Jesse Jannetta, Nancy LaVigne, Amy Solomon, and Laura Winterfield
U.S. federal and state prisons house some 1.5 million inmates. More than 700,000 are released each year, but half are back behind bars within three years. More than 5 million people are under community supervision on any given day, yet on average, only two in five complete their terms of supervision. The negative effects are enormous—undermining the safety and well-being of communities and families and draining federal, state, and local budgets.
President Obama has a unique opportunity, for the sake of public safety and public budgets, to guide released prisoners to productive and law-abiding lives by building on the momentum of recent successes in helping juvenile and adult ex-offenders successfully return to their communities.
The recipe for developing effective policies and programs for ex-offenders is already well established. It begins behind bars. The vast majority of people entering prison have drug and alcohol addictions, health problems, a lack of education, and little work experience. Prisoners who don’t make headway against these barriers are more likely to reoffend once released. Yet, little is done during their prison terms to build the skills necessary to succeed. The result is widespread idleness in prison. The most logical way to help prisoners become productive citizens upon release is to help them become productive citizens while behind bars. To this end, a 40-hour “work week” for prisoners should be promoted and required—one that combines work, treatment, family visitation, and other activities that use prison time productively.
Once released, prisoners still fail at high rates, even under community supervision. Probation and parole violators account for over a third of admissions to state prisons. But seeds of