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Outline CJ 3001-104 - Jasmine Belush Research Question: What challenges do offenders face upon reentry to society? I.

Introduction of reentry and reintegration A. What is the importance of reintegration? 1. Reintegration is the process that ex-convicts go through when they are released from prison, and in most cases, is extremely difficult. 2. The United States is the leading country of incarcerations (Myers & Olsen, 2013), which means that we have many people who struggle upon returning to society. 3. Over 2.26 million adults are in prisons and jails, while almost 5 million offenders participate in community corrections (Myers & Olsen, 2013). 4. Because of the many challenges that offenders struggle with when released from prison, they are likely to recidivate. 5. Reintegration into the community is a fairly new idea in the United States; between the years of 2001 and 2004, the federal government dispersed over $100 million to develop reentry programs in every state (Petersilia, 2004).

II.

Reentry and rehabilitation efforts in America A. The United States has made efforts to create better policies and programs to help ex-offenders.

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1. George W. Bush, the first president to address the needs of offenders (Petersilia, 2004), introduced a $300 million plan in his State of the Union address to fund re-entry programs (Butterfield, 2004). 2. Seven states acquired Prisoner Re-Entry Police Academy workshops because the National Governors Association created them (Butterfield, 2004). 3. The Council of State Governments formed a Re-entry Policy Council, who created a manual containing information on how states can be more effective at helping ex-prisoners, including information on how to help them find jobs, find housing, and rebuild relationships (Butterfield, 2004). B. The Allegheny County Department of Human Services’ forensic services director, Amy Kroll, founded a program in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for troubled inmates (Butterfield, 2004). 1. The Allegheny County jail had problems with overcrowding and mental illness treatment, which began the creation of this program (Butterfield, 2004). 2. This program’s goal is to lower the anxiety of released prisoners so they can be successful (Butterfield, 2004). 3. Released prisoners who go through this program are provided with a staff member and $200 to go to a store and buy necessities, like clothes and bathroom essentials, to get them started on their lives outside of prison (Butterfield, 2004).

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4. The staff members also take the individuals to the medical assistance office and the Social Security office (Butterfield, 2004). 5. Although services and programs have been an effort in America in recent years, correctional officers and offenders’ relationships could be better. III.

Community correctional officers and ex-prisoner relationships A. Correctional officers’ relationships with offenders play a role in the offender’s success. 1. Higher-educated officers are more likely to favor rehabilitation and be a better support system for released prisoners (Gunnison & Helfgott, 2011). 2. Correctional officers’ education, length of employment, and job satisfaction were factors that influenced whether officers thought offenders had protesting rights (Gunnison & Helfgott, 2011). 3. Female officers play a more social services and counseling type of role with offender than male officers do (Gunnison & Helfgott). 4. More mature, older officers were friendlier towards inmates (Gunnison & Helfgott). B. Offenders felt restricted by the social distance between themselves and officers. 1. Social distance refers to the trust and similarity between two people or groups of people (Gunnison & Helfgott). 2. In a study done in a women’s prison, more minor misconduct reports were filed by officers who preferred higher social distance over lower social distance (Gunnison & Helfgott).

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3. Because officers do not have the same backgrounds as offenders, offenders feel that their CCOs cannot identify with their reentry situations (Gunnison & Helfgott). 4. Officers do not view their social distance with offenders as a problem in the reentry process, but offenders collectively feel that it hinders their progress and creates more challenges. IV.

Challenges that released prisoners face A. There are a variety of challenges that offenders face when released from prison. 1. Prison can cause stress on an individual’s family. While incarcerated, marriages can fail and relationships with children can be lost (Tierney, 2013). a) One individual, Carl Harris, was imprisoned for assault and armed burglary. His sentence was 15 to 45 years. He and his wife agreed to divorce so she could move forward in life, but her and the children still struggled (Tierney, 2013). 2. Many offenders do not have much education (Shivy, Wu, Moon, Mann, Holland, & Eacho, 2007, Myers & Olsen, 2013). If they choose to go back to school after being released from prison, they will more than likely be denied acceptance into any colleges or universities (Gunnison & Helfgott). 3. Offenders struggle to find housing (Binswanger et al., 2011, Butterfield, 2004, Gunnison & Helfgott, 2011, Myers & Olsen, 2013, Petersilia, 2004, Shivy et al., 2007, Tierney, 2013).

