The Journey Home: Challenges and Issues in Prisoner Reentry

ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION At least 95% of state prisoners will return to their communities at some point. Simultaneously, these same individuals are at a high risk of retuning to prison, with more than four in 10 offenders returning to prison within three years of their release. Ex-prisoners have a variety of issues that make their transition into the community difficult. They lack formal education, and have a higher incidence of substance abuse, mental health, and infectious diseases than the general population. They also have trouble finding and maintaining stable employment and housing. In response to these concerns, states and the federal government have established a multitude of reentry programs to help ex-prisoners make a successful transition home. Reentry programs differ vastly ranging from those that focus on one specific need of the offender to multi-agency collaboration programs that address many issues. The current round table will discuss some of the issues facing reentry programming, such as: homelessness and employment programs for ex-offenders, research in the effectiveness of reentry programs, the challenges in evaluating multi-agency programs, and the outcomes that should be considered when evaluating reentry programming