Prisoner Reentry
Overview
Prisoner reentry programs are a collection of government, community-based, and other organizations that seek to help those who were incarcerated re-integrate into society as productive members. These programs often focus on housing and job skills as means to reduce recidivism amongst the constituents they serve. Libraries provide many services that can be of much help to former convicts seeking to integrate into society upon their release.
Table of Contents
What is Reentry?
Reentry is the process of someone returning to the community after serving time in a federal, state, or local prison or jail. These individuals may have served their entire sentence or are being released on probation or parole. Reentry focuses on providing the individual with the life-skills they need to be a law abiding citizen, providing them with assistance in the reentry process, such as job placement and training, housing assistance, and drug rehabilitation. Having these programs will help to reduce the chances of recidivism as having an income, along with housing and support reduces the chances of an individual committing a crime for financial reasons.
Key Terms
- Recidivism – when someone who has been serving time in jail or prison returns to jail or prison due to criminal activity or violation of their parole or release.
- Jail – an institution often run by the local sheriff’s department that is designed to hold individuals who have been recently arrested, are unable to pay bail or bond, or who have short sentences, generally under 1 year in length
- Prison – an institution generally run by a state or the federal government designed to hold individuals for long periods of time and a majority of individuals serve their time in prisons. Due to the length of stay and the resources available, prisons are able to offer many services, such as job training, drug rehabilitation, and medical care, which jails cannot.
Why Reentry Matters
Prisoner reentry programs are critical to reducing recidivism, helping those who are released to be productive members of society, and to saving money and reducing the prison population. Nearly, 650,000 prisoners are released each year and more than half of those who are released form state prisons will end up behind bars again within 3 years.[1] Without support prisoners will not be able to succeed and fragile communities and families will not be able to improve. John Oliver has created a very captivating segment on prisoner reentry that can be useful in educating your staff or board on the need for prisoner reentry programs.
In addition to the humanitarian reasons for reentry support, it has been proven that providing support during reentry has greatly reduced recidivism. This provides major savings to the government and tax payers, as well as turns someone who would be costing tax payers money into someone who is contributing to society and paying taxes.
[1] Statistics from http://www.doleta.gov/pri/pdf/mentoring_ex_prisoners_a_guide.pdf
Areas for Library Involvement
Much of the assistance those being released need falls under some of the core programs and services offered by the public library. With additional outreach and some modifications to already existing programs and services, the public library can be of a huge help to those who are being released and help to reduce the recidivism rates in their community and to improve the communities they serve.
Digital Literacy
Many of those released have been incarcerated have served years in prison without access to computers and other modern technology. Your library can offer special digital literacy training to these individuals. This training will help them to be successful in society and is often critical for their reintegration and success in the community. While there are no major programs tailored to providing digital literacy to those reentering society, your library’s current digital literacy efforts can be tailored to those reentering society through working with a local prisoner reentry program
Literacy
Many of those reentering are in need of help becoming literate. Nearly half of those being released are functionally illiterate and 70% are high school dropouts.[1] Libraries can work with the offenders to teach literacy and prep them with education needed to find jobs and succeed in society. While prison programming and prison libraries work to tackle this issue, those released often need additional help becoming literate. The ALA has a variety of tools that may be useful in crafting a literacy program for those who are reentering society. Additionally, working with the prison library and other prisoner reentry organizations, a program that utilizes the library’s position and experience with adult literacy can be developed.
[1] http://www.nga.org/files/live/sites/NGA/files/pdf/0509PRISONERREENTRY.PDF p. 5
Job Skills
One of the major problems facing those being released from prison is finding a job that will provide them with an income and keep them away from crime. Public libraries not only have job skills training but excel at this type of programming, and thus it is a natural way the public library can assist in helping to reduce prisoner recidivism. The Long Branch, NJ Public Library created a program that adapted its job training program into one-on-one training that provided those recently released with the skills they needed to get a job, as well as computer skills and a list of employers that do not discriminate. Programs like these are very helpful as they provide the help prisoners need while respecting their need for confidentiality and special help and removes the burden from the corrections system and other stakeholders in the reentry pipeline.
Healthcare
With a majority of health information now found online and with their lack of computer skills it can often be difficult for prisoners to find the health information they need to be able to take care of themselves. Chronic diseases are much more likely to affect prisoners with the presence of HIV and AIDs being 5-7 times higher than that of the general population and 18 percent of returning offenders testing positive for Hepatitis C. In order for these prisoners to be able to effectively reintegrate into society, they must be able to take care of themselves effectively. The public library can assist by providing those reentering with access to medical information, directions and referrals to local healthcare clinics, and training on how to find the information they need. Additionally, libraries can partner with local community reentry organizations and drug rehabilitation programs to connect prisoners to the help they need to combat their drug abuse.
Housing Assistance
Those reentering often need help finding housing after incarceration. Libraries can work with those partners they work with to tackle issues of homelessness to find housing for those reentering society. Additionally, partnerships with halfway houses and other community housing developments for those reentering could be very helpful in tackling issues of housing for those reentering.
Potential Partners
There are a variety of organizations that work to help improve prisoner reentry, most of which vary by community and state. These organizations likely do not compete for funding with the library and joint action and programming is likely to be attractive to granters working in the prisoner reentry area, as well as looking to fund your library.
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State and Local Reentry Organizations
- Find your local reentry programs here
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Local Sherriff’s Office
- They run the local jail
- They are involved with the successful reentry in a variety of other ways
Take a Colleague to Coffee
Reach out to the CEO/Executive Director of a local prisoner reentry program and invite them to coffee. Here are five questions you might ask your colleague who works at a prisoner reentry program to inspire conversation about how the public library and the prisoner reentry program might partner.
- What is the biggest challenge your organization faces in the reentry process?
- What ways can educational programming offered by the library be used to help ease the transition?
- What modifications might need to be made to our programming for serving former inmates?
- Are former inmates told about how the public library can help them?
- What are some ways that you can see the public library being beneficial to a former inmate?
Useful Resources and Information
- “Public and Prison Libraries: Important, Often Overlooked, Partners in Reentry” – Corrections.com
- Local Reentry Program Locator
- Tools and Resources for Prison Libraries – American library Association
- “Libraries in Lockup” – Public Libraries Online
- “Best Practices for Serving Former Prisoners in Public Libraries” – Colorado Association of Libraries
- “What is Reentry?” – Kentucky Reentry
- “Building Knowledge About Successful Prisoner Reentry Strategies” - MRDC
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