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Human Rights Watch Describes Housing Policies

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Introduction Upon release from prison, approximately 600,000 of ex-offenders are being released back into the community annually and will confront legal obstacles in their journey to reenter society. Many prisoners’ ex-offenders return to prison because they are unable to make the transition back into society. One factor that influences recidivism is lack of access to housing.
In a study of 404,638 exoffenders in 30 states in 2005. 67.8 percent of released prisoners were rearrested within three years. Within 5 years 76.6 percent of them were rearrested (Durose, Cooper, & Snyder, 2014). Based only on the fact of prior criminal convictions, newly …show more content…

Literature Review Key Findings
A major problem prisoners reentering society face is finding housing. One good choice is going to a halfway house. They provide a structured environment where there are rules that must be adhered to and onsite criminal justice staff providing constant oversight. The halfway house provides onsite access to support and guidance, and acts as a step between immediate return to the community and prison. A halfway house helps offenders transition from an environment where there is much sensory deprivation into the community where there is sensory overload. Ex-Offenders can slowly return to society in a controlled environment instead of being overwhelmed and without help when they return into a normal community (Plante, J. 2015). Ex-offenders have been severely limited to their most basic opportunities for employment, education and housing. These penalties are also known as “collateral consequences” for ex-offenders, which systematically deprive them of their individual rights and privileges. Professor Gabriel “jack” chin has classified this socioeconomic phenomenon as the “New Civil Death” (Silva, R. L. 2015). Housing exclusion is based on federal policy. Restrictive Federal Housing Policies
Current federal public housing policy is heavily influenced by different pieces of

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