Rodriguez 1

Noelia Rodriguez

Professor Moore

English 1302.01

29 April 2017

What Works

The real problem with recidivism is that there are so many factors that contribute to the

problem. Unless Congressional leaders find a solution to fix the overall problem, recidivism will

always be a topic of discussion for the State or Congress leaders. Nathan James of the

Congressional Research Service, states that On average 590,400 inmates have been released

annually from state and federal prisons. These individuals will probably face incarceration within

five years. This cost states prisons approximately $28,000 per inmate annually. States

collectively spend close to $48.5 billion for their correctional systems. To address the issues that

prisoners face before and after being released, the state correctional systems leaders must first

look at what is the cause of the ex-inmates rearrests. States will need to consider adopting

programs that are working in other states and communities to be able to address the core needs

that will need to be acquired for the ex-inmate to have a successful reentry. Those core

requirements are a shelter, employment or education in a trade, reconnection with family, mental

health follow-ups or rehab, and complying with post-release conditions with their probation

officers.

The issue with ex-inmates finding shelter is that they have a criminal record and face

discrimination from the leasing management. But, Mireya Navarro of The New York Times states,

That a landlord who puts blanket bans on renting to people with criminal records are in

violation of the Fair Housing Act and can be sued, and face penalties for discrimination
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(Navarro). By raising awareness in communities and writing letters to The Secretary of HUD

Julin Castro and Putting pressure on him through social media could perhaps shift the outcome

for renters with criminal records. He could help by guiding the transaction in the real-estate and

housing by addressing how the landlords differentiate between arrests and serious convictions in

the application process. And as more people leave penitentiaries, there will be a need for them to

find a place to live. Research shows that obtaining housing reduces recidivism.

Finding employment can be a setback for a person with a criminal record. Released

prisoners frequently identify work as one of the most important factors in their efforts to stay

crime free after incarceration (James). Currently, there is a nationwide system of workforce

development programs that help find employment for ex-inmates. The Work Opportunity Tax

Credit program makes tax credits available to employers that employ ex-inmates. The programs

that are available are limited, but they do work. Also, connecting ex-offenders to jobs is crucial

in keeping communities free of crime or at the very least help keep crime down. The prison

gives you a short list of employers that hire ex-inmates (Alex Ortiz). Ex-offenders that want to

turn their life around would benefit from a good paying job with a higher than minimum wage

salary. The Department of Labor maintains two programs that offer incentives for companies to

hire ex-offenders. The Work Opportunity Tax Credits Program provides up to $2,400 in tax

credits to companies for every former offender they hire (James). Nevertheless, if The Work

Opportunity Tax Credit program would increase the tax credit, that would be an attractive

incentive to more companies to join the establishments that are already in this program. The

increase in businesses would also raise the job opportunities for ex-inmates.

Ex-offenders could benefit from vocational training, that would help them become more

marketable to the employers. There are already funds for educating ex-offenders. The
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Department of Education (DOE) offers programs that can be used by states to help fund or

provide technical support for offender reentry programs that focus on education. The Office of

Vocational and Adult Education, through the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (Title II

of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act), offers grants to states to funding primary

education for out-of-school adults (James). These programs were created with the goal to

reduce the incarceration rate. However, after the individual is released, there is no followup from

the institute of education that provided the person the training to see if the program helped them

land a job or if they needed to finish the training or needed additional training. The solution

would be to provide advisers that can do follow up on the needs of the ex-inmate. And also

provide them with job seeking skills and resume writing assistance.

Being isolated from family can have a catastrophic impact on inmates future outcome.

Alex Friedmann says, That studies have consistently found that prisoners who maintain close

contact with their families while imprisoned have better post-release outcomes and a lower

recidivism rate (Friedmann). One way of solving the problem can be by providing free phone

calls or a free bus ride to family members in state prisons. The Indiana Department of

Corrections is also considering providing inmates with a tablet. Tablets would be beneficial to

other state prisons. This way prisoners can face-time with their family, and an added benefit is

they can use this tablet for educational purposes if they take college courses while in prison. The

cost for this tablet can be funded by the grants that are provided by the Department of Education.