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4. Mental illness is common among offenders. Receiving treatment for mental and physical health is another issue they face (Binswanger et al., 2011, Butterfield, 2004, Gunnison & Helfgott, 2011, Myers & Olsen, 2013, Shivy et al., 2007, Tierney, 2013). The spouses of offenders are prone to becoming depressed and gaining other health problems (Tierney, 2013). 5. Prisoners often turn to drugs upon release from prison (Butterfield, 2004, Gunnison & Helfgott, 2011, Myers & Olsen, 2013, Petersilia, 2004, Shivy et al., 2007, Tierney, 2013). 6. Because of their stigmatization (Gunnison & Helfgott), offenders often struggle financially (Shivy et al., 2007, Tierney, 2013, Petersilia, 2004). 7. Released prisoners face many personal and social problems, such as finding childcare (Shivy et al., 2007), not having life skills (Myers & Olsen, 2013), lacking social support, losing community roles (Gunnison & Helfgott, 2011), and making choices (Butterfield, 2004). 8. Family problems are also burdens for ex-prisoners (Myers & Olsen, 2013). The children of offenders are more likely to have academic and social problems than children whose parents have not been in prison (Tierney, 2013). 9. Getting legal identification is difficult for offenders (Binswanger et al., 2011), and so is finding means for food and transportation (Shivy et al., 2007).

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10. Employment is a major setback for many released prisoners (Gunnison & Helfgott, 2011, Myers & Olsen, 2013, Petersilia, 2004, Shivy et al., 2007, Tierney, 2013). Many offenders do not have much, if any, job training (Shivy et al., 2007), and if they do, the criminal background checks required in most job applications prevents many offenders from finding employers who will hire them (Gunnison & Helfgott, 2011). V.

Offenders and the workforce A. Correctional facilities typically provide training programs for offenders, but sometimes that just is not enough. 1. There are four types of training programs available for offenders: “educational instruction, vocational training, prison industries, and employment services training” (Shivy et al., 2007). 2. Training programs provided for offenders are geared toward helping them find a job immediately after release, not a skill-specific career (Shivy et al., 2007). B. It is very important that offenders find a job upon release from prison; however, it can be difficult for them to maintain one. 1. When re-entering society, many offenders have financial burdens to worry about, such as supervision costs, restitution, or child support (Shivy et al., 2007). 2. The jobs that offenders normally hold are low-paying, entry level jobs. When the economy begins to downfall, the job market also shrinks,

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making it hard for offenders to find these types of jobs (Shivy et al., 2007). 3. Any types of services that people receive cost money, including healthcare. If offenders do not get jobs after prison release, they may not be able to afford healthcare. VI.

Offenders and healthcare A. After being released from prison, offenders have health issues that must be addressed. 1. The risk of death is especially high for post-release inmates. Some of the causes of death include heart disease, homicide, drug overdoses, and car accidents; however, suicide is the most common cause of death immediately after being released from prison (Binswanger et al., 2011), (Gunnison & Helfgott, 2011). 2. Most released prisoners stay in homeless shelters immediately after release, and diseases are easily contracted from the shelters (Gunnison & Helfgott, 2011). 3. Many inmates do not know how to get adequate health services. If they do gain access to these services, they must wait excessive amounts of time for appointments and medication refills (Gunnison & Helfgott, 2011).

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References Binswanger, I. A., Nowels, C., Corsi, K. F., Long, J., Booth, R. E., Kutner, J., & Steiner, J. F. (2011). “From the prison door right to the sidewalk, everything went downhill,” A qualitative study of the health experiences of recently released inmates. International Journal of Psychiatry, 34(4), 249-255. doi: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2011.07.002

Butterfield, F. (2004, May 4). Repaving the long road out of prison. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/04/us/repaving-the-long-road-out-ofprison.html

Gunnison, E., & Helfgott, J. B. (2011). Factors that hinder offender reentry success: A view from community corrections officers. International Journal of Offender Therapy & Comparative Criminology, 55(2), 287-304. doi: 10.1177/0306624X09360661

Myers, D. L., & Olson, J. (2013). Offender reentry and reintegration: Policy and research. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 24(1), 3-8. doi: 10.1177/0887403412452426

Petersilia, J. (2004). What works in prisoner reentry? Reviewing and questioning the evidence. Federal Probation, 68(2), 4-8.

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Shivy, V. A., Wu, J. J., Moon, A. E., Mann, S. C., Holland, J. G., & Eacho, C. (2007). Ex-offenders reentering the workforce. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 54(4), 466-473. doi: 10.1037/0022-0167.54.4.466

Tierney, J. (2013, February 19). Prison and the poverty trap. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A319253285/GRGM? u=boon41269&sid=GRGM&xid=5937f419...