Book•
But They All Come Back: Facing the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry
12 Apr 2005-
TL;DR: Travis as mentioned in this paper proposes organizing the criminal justice system around five principles of reentry to encourage change and spur innovation, and argues that the impact of returning prisoners on families and communities has been largely overlooked.
Abstract: As our justice system has embarked upon one of our time's greatest social experiments?responding to crime by expanding prisons?we have forgotten the iron law of imprisonment: they all come back. In 2002, more than 630,000 individuals left federal and state prisons. Thirty years ago, only 150,000 did. In the intense political debate over America's punishment policies, the impact of these returning prisoners on families and communities has been largely overlooked. In But They All Come Back, Jeremy Travis continues his pioneering work on the new realities of punishment in America vis-a-vis public safety, families and children, work, housing, public health, civic identity, and community capacity. Travis proposes organizing the criminal justice system around five principles of reentry to encourage change and spur innovation.
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TL;DR: The Prisoner Reentry Industry found its beginnings in the recognition that men and women who were being released from prison continued to need assistance in their transition process as mentioned in this paper. But, once a person completed this transition phrase that was usually understood to be about three years, the following questions arise: when does the reentry phase end? When does society allow the ex-offender to move on with their lives? Even when secure employment has been maintained, when other areas of the individuals' life are functioning "at least like everyone else in society".
Abstract: The Prisoner Reentry Industry found its beginnings in the recognition that men and women who were being released from prison continued to need assistance in their transition process. Depending upon the individual needs of each person, this determined the extent of what type of assistance needed. Within a short period of time it was determined that the greatest assistance was needed in the area of housing and employment. However, once a person completed this transition phrase that was usually understood to be about three years, the following questions arise: when does the reentry phase end? When does society allow the ex-offender to move on with their lives? Even when secure employment has been maintained, when other areas of the individuals’ life are functioning “at least like everyone else in society”, when does the reentry stop and the ex-offender allowed to enter into mainline society? This article attempts to show that we have not done a good job of allowing the ex-offender to move from the phase of prisoner reentry to the phase of contributor in our society.
7 citations
Cites background from "But They All Come Back: Facing the ..."
...The number of persons being released from prison in the US each year increased from 150,000 in 1972 to 630,000 in 2002 (Travis 2005), and these numbers continue...
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30 Oct 2014
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored the prison-to-community transition experience after short-term incarceration, from the perspective of men with co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorder in Queensland, Australia.
Abstract: This thesis explores the prison-to-community transition experience after short-term incarceration, from the perspective of men with co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorder in Queensland, Australia. A specific focus was to examine the impact of systems and structures on the individual experience of transition. Prior research has established that people with co-occurring mental illness and substance use are overrepresented in the Australian prisoner population. It is also known that transition from prison to community for the general custodial population is a time of vulnerability, with increased risk of substance use, homelessness, unemployment, reincarceration and post-release death. All of these risks are compounded for prisoners with co-occurring disorders who are also at risk of a range of poor criminal justice outcomes and losing contact with mental health services after release. Review of the literature indicates a tendency for research to focus on recidivism as an outcome and emphasise either individual risk behaviour or social and structural factors influencing prison-to-community transition. Interventions during transition for the current population have traditionally been based on the criminalisation hypothesis, with a focus on increased provision of mental health services in prison and an emphasis on continuity of care in the community. There is a growing recognition in the international literature that the issues are much broader than mental illness; however, there is a lack of clarity as to how to respond to the complex needs of this population. Research exploring the perspective of men with co-occurring severe mental illness and substance use disorder during their prison-to-community transition experience has rarely been undertaken. The conceptual framework developed for this study shifts the emphasis away from recidivism towards recovery and wellbeing through a lens of individual action, but only in the context of the potential for systems and structures to impact on the ability of individuals to exercise agency. A qualitative method was used comprising repeat in-depth interviews with 18 men: within 1 month prior to leaving prison, within 2 weeks post-release and at 3 months post-release. Three themes characterised the transition experience of participants: “hoping against hope”; “adrift in freedom”; and “the slippery slope”. Participants reported leaving the predictable and routine life in prison where they hoped for a better life after release, to an uncertain, unstable and isolated environment in the community, eventually sliding into drug use, chaos and despair. The risk environment framework (Rhodes, 2009) and structuration theory (Giddens, 1984) were employed to understand how participants were caught in a complex dynamic between their individual risk behaviour and broader structural risk environments. This thesis proposes that a web of interrelated factors contributed to participants in the study as “ambivalent agents” who were suspended between the two worlds of prison and community, with a sense of “non-belonging” in either world. They negotiated multiple and competing identities and were ultimately set up to fail in their hope for a normal life in the community by the “structuration” of risk during transition. The findings in this study support previous research that prison mental health services alone are inadequate to meet the needs of this population. There is a need for the review of parole practices for this population, with an emphasis on prevention of incarceration related to non-offending behaviour. In addition, a focus on the provision of comprehensive interventions during prison-to-community transition, such as supported accommodation, assisted employment and other individually tailored social supports, is indicated. These interventions, in combination with a focus on flow through integrated treatment services targeting the needs of short-term prisoners with co-occurring disorders may facilitate recovery and wellbeing in this population, improve continuity of mental health care on return to the community, as well as address criminal justice outcomes. These interventions should be planned as a whole of government response, framed by a mental health recovery approach that fosters belief in the individual for recovery, as well as utilising a collaborative focus on risk in terms of both “a risk” and “at risk” identities.
7 citations
Cites background from "But They All Come Back: Facing the ..."
...Travis (2005) has argued that this approach promotes acceptance of a punishment model with the assumption that the criminal justice system has no responsibility for the experience or behaviour of the ex-prisoner post release, beyond the role of supervision (Austin, 2001)....
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01 Jan 2017
TL;DR: Aparcero-Suero et al. as discussed by the authors examined law enforcement officers' views of sex offenders and the fairness and efficacy of sex offender laws through the utilization of a 60 closed-ended question survey.
Abstract: Law Enforcement Officers’ Perceptions in Regard to Sex Offenders, SORN, and Residency Restrictions Laws by Maria Aparcero-Suero The purpose of this study was to extend current knowledge regarding law enforcement’s perceptions of sex offenders. Law enforcement’s views of sex offenders and the fairness and efficacy of sex offender laws were examined through the utilization of a 60 closed-ended question survey. The survey included questions about sex offender myths, sex offender laws, police officers’ experience in working with sex offenders, specialized training, and demographics. The sample consisted of 74 sworn police officers from a Southeastern state. The results showed that, despite having a mostly empirical based view of sex offenders, sworn police officers were likely to support sex offender laws shown by some scholars to be ineffective in reducing crime and at times counterproductive.
7 citations
Dissertation•
10 Nov 2010
7 citations
TL;DR: Mixed-effects longitudinal analyses revealed that religious behaviours did constitute a significant predictor of lower substance use for young people after a criminal conviction, after controlling for changes in employment, social support, and delinquent peer association, but only among those with average or above cognitive function.
Abstract: BACKGROUND Religious beliefs and practices have been shown to have some association with desistance from offending, as have cognitive processes, including emotion regulation, self-control, reasoning, learning, and empathy. Religious behaviours may, however, be moderated or mediated by cognitive abilities, but few studies take this into account. AIM The aim of this study was to assess the role of cognitive ability in any relationship between religious beliefs and behaviours and desistance from substance use among adolescents. METHOD Data were extracted from the Pathways to Desistance Study dataset (n = 1,354). Religious measures were self-rated importance of religion, helpfulness of religion in dealing with problems, and attendance at religious services. Cognitive measures were the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence and Trail Making Tests. A count of numbers of mind-altering substances used constituted the main substance measure. Control variables included sex, age, and age of onset of offending. RESULTS Mixed-effects longitudinal analyses revealed that religious behaviours did constitute a significant predictor of lower substance use for young people after a criminal conviction, after controlling for changes in employment, social support, and delinquent peer association, but only among those with average or above cognitive function. CONCLUSIONS These findings may explain why there have been some discrepancies in previous studies of religion and substance misuse. They may also have important implications for the training of anyone delivering programmes to young people in prison that have faith-based elements, including community faith group leaders and volunteers.
7 citations