Effects Of Prison Sentence And Reintegration

Many offenders will be released from prison and yet approximately 60% will return for violating the law (Beard, Johnson, & Kemp, 2003). An inmate that has an education equivalent to a

In the United States, each day approximately 1,600 adults are released from state and federal penitentiaries to reintegrate back into the community (Gunnison & Helfgott, 2013). Reentry programs have been created all over the nation to help offenders successfully transition from prison into society. Offenders are confronted with numerous obstacles when attempting to reintegrate back into society. Ninety-five percent of offenders are released to reintegrate back into the community (Davis, Bahr, & Ward, 2013). Upon release, ex-offenders realize that despite the fact that they are no longer incarcerated, they face many restrictions. The restorative justice development rose to address the disappointment of the criminal justice framework to manage victims, offenders, and communities in an integrated way. A core focus of this development has been to expand the role of the community in advocating changes that will avert the issues and conditions related with crime and the demand for a criminal justice intervention (Hass & Saxon, 2012).

The article "The Impact of Career and Technical Education Programs on Adult Offenders: Learning Behind Bars" by Howard Gordon and Bracie Weldon (2003) studies of how prisoners receiving educations in prison reduces the recidivism rate. Gordon and Weldon studied the inmates who were participating in the educational programs at the Huttonsville Correctional Center in West Virginia and claimed that inmates who participated in the educational programs were less likely to recidivate once released back into the population as compared to inmates who did not participate in these programs (Gordon & Weldon, 2003). This study provides valuable information as to the effectiveness of educational programs in prison and how they affect prisoner's lives

would teach offenders a lesson and reduce their chances to recidivate. Stevens and Ward (1997) said that “retuning unprepared, uneducated, and unusually individuals to the community is the biggest threat to the public safety” (p. 106). Stevens and Ward conducted an experiment to examine the effects of education on incarcerated offenders. The experiment contained 60 student-inmates who had earned their associate or bachelor degree while incarcerated. The participants were inmates release from the North Carolina Department of Corrections (p. 108). The participants were tracked and their recidivism rate were compared with nonstudent inmates. Also, they gathered data from education and recidivism studies of thirty states. The result demonstrated

Of these inmates 60, 35 men and 25 women. The experiment assured that the research was representative. The participants in this study originally resided in one female prison and 5 prisons of North Carolina. All Inmates were high custody prisons serving high risk offenders (Stevens & Ward, 1997, p.108). The treatment group were those who did not have any college degree when they were convicted, sent to prison, and earned a degree prior to be released. The college degree in this study includes a one-year college certificate, an associate’s degree, or a bachelor’s degree. The comparison group were those who held a high school diploma or did not have any education while incarcerated. After the participants were released, they were tracked for a three-year period (Kim & Clark, 2013, p. 199). The participants were sent to search for jobs. The study took into consideration who had more opportunity to find a job, and the reasons the employers considered before hiring or not hiring the individual. The study also collected employer’s information about the individual’s performance at work. The expert kept tracking the recidivism’s rate among the participants. The recidivism rate was measured by any arrest for a crime occurring within the three-year period (Kim & Clark, 2013, p. 199). Finally, the researchers compared the records of inmates who completed a degree with the inmates who earned a HSD/GED or did not completed any program at

A major problem within the prison system is the high rate of incarnation. According to “Facts About The Prison System in the U.S”, sixty-six percent of released convicts will end up back in jail. One reason is that the newly released are unprepared for life outside of prison. For example, when criminals are released back into society they are unable to obtain many things that are essential for surviving in today’s world. According to the article “Slammed,” people who have been incarcerated are denied the right to a driver 's license, student loans, and job opportunities. In today 's world, you need a driver 's license if you do not live in a city to go from one place or another or more importantly, to travel to work. When a released inmate tries to improve their position in life through an education, they may have a hard time accomplishing this task because they cannot afford to pay for their education because of the low wage jobs they have. Newly released prisoners also have a hard time finding jobs because of their past criminal record. The public puts restrictions on former prisoners because we are afraid of what that they might do when they are released back into society.

