Reducing Recidivism: Examining Transitional Procedures and Programs for Successful Prison Re-Entry

The research question intends to identify and examine the transitional procedures and programs that can successfully aid in the reduction of prison re-entry rates. The topic of the research question seems important for consideration since nearly 600,000 individuals receive release warrants from facilities of incarceration every year (Griffiths, 2007). However, these prisoners tend to undergo unsuccessful behavior rehabilitation when serving their prison terms as most of them leave prisons even worse than when they were during their arrest time. The reason is that 75% of ex-prisoners show the likelihood of being arrested within five years (Griffiths, 2007). The above culture of arrest results from the fact that these inmates get released from prison to society without employment, and no financial stability. On most occasions, they lack social guidance and support while they join their families or communities (Griffiths, 2007). These factors yield the virtual impossibilities regarding the satisfaction of terms of release, and therefore, lead to the occurrences of re-offences by the ex-prisoners or violation of their release terms.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

My five-year participation as a registered mentor and counselor at a women’s incarceration facility has somewhat affected me besides the experience. I have been a part of the women ex-prisoners mentorship team for the last half a decade. I take part in helping these women by linking them to community resources for the sake of aiding their successful societal re-establishment. These female ex-prisoners encounter a lot of struggles in their attempts to find employment opportunities that pay decently since they have the inability to pass social background check-ups. As such, they usually have only the option of residing in hostile neighborhoods since the property owners of socially peaceful neighborhoods ignore their offers due to their criminal histories.

Statistically, America possesses 5% of the entire globe’s population, as it detains 25% of the world’s convicted criminals (Griffiths, 2007). As such, there is an estimated population of 2.3 million incarcerated individuals in America, making it the nation with the highest number of prisoners in the world (Griffiths, 2007). Approximately, more than half a million convicts get released from federal and state incarceration facilities without the necessary resources as well as the skills of life that will help them lead their lives as members of the nation who abide by the laws.

Increased rates of recidivism due to inappropriate convict-release procedures impact many people’s lives in many ways, particularly the families of incarcerated individuals, their communities, and the society at large. The incarceration of an individual contributes to the significant diminishing of their lifetime potential to generate income. The reason is that such people tend to earn much less in almost every form of employment due to their criminal pasts, as compared to those who have never been convicted. As per the many complied research reports, children whose parents have been incarcerated possess a 75% chance of being incarcerated anytime in their lives (Griffiths, 2007).

The Exploration of the Problem

Fruitful strategies for preventing the commission of a crime must always take into consideration the factors that yield the many accounts of crimes. The said techniques should particularly apply during the release of those offenders who have been through a period of incarceration unsuccessfully. The fact is to enable them to perfectly be integrated within various communities and overall society as those citizens who abide by the law (Griffiths, 2007). The lack of appropriate psychological, social, and material support during the release of such prisoners may make them encounter an extremely tough experience regarding the breakage of the release and re-arrest cycle (Griffiths, 2007). Short-term duration of arrest and prolonged periods of custodial remand offer limited chances for effective treatment and remedies for preventing later recidivism. A more significant percentage of convicted prisoners have one or more prior arrests, either in the adult’ or youth courts (Griffiths, 2007). Also, close to one-third of the recidivist population has been convicted before, and approximately 75 percent of them have experienced several prior instances of arrest (Griffiths, 2007). The safety of the general society necessitates the establishment of workable mitigations by communities and governments to assist a successful reintegration of the released prisoners into their areas of residence and refrain from further commission of a crime. The processes and programs of offender re-entry management are constantly gaining permission in many systems of governments and provide the likelihood of offering cost-effective techniques of crime prevention. As a result, there is an increased emergence of changing the procedures, strategies, and programs of prison release methods by law practitioners and policymakers—these aim at aiding the successful reintegration of prisoners back into society with no cases of re-offense. The literature, therefore, focuses on the research question by reviewing how prison release procedures can change for the successful reduction of recidivism rates among ex-prisoners.

Ways of Changing Prison Release Procedures to Reduce the Rates of Recidivism

Implementation of Pre-release Prisoner Services

Many findings have it that there is a relationship between the rates of recidivism and pre-release prisoner services. As such, prisoners who prepare for and make use of pre-release prisoner services like employment-oriented classes and programs have reduced ex-prisoner re-entry rates. More than 82% of the ex-convicts who made use of services and programs like criminal training attitudes, services of case management, as well as training in life skills registered recidivism within 54 months (Christy et al., 2017). As per the findings, the instances of re-convictions, re-arrests, and incarcerations registered a slightly reduced rate for ex-convicts who received and used the interventions.

