Would You Open Your Home to an Ex-Prisoner?

California is shifting to expand programs that help give incarcerated people the skills and knowledge they need to effectively transition back into society. Various re-entry programs for men and women across the state that connect people with education and job resources helped dropped recidivism rates from 44.6% to 41.9%, based on the state’s most recent data, and also cost taxpayers less than the average cost of incarceration.

The Homecoming Project helps provide housing for formerly incarcerated people by matching those in need with homeowners offering spare bedrooms. Since starting in 2018, The Homecoming Project has placed nearly 100 people in host homes and has helped those individuals connect with employment and long-term housing.

A community violence intervention program modeled after READI is beginning in Philadelphia to connect high-risk individuals who were victims of violence or formerly incarcerated with basic needs services like therapy, employment, and housing assistance to reduce violence and recidivism. Holistic approaches like READI have already proven effective as half of participants are still working full time a year after attending the program and the program’s experimental group saw a 79% reduction in arrests for shootings and homicide.

The Realness Project works with incarcerated people in Colorado to build skills in effective communication, "authentic relating," and conflict management. Roughly 90 percent of participants in the organization's workshops say it helped them grow their emotional ability to handle conflict, and about 78 percent said the experience gave them more confidence during job interviews.

Kenya's overcrowded and poorly maintained prisons offer some educational and rehabilitative programs to inmates, but the nuns of the Dimesse congregation provide something else to try to transform the lives of those who committed crimes: religious instruction, with a side helping of basic humanitarian supplies. Along with food, underwear, and sanitary pads, the nuns use regular visits to men's and women's prisons to hand out bibles and give faith-based instruction aimed at reintegrating shunned citizens once they return to their communities.

After kids spend time in one of New York City's community-based incarceration facilities, they are enrolled in an "aftercare" program, which includes group meetings and mentoring, to help with the transition. As Milwaukee continues to reform its youth prison system, it is looking to New York as one promising model to consider.

Minnesota’s Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA) program takes a restorative, rehabilitative approach to sex offender re-entry and has lowered the risk of recidivism by 88%. The initiative provides participants with a group of volunteers that help them with emotional support, job finding, and challenge and shift the attitudes and behaviors that led to the committed crime. The rise of the #metoo movement has given way to the complexity of sexual assault, restorative justice, and rehabilitation – making programs like CoSA both more necessary and challenging to sustain.

A piece of bipartisan legislation was introduced to the United States’ Senate in February 2018 that would give individuals in incarceration access to Pell Grants, thus increasing their college education opportunities. While the bill was not enacted, it is part of an ongoing process of reinstating access to Pell Grants for prisoners from the Obama administration, who gave limited access in its Second Chance program. This bill speaks to the largely bipartisan cultural shift that embraces the need to invest in correctional education in order to prevent recidivism.

After years of being the incarceration capital of America, Louisiana began changing its laws in 2017 to cut the number of people in prison, prompting a drop of seven percent in the prison population and savings of $12 million. The funds will be reinvested in education, job training and other programs in prisons and jails for those about to be released. But many challenges remain, including stigma from employers and landlords, and skepticism by the state's attorney general.

In New Haven, a two-decades long experiment in giving community to and promoting empowerment for people who have been in the criminal justice system or mental health treatment services has shown a decrease in drug use and an increase in general quality of life. The idea - that people who have isolated/alienated by a system need to be empowered as citizens to successfully re-integrate - is taking hold in other cities, including Philadelphia.