There are many prison inmates who come from broken homes and have mental problems that went undiagnosed and untreated. The problem is that prison’s do not try to teach prisoners how to learn from their mistakes and better themselves. (McGovern, Celeste. 42) What actually happens is that criminals tend to be better criminals, and have the ability to “one up” the police. Our politicians need to stress how important vocational, educational, drug-treatment, and work programs are, in order to improve the attitude and demeanor of these convicted felons. This is the only way to keep ex-con's from becoming repeat offenders. (DeLuca, H.R. 38) Ex-convicts who find a job and a place to stay are less likely to return to crime. In Norway, prisoners can start their new jobs 18 months before they get out of prison. In America, there are 27,000 state licensing rules keeping felons out of jobs such as barber and roofer.

Everyone in the world is affected by criminal behavior in some way, shape, or form. Crime determines where we decide to reside, what school we opt to send our children to, and also when or where we go out. Over 600,000 prisoners return to the community each year. Fair amounts of offenders receive some sort of rehabilitation programming while they are incarcerated, albeit many return not able to reintegrate back into their surrounding communities. One way to establish successful offender re-integration is through successful reentry programs.

Over 700,000 inmates are released from state and federal prisons and put back on the streets. Over half of them end up back in the system (Cook, Kang, Braga, Ludwig, O’Brien (2015)). They end up back into the system because they can’t fend for themselves, don’t have family left or go back into the drugs and alcohol or what they were doing before. Re-entering into society can be hard, specifically talking about offenders who have been incarcerated for years. Those that are up for release and those who have been released have trouble finding a job or even getting a job. Being in a jail or prison cell is hard enough, let alone trying to re-enter society after many years behind bars. For some inmates, it is easy because they have family still in the area or those willing to come from far away to take them back home. Inmates re-entering into society have a lot of work to do starting with themselves. Male and female inmates have different recidivism rates and females have more access to re-entry programs than males do.

In 2014, the United States incarcerated 449,000 newly convicted offenders while releasing 636,300 inmates (Carson, 2015). Upon release, offenders were expected to be able to function back in society under parole supervision. This is not the case for many offenders. As they are released from prison, they lack the necessary skills, education, opportunities and support system to successfully reintegrate back into society (Petersilia, 2000; Travis & Visher, 2003). In 2005, research showed that 67.8% of released prisoners were arrested for a new crime within 3 years, and 76.6% were arrested within 5 years (Cooper 2014). The high percentage of recidivism is overpopulating correctional facilities while producing a cycling effect for offenders. To attack the issue of recidivism this paper will address the following question: How does lack of support system and resulting poverty influence prisoner re-entry? What are some programs or policies we can incorporate to reduce recidivism?

Imagine a frigid winter's day. Now, think of going home to no food on the table; no heat in the house, and having all of the blankets in the house wrapped around you just to keep warm. Not all people in poverty experience living at this extreme, but poverty is within the community of Sterling. Individuals may not see it or completely understand the term, but it is one of the leading problems in this community. Ex cons are thought to be a drain on our community because they have forgotten how to be accountable and independent for themselves. Employers are more often than not, hesitant to hire past convicted criminals, thus newly released prisoners are unable to find jobs. Therefore, they end up becoming chronically dependent on community resources

First, a substantial aid to reentry is support on the outside. Not having assistance upon reintroduction to society deprives an individual of financial resources and housing. Expecting offenders to establish themselves as productive members of society without this basic support is absurd. Deprivation of these resources is seemingly setting them up for failure; they are imperative to inmate success because they help them assimilate back into society. Transitioning back into everyday life after years of incarceration can be disconcerting. It is far too easy for offenders to drift back into comfortable old habits without a plan of action upon release. This is difficult considering the distress that one confronts during their reentry. Employment is another major barrier to many individuals post-incarceration.

Further, in order to lower the recidivism rate, ex-convicts must receive some sort of help to successfully reintegrate into society upon release. The successful rehabilitation of convicted criminals and the successful prisoner reintegration into society would ultimately lead to a safer and more capable society by lowering the recidivism rate, making those the policy goals and outcomes the ones that matter most.

Education reduces the recidivism rate. According to www.ed.gov, “Employment after release was thirteen percent higher among prisoners who participated in either academic or vocational education programs than among those who did not.” Education gives

This paper explores the benefits provided by educational programs in jails and prisons. Included are the reasons inmates need education in order to successfully reenter society once they are released and use the knowledge and skills they have learned to obtain a job in order to support themselves and their families. Also examined in the paper are the financial benefits of incorporating educational programs instead of cutting them, as well as the effect these programs play on the recidivism rate. Lastly is a focus on understanding the importance of education and job training, even though the recipients are criminals.