Recidivism
Prison Garden Program Goes to Roots of Offender Reformation
Physical, mental, and manual labor is good for your health in balanced circumstances. In Oakland, California, they are using physical work to provide job skills training to offenders and ex-offenders. By partnering with the San Quentin State Prison’s Insight Garden Program, the non-profit organization Planting Justice transforms prisoners’ lives through a connection to nature. The…
Read MoreDepartment of Justice Finds Higher Recidivism Rates for State-Released Inmates
The Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has taken a new look at recidivism rates for inmates released from state correctional institutions; the new study found recidivism rates over longer periods of time are higher than previously thought. Its new analysis, “2018 Update on Prisoner Recidivism: A 9-Year Follow-up Period (2005-2014),” essentially updates…
Read MoreNot the worst, but not Norway: US prisons vs. other models
America is known for its overcrowded prisons and harsh penitentiary conditions, but how does it rank compared to some of the other prison systems around the world? America – the Supermax: How not to treat mentally ill patients One of the most notorious jails in America is the ADX. The Administrative Maximum Facility, aka the ADX Supermax in Colorado was…
Read MoreBureau of Prisons Seeks Software to Predict Post-Release Outcomes
The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is hoping to find as-yet unrecognized patterns of adaptation and recidivism — which the agency terms “inmate reintegration into the community — by asking software developers to provide information about commercially available software capable of aggregating the various types of data the agency already collects. A request published…
Read MoreYoga and Meditation Improve Life Behind Bars and Beyond
By Christopher Zoukis The Bureau of Justice Statistics has found that within five years of release, 76 percent of prisoners released in the U.S. reoffend. Breaking this cycle requires radical reforms in rehabilitation methods, and some surprising approaches are showing promising results — downward dog and mantra chanting. Educational and vocational programs already in place for…
Read MoreGeorgia’s Criminal Justice Overhaul Demonstrates Widespread Positive Effects
In the last five years, Georgia has been successful in making badly needed, sweeping changes to its criminal justice system under the direction of Republican Governor Nathan Deal. The state has come a long way from where stood in 2009 when a Pew Research Center study indicated that one in 13 citizens were involved in…
Read MoreYouth Punished For Inability to Pay In Juvenile Justice System
By Christopher Zoukis Lower-income, and racial and ethnic minority youth are far more likely to face incarceration or probation because of an inability to pay debts imposed by the justice system, according to a report issued by Philadelphia’s Juvenile Law Center. The legal aid and advocacy group analyzed state laws on the fines, fees, restitution…
Read MoreBooks Behind Bars Mean Better Outcomes
By Christopher Zoukis Evidence is overwhelming prisoners benefit in myriad ways when they have access to books and education. An increase in education of any kind is connected to reducing recidivism, as reported by the 2013 Rand Corporation Study, and as demonstrated by the outcomes of numerous programs that have been implemented across institutions. Prisoners…
Read MoreProposed Illinois Life Skills Facility to Benefit Prisoners Poised for Release
Providing education and life skills to help prisoners return to society will be the focus of a refurbished facility that once housed juveniles. By Christopher Zoukis Criminal Justice reform has been a major focus for Governor Bruce Rauner of Illinois, and a number of changes have already been made toward the ultimate goal of reducing…
Read MoreSplit Sentences to Cut Prison Numbers and Recidivism: Stanford Prof
By Christopher Zoukis Most jurisdictions struggle with how to relieve overcrowded prisons and jails, but at the same time avoid releasing inmates who are most likely to re-offend. After examining the experience of Los Angeles County coping with a California state policy that transferred many low-level felons from state prisons to county and city jails,…
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