Transcript Lifestyle Risk Factors of Homicide

When Prisoners Come Home:
Public Safety and
Reintegration Challenges
Joan Petersilia, Ph.D.
Department of Criminology, Law & Society
University of California, Irvine
I will discuss…
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Data on prisoner reentry, stressing its
emerging importance;
How we think about reentry – urge
more holistic view that includes
collateral consequences;
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Why Reentry is Emerging as
Key Topic Now
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Sheer numbers are staggering
Parole caseloads rising, while parolees’ needs
more serious
System retains few treatment and work
programs – some don’t even support
Mandatory sentencing means that fewer screened
for release-risk and more released “unconditionally”
Parolees more concentrated in a few urban areas
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3/4ths of state prisoners in NY come from 7 NY City
neighborhoods
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More Prisoners Leaving U.S. Prisons
Than Ever Before
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This year, 585,000 persons—1,600 a day
Virtually all inmates come home
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40% of all State inmates to be released in next
year; 75% within 5 years
And many return to prison
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62% of those released from State prison will be
rearrested within 3 years;
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41% returned to prison or jail
“Success” declining: 1983, 57% of parolees discharged
successfully, by 1997, the number declined to 45%
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Characteristics of Parolees Changing,
Complicating Re-Entry
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More females (7%)
Growing older (35% older than 35 yrs)
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More have a history of failure on supervision
More drug law violators (35%)
Will have spent more time in prison (27 months)
More mentally ill (14%) and drug/alcohol involved
(74%)
More with infectious disease:¼ of all people living
with HIV or AIDS in US in 1997 were released from a
prison or jail that year
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Sentencing and Parole Policy Changed
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Determinate, mandatory sentencing has
diminished parole risk assessment function
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14 states abolished discretionary release for all
inmates between 1977-1998
Truth-in-sentencing limits parole boards’ power
BJS estimates that 1 in 5 parolees leave
prison without any post-custody supervision
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9% of all US parolees abscond
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Discretionary Parole Declining,
Mandatory Release Increasing
80%
70%
60%
Discretionary
parole
50%
40%
40%
Mandatory
releases
30%
28%
Other conditional
releases
20%
17%
10%
10%
Expiration
releases
0%
1977
1979
1981
1983
1985
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995
1997
Figure 1 - Percent of State Prisoners Released by Various Methods
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“Conditional” can be imprisoned again as part of previous sentence if violate conditions;
“unconditional” inmates can not be reimprisoned under the same sentence for violations.
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Services, Programs, and Public Tolerance
Have Declined
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Building prisons takes money from services
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Parole caseloads about 70:1, 35:1 ideal.
80% of parolees on regular caseloads – means 2
15-minute face-to-face contacts a month
Public and some parole don’t support
rehabilitation anyway—confusion over mission
Greater parole restrictions, more community
registration, greater public fear
Parole Boards revoke parolees more quickly
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Technology helps uncover violations, drugs
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Parole Violators Main Cause of Rise in
Prison Admissions
Inmates Admitted to State Prison, 1998
New court
commitments
Violent
Property
Drug
Public-order
Total
104,200
% Change
1990-98
20.3%
Parole
Violators
% Change
1990-98
50,000
50.6%
96,900
-7.2
69,300
12.3
107,000
4.5
68,600
122.0
37,500
44.2
17,400
123.1
7.5
206,751
347,270
54.4
Parole Violators now 37% of all US prison admissions
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Handling Drug Offenders is Key
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Parole violators returned on drug offenses
more than doubled since 1990.
Serious underlying problems, few programs,
and cheap testing means more recycle back.
Inmates who received drug treatment in
prison declined from 30% in 1991 to 24% in
1997—while drug use increased.
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In Short, More Prisoners Are
Coming Home When:
• They have more serious problems;
• We are less clear about what we expect
of them; and
• We are less capable of assisting them in
successful reintegration.
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The Collateral Consequences
Are Significant
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Disadvantaged neighborhoods hard hit
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Racial Disparities
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8% of US Black men in their 20s are behind bars
Civic Participation
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In some communities, 30% of adult males are in prison
“Churning” disrupts family formation, informal controls
Convicted felons can lose their right to vote; 4 million now
disenfranchised – 1.4 million African-Americans
Child Development
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1.5 million minor children have parent in prison
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7% of all Black children currently have a parent in prison
Consequences for child welfare are huge
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Government and Professional
Organizations Responding
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New 2001 Federal Budget contains $100
million for prisoner reentry initiatives
NIJ Reentry Courts and Reentry Partnerships
NIC’s Transition to the Community Project
APPA has a Reentry Project, ACA Survey of
promising programs
Lots of technology being developed
Urban Institute organizing “Coming Home…”
research project in 10-12 states
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State Programs Are Emerging
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Missouri’s “Parallel Universe”
California’s Preventing Parole Failure Program
Washington’s Neighborhood-Based
Supervision
Oregon’s Prison Reform and Inmate Work
Act
Maryland’s Coerced Abstinence Program
Good Review in ACA (2000) “Correctional
Best Practices”
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Things are changing, new policies being
implemented
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Will they be evaluated? Hope so…
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Community partnerships difficult to
implement and evaluate
No quick or inexpensive fixes
Depend on strong partnerships between
practitioners, community, researchers
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Commend you for what you are doing—
and encourage you to stay the course
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