research project examining prisoner reentry. The first stage of the pilot involved self-administered surveys with 324 prisoners in the 30 to 90 days prior to their expected release. These surveys presented many research challenges, including designing a self-administered instrument that would be accessible to the prison population, developing appropriate sampling and recruiting methods, and conducting research in a prison setting. This paper describes the research procedures that were employed to obtain this baseline data and presents some preliminary findings from our survey of soon-to-be-released prisoners. The results presented include descriptive information on prisoner demographics, criminal histories, substance use, and family relationships, as well as correlation analyses of prisoner attitudes and expectations for life after release. Implications of these preliminary findings and recommendations to researchers interested in conducting similar research are also discussed.

Dissolution of Primary Intimate Relationships During Incarceration and Associations With Post-Release STI/HIV Risk Behavior in a Southeastern City

“…Prior research has indicated that incarceration leads to emotional division in partnerships 9,11–13,24–27 and can result in partnership dissolution. 11,12,28 To our knowledge, this study is the first to measure the prevalence of the dissolution of relationships at the time of incarceration.…”

Predicting the Future: Incarcerated Women's Views of Reentry Success

“…And after surveying soon-to-be-released inmates in the state of Maryland, Visher and colleagues (2003) found that despite past parole violations and incarcerations, 78% of the 324 inmates (235 males and 89 females) sampled were optimistic about staying out of prison following their release (see also Friestad & Hansen, 2010). It is important to note, however, that Visher et al (2003) did not discuss gender differences and the studies mentioned above did not explore what influences prisoners' outlook regarding postrelease success.…”

Pre‐release expectations and post‐release experiences of prisoners and their (ex‐)partners

“…The latter issue has been addressed in studies on prisoners’ motivation to change, resettlement, and desistance (Bottoms & Shapland, ; Farrington, ; Maruna, ; Sampson & Laub, , ; Zamble & Quinsey, ). Within this context, prisoners’ own expectations of reoffending are an important but rarely investigated topic (Burnett, ; Dhami, Mandel, Loewenstein, & Ayton, ; Visher, La Vigne, & Castro, ; Zamble & Quinsey, ). Insight to prisoners’ future‐oriented cognitions and their relation to post‐release events and experiences can lead to a better understanding of potential courses of action, during and after imprisonment, which can facilitate or impede desistance from crime.…”

“…Despite the challenges that they face, past studies have found that many prisoners are highly optimistic about their lives after release (e.g., Nelson et al, 1999;Visher , La Vigne, & Castro, 2003). On one hand, prisoners' optimism has been linked to positive outcomes.…”

“…On the other hand, research has found that prisoners tend to be overly optimistic in predicting the future, in spite of available evidence to the contrary (e.g., Burnett, 1992;Dhami et al, 2006;Visher , La Vigne, & Castro, 2003;Zamble & Quinsey, 1997). Weinstein and Klein (1996) define optimism bias as an underestimation of the likelihood of experiencing negative events.…”