Adoption of Work Release Programs in Prisons

These are supervised prison work programs that are under execution by the inmates. The work programs from within the prison tend to be more effective at lowering the rates of ex-convict recidivism (Bales et al., 2015). The perception is that they are more workable at curbing the issue rather than releasing the offenders out of conviction into society with a lot of money. Inmates who complete the programs of work release show reduced recidivism rates, unlike their non-participant colleagues in the control group category in correspondence to the conviction of new felonies and new criminal charges. However, they still bear more chances of getting re-arrested (Bales et al., 2015). In a study whose 27,463 participants were ex-inmates from the Florida Correctional Department (FDOC), with a period of release falling between 2004 and 2011, there was a category of the control group that made up a population of 15,911 non-participating prisoners (Bales et al., 2015). Out of 15,911 convicts, many qualified to participate in the employment-oriented work release program; however, most of them did not manage to clear the procedure (Bales et al., 2015). Therefore, the program of work release is a clear indication to acquire post-release job opportunities among the ex-inmates in the first-quarter period after release (Bales et al., 2015). Offenders who do not participate in a jail work-release program stand a high risk of encountering multiple instances of recidivism.

Incorporation of Transitional Programs in Inmate Services

Transitional inmate programs apply in facilities that are governed by rules but not in incarceration environments. The reason is that it works even better than the work-release program since it often undergoes a successful completion when executed outside prison facilities (Rukus et al., 2016). As per the research conducted by Rukus Eassey and Baldwin, there are a couple of elements that lead to the failure of the re-entry programs. They are notably inclusive of the violations of the rules by the offenders (Rukus et al., 2016). According to the study conducted by the trio on the effectiveness of including transitional programs as mitigation of solving the increased rates of recidivism, 42.6% of offender re-convictions occur due to their failure to buy the general prison rules (Rukus et al., 2016). Out of the study’s participants, 34 ex-offenders experienced re-arrest for breaking the rules of the incarceration facilities like showing a lot of disrespect to the prison staff, smuggling drugs like tobacco into the jail facilities, breaking the curfew rules, inability to secure of maintaining employment, as well as displaying bad or offensive relationships towards the rest of the participants (Rukus et al., 2016). The maintenance of employment and acquisition of high school diplomas indicated a successful integration of ex-convicts back into their families, communities, and society at large.

As per the research argument proposed by Farabee, Zhang, and Wright, the outcomes between the convicts who finished their re-entry program and those who did not are nearly similar (Farabee et al., 2014), the reason being is that prisoners experience hardships regarding the identification of programs aiding in the lowering of rates of recidivism (Farabee et al., 2014). Also, inmates who participate in re-entry programs reflect decreased rates of recidivism, for instance, in a study where a post-release program whose duration lasted up to 12 months, the participants of the re-entry program showed a lower incarceration rate by 50% when compared to non-participants (Yamatani & Spjeldnes, 2011). Other research findings reveal that the Re-entry Housing Pilot Program (RHPP) had participants who successfully showed a significant reduction in the rates of arrests and convictions over fresh charges (Lutze et al., 2014). Generally, they registered a decreased rate of re-offence. However, they indicated the chances of having provoked paroles because of violations that seem technical. The results from the same research study also indicate that escalated rates of recidivism occur due to the factors of offender homelessness, a fact that consequently leads to boosted chances of fresh convictions, revocation, and re-admission (Berghuis, 2018).

Moreover, some findings have it that participants who managed a successful completion of the High-Risk Revocation Reduction (HRRR) Program displayed limited rates of re-convictions and relocations. However, they possess reduced supervision levels (Clark, 2015). Besides, the same research study shows that receiving employment support plays a vital function in ensuring lowered re-entry rates.

Conclusions from the Research Literature and Applications

In essence, convicts who embark on receiving and appropriately adapting interventions for successful societal integration after their prison release portray improved chances of no further commission of or participation in criminal activity perpetrations. It is because they often have access to workable resources of the community to aid them in acquiring job opportunities and good social neighborhoods for residents. Conclusively, I can generally assert from the literature that, the transitional programs for inmate release are fruitful and reliable following the minimization and even ending of former offenders as well as the rates of jail re-entry....