Mental health follow-ups or rehab is a major factor in reducing recidivism. The

Department of health and Human Services do provide a fund to several programs that help ex-

inmates with substance abuse problems and mental illness. But, the funds are only for programs

that provide help to ex-inmates when they are released from prison. For instance, rehab centers
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and government run mental health clinics. They currently do not provide capital to prison

programs to help with inmates mental health or drug addiction while in prison. The answer to

this problem can be instead of prison time for drug offenders or mentally impaired offenders;

they should be sent to a rehab or provide treatment to them in prison. Roshan Abraham mentions

a class-action lawsuit, Brad H. v. The City of New York, led to the agreement, requiring the city

to provide personalized mental health discharge planning for prisoners covered in the Brad H.

lawsuit. The agreement required discharge planning to include filing Medicaid applications upon

release. The court also mandated that discharge planners make available seven days of

psychiatric medication for those who need it upon release, as well as a prescription for 21 days of

medication, referrals to proper mental health services and that they check in with recently

released prisoners within three days. (Abraham) The Brad H. lawsuit proposed a solution that

can be of benefit to other states if adopted. Because the provisions mentioned in the lawsuit

would solve the problems that inmates with drug addiction and other mental illnesses have when

released from prisons.

There Is a need for solutions to ex-inmates that are supposed to comply with provisions

the judges set up after being released from jail. But this system is strict and sometimes hard to

meet. Because judges do not just release the inmate with time served and they free to go back to

the world they left behind. No, they have fees they need to pay, probation officers they need to

see on a weekly basis or both. This system is set up this way to make it hard to obey, and they

end up in jail again. Which is easy to do if the inmate cannot find a ride to see his probation

officers or find a job to pay for these fees. Socialwork@simmons mentions that Although

conditions of parole vary widely from state to state and depend on the original crime and the

prisoners behavior. Their standard conditions include remaining within a prescribed geographic
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area, obtaining permission to change residence, maintain employment, paying supervision fees,

submitting to searches (of home, person, or vehicle) at any time by parole officers, and not

drinking or visiting bars (Socialwork@simmons). The resolution to this problem can be that

judges eliminate fees if time was served, and lessen the punishment for some of the petty crimes

committed. If the time spent can be reduced or have weekend lockup. Then perhaps these

individuals that do not commit serious crimes can keep their jobs and continue to be accepted as

a productive citizen in their community.

With so many factors that contribute to the problem of recidivism, it is hard to say if one

is solved, that it will make a difference. But, perhaps there will never be an answer to resolve all

of the problems associated with the issue, but it will not hurt to try to address some. The

individuals arrested made a mistake. But they should not have to pay for it for the rest of their

lives. Several of the programs that have been established to be effective share some of the same

characteristics, regardless of whether they focus on vocational training, substance abuse

prevention, mental health services, or obtaining housing. These programs are focused on helping

the ex-inmates that are at high risk of returning to jail, and mostly all of the programs start in the

community instead of while they are in prison. Ex-inmates will also have a better chance of

success if they continue to receive help after the first year after being released since that is when

the risk of them getting arrested again is at its highest. But, a possible solution could be that

Congress appoints someone to eliminate programs that do not work and replace them with

programs that do by considering the programs in other states that have shown reduced recidivism

rates.
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Works Cited

Abraham, Roshan. Reports Indicate Citys Progress Is Slow on Mental Health Planning for

Inmates. Citylimits.org, 12 Jan. 2017, citylimits.org/2017/01/12/reports-indicate-citys-

progress-is-slow-on-mental-health-planning-for-inmates/. Accessed 21 Apr. 2017.

Friedmann, Alex. Prison Legal News. Lowering Recidivism through Family Communication |

Prison Legal News, Prison Legal News, 15 Apr. 2014,

www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2014/apr/15/lowering-recidivism-through-family-

communication/. Accessed 22 Apr. 2017.

Navarro, Mireya. Federal Housing Officials Warn Against Blanket Bans of Ex-Offenders.The

New York Times, The New York Times, 4 Apr. 2016,

www.nytimes.com/2016/04/04/nyregion/federal-housing-officials-warn-against-blanket-

bans-of-ex-offenders.html?_r=0. Accessed 14 Apr. 2017.

Ortiz, Alex. Personal interview. 10 April 2017.

The Challenges of Prisoner Re-Entry into Society. Socialwork@Simmons, 12 July 2016,

socialwork.simmons.edu/blog/Prisoner-Reentry/. Accessed 22 Apr. 2017

. United States, Congress, House, Committee of Congress, and Nathon James. United States,

Congress, House, Https://Fas.org/Sgp/Crs/Misc/RL34287.Pdf. United States, Congress,

House, Https://Fas.org/Sgp/Crs/Misc/RL34287.Pdf., Congressional Research Service, 12

Jan. 2015. House Report RL34287, United States, Congress, House,

Https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL34287.pdf. Accessed 10 Apr. 2017.