Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Relative Captivity: Prisons and Families

In 2006 the Rutgers University School of Criminal Justice and the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice issued a report based on a series of roundtable discussions of “Incarceration, Reentry and the Family.”

While admitting that hard data is sparse and little research has been done on the families of prisoners, the Report began with this statement:

“While reentry policy and practice [for prisoners] often focus on concerns such as employment, housing, and substance abuse treatment, there is evidence that family support is a crucial component of successful reentry, and that such support should be fostered from the beginning of the period of incarceration, through the transition home, and following release.

Recent research by the Urban Institute found that prisoners expect family support to be a significant factor in successful reentry, prisoners with strong family relationships before incarceration have lower rates of recidivism, and families often provide assistance in securing employment after release from prison. Families have the potential to be a real resource for individuals before and after their release, and these strengths are often not recognized.

Barriers to maintaining contact, however, such as the distance to correctional facilities, phone surcharges, and non-contact visitation policies, can also inhibit families’ abilities to stay involved with a prisoner during incarceration.

Issues arising from family reunification, moreover, are rarely simple and straightforward. Incarceration is a crisis for family members as well, and the return of a family member can precipitate a renewed crisis or otherwise put a substantial strain on those left behind as well as those returning home.”

No comments: