RE-ENTRY BY THE NUMBERS
Before incarceration
The problems faced by returning citizens often begin long before their incarceration. Data paints a picture of of a population that struggles in many areas important to achieving a balanced, healthy life:
Data sources, pre-incarceration
Low Educational Achievement
1 – CSG Justice Center, National Reentry Resource Center Facts & Trends – csgjusticecenter.org/nrrc/facts-and-trend
2 – CSG Justice Center, National Reentry Resource Center Facts & Trends – csgjusticecenter.org/nrrc/facts-and-trends
Low Employment
1 – CSG Justice Center, National Reentry Resource Center Facts & Trends – csgjusticecenter.org/nrrc/facts-and-trend
2 – CSG Justice Center, National Reentry Resource Center Facts & Trends – csgjusticecenter.org/nrrc/facts-and-trends
A High Rate of Homelessness
1 – CSG Justice Center, National Reentry Resource Center Facts & Trends – csgjusticecenter.org/nrrc/facts-and-trend
2 – CSG Justice Center, National Reentry Resource Center Facts & Trends – csgjusticecenter.org/nrrc/facts-and-trends
Women and Re-entry
1 – CSG Justice Center, National Reentry Resource Center Facts & Trends – csgjusticecenter.org/nrrc/facts-and-trend
2 – CSG Justice Center, National Reentry Resource Center Facts & Trends – csgjusticecenter.org/nrrc/facts-and-trends
3 – CSG Justice Center, National Reentry Resource Center Facts & Trends – csgjusticecenter.org/nrrc/facts-and-trend
4 – CSG Justice Center, National Reentry Resource Center Facts & Trends – csgjusticecenter.org/nrrc/facts-and-trends
A difficult re-entry
On leaving jail, citizens often find the same problems that contributed to their incarceration in the first place, may be even farther behind in building skills and experience, and now also face many new roadblocks and legal and cultural restrictions.
Data sources, post-incarceration
A Higher Rate of Re-arrest
1-The Hamilton Project: Twelve Facts about Incarceration and Prisoner Reentry
2-The Hamilton Project: Twelve Facts about Incarceration and Prisoner Reentry
A Higher Mortality Rate
1-The Hamilton Project: Twelve Facts about Incarceration and Prisoner Reentry (PDF)
2-The Hamilton Project: Twelve Facts about Incarceration and Prisoner Reentry (PDF)
Mental Health and Substance Abuse Issues
1- Making People’s Transition from Prison and Jail to the Community Safe and Successful – Bureau of Justice Assistance, US Dept of Justice, National Reentry Resource Center, Justice Center of the Council of State Governments (PDF)
– Offender Reentry: Correctional Statistics, Reintegration into the Community and Recidivism – Nathan James, Congressional Research Service (PDF)
2 – CSG Justice Center – https://csgjusticecenter.org/substance-abuse/faqs/#q2
3 – CSG Justice Center – https://csgjusticecenter.org/substance-abuse/faqs/#q2
Challenges in Employment, Challenges in Housing
1- Reentry Fact Sheet, The United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Georgia (PDF)
2- Volunteers of America, Homelessness and Prisoner Reentry, https://www.voa.org/homelessness-and-prisoner-reentry
Benefits of succesful re-entry
Data indicates that an evidence-based re-entry program can mitigate the problems outlined above. The result is of benefit to the returning citizen, his or her family and community, and to the Commonwealth in general.
Data sources, re-entry benefits
A good re-entry program benefits everyone
1- Reentry Fact Sheet, The United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Georgia (PDF)
Re-entry is working in Virginia
Virginia’s former offenders return to prison at a lower rate than any of the 45 states that recently reported three-year re-incarceration rates for felons. Former Governor Terry McAuliffe announced Virginia’s 23.4 percent recidivism rate in December 2017, edging out Oklahoma (24 percent), South Carolina (24.9 percent) and Minnesota (25 percent). This means that of the 11,496 State Responsible (SR) offenders released from incarceration in Virginia in FY2012, 2,687 were re-incarcerated within three years.
The Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC) credits its success to a “reentry-begins-at-day-one” approach that emphasizes programming and treatment during incarceration followed by effective supervision and guidance after release. VADOC uses evidence-based practices to tailor its efforts and address each offender’s needs. 1
Jails Face Special Challenges
Jails often handle prison overflow: Due to limitations in capacity in VADOC facilities, some SR offenders will serve their entire incarceration in a local or regional jail (“Jail Only”).
• The number of SR Offenders serving their entire sentence in jail instead of prison is increasing. The total number of SR offenders in jails increased by 19 percent from June 30, 2010 to June 30, 2015 (from 7,342 to 8,747), and then that total dropped by 8 percent on June 30, 2016.
• Within that population, the number of SR Releases who were Jail Only has risen from 27 percent of total SR Releases in FY2010 to more than one-half in FY2017 (55 percent).
• The three-year re-incarceration rate among Jail Only offenders increased from 25.72 percent for the FY2010 SR Releases to 27.72 percent for the FY2012 SR Releases, and then it declined to 25.6 percent for the FY2013 SR Releases.
• Among the DOC Facility offenders, the rate dropped from 21.8 percent for the FY2010 SR Releases to 20.3 percent for the FY2013 SR Releases. 2
Data sources, re-entry success
Re-entry is Working in Virginia
1- Information drawn from numerous Virginia Department of Corrections sources; please contact us for information on specific references.
Jails Face Special Challenges
2- Information drawn from numerous Virginia Department of Corrections sources; please contact us for information on specific references.
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