Following years of incarceration, transitioning back into the community is challenging for many ex-convicts. Lack of housing, finances, employment and positive social support are some of the leading issues that prevent a successful transition for many ex-convicts. As a way to ensure fair opportunity and a successful transition, the Wisconsin correction system provides prisoner reentry services to inmates in the prison system and to offenders that are under community supervision. The Wisconsin prisoner reentry program is unique in that the program is not designed to address offender needs after they are released from a correction facility but instead the onset of the program occurs once an offender enters the prison system.
The prisoner reentry program identifies multiple elements involved in the process of reintegrating an offender back into the community. The program stresses the importance of “communication, coordination and information sharing among and between the institution, community corrections, offender, victim(s), and the offender’s community formal and informal support networks” (Carmichael & Bauer, n.d., P. 6). With individualized case planning and risk assessment, the program addresses critical success factors such as employment, housing, and education, treatment strategies and the facilitation of healthy social support network.
An inmate enters the beginning phase of the Wisconsin reentry program once they are admitted into the prison system (Carmichael & Bauer, n.d., P. 6). After sentencing, “corrections conducts an assessment and evaluation to identify the offender’s program and treatment needs, including education, clinical, medical and social needs” (Carmichael & Bauer, n.d., P. 8). Institutional placement is then determined after the offender’s initial assessment is completed. Following the entrance evaluation and assessment, the offender is reassessed at least every twelve months to determine the effectiveness of the proposed treatment plan (Carmichael & Bauer, n.d., P. 8).
During the second phase of the program, the offender undergoes various treatments that are determined during the time of their initial assessment. It is estimated that approximately forty-six percent of adult inmates lack a high school diploma, so the reentry program provides extensive education and vocational training (Carmichael & Bauer, n.d., P. 8). The education and vocational program grants inmates advancing academic opportunities, career counseling, specialized employment training and parenting classes. It is estimated that the reading and math ability of over half of the adults incarcerated is below a ninth grade level so the educational program strives to equip inmates with basic skills to extend academic and employment opportunities (Carmichael & Bauer, n.d., P. 8). Next to education and vocational training, an offender may also participate in anger management and domestic violence programs, individual and group counseling and cognitive intervention. The second phase of the Wisconsin reentry program demonstrates a strong emphasis on rehabilitation (Carmichael & Bauer, n.d., P. 9).
Similar to the second phase, the third phase of the program stresses recovery but also begins to concentrate on reintegration. During the third phase of the Wisconsin reentry program, offenders are provided with employment training services. During this phase of the program, individuals are urged to create a resume, participate in job search training and begin job development and placement. Offenders are granted work release opportunities and subsidized employment prior to their release (Carmichael & Bauer, n.d., P. 10). The primary goal during this phase is to ensure that offenders can secure employment before their release.
The fourth phase of the program focuses on the actual transitioning period. During this phase, offenders are transferred from a correction facility and placed into community-based residential facilities (Carmichael & Bauer, n.d., P. 10). The supervised residential facilities provide offenders with a structured living environment while they begin to transition back into the community. While living at the facility, the offender is required to maintain employment and continue to participate in treatment programs that are outlined in their assessment and evaluation. During this phase of the program, the offender is encouraged to work on establishing healthy interpersonal relationships and developing an extensive formal and informal social support network.
Wisconsin’s prison systems reentry program is aimed at reducing recidivism by ensuring that every offender is offered an opportunity to reintegrate back into the community. Since 1993, Wisconsin has seen a steady decrease in recidivism rates. Between 1993 and 2009, the recidivism rate in Wisconsin dropped by over thirty percent (Wisconsin Department of Corrections, 2014, Para. 1). The Wisconsin reentry program closely follows Maxwell Jones core principals of a therapeutic community approach as it, clearly, strives to “bring about changes in attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that lead to a healthier and more adaptive lifestyle on return to the community that the lifestyle that led the person to be admitted into the facility in the first place” (Schneider, Gruman & Coutts, 2012, P. 269).
References
Carmichael, C., & Bauer, J. M. (n.d.). Wisconsin Prisoner Reentry Programs . Retrieved October 18, 2014
Recidivism. (2014, June). In Wisconsin Department of Corrections. Retrieved October 18, 2014
Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2012). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (Second ed., pp. 269). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
I really enjoyed your reading your blog and I’m happy to hear of the success of this Wisconsin based program. It never ceases to amaze me how when authorities, teachers, directors, researchers, therapists or anyone trying to create a social intervention or fix a problem of some kind “stumble” on the idea of treating people humanely with compassion and love that good results tend to follow. The 30 percent drop in recidivism is wonderful and there’s no reason that this program with whatever necessary adjustments couldn’t be used all over the country in some capacity. It’s amazing and sad how sometimes those with vested interests in maintaining a status quo would actually hinder various social intervention programs that actually help people from being implemented. Said another way, there are those, often politicians and corporations (business people) that profit from other peoples misery. In speaking about jails and incarceration, there are many people that benefit from the jails staying overcrowed and maintaining a cumbersome justice system that is purposely skewed towards blacks, Hispanics and other non-white people. These practices seem to be left over mandates and understood privileged practices by the founders and owners of this country in that certain out-groups on American soil are here to be used and monetized for the benefit of the in-group. You know people are not thinking clearly when programs that can both prove to be cost effective and performance effective are stopped dead in their tracks. This doesn’t just go for the judicial system, but for the environment, health care and a host of other social needs. Whether it sounds scientific or not love, compassion, and respect can go a long way in healing many social ills, and these types of programs are proof of that.
In a communications class one of our group projects was to find solutions to adult recidivism. One of the things that we all found to be proven time and gain in studies is that rehabilitation programs, such as the ones you mention above, are the most effective in reducing the numbers of those who return to jail. I recall that after being released, without any sort of rehabilitation on the outside such as education, a work program, that within 2 years the offender will be back behind bars again. As I certainly think adults need these services, I think it would be extremely helpful if such services were the standard for juvenile offenders. As that is when most of the adult repeat offenders begin their “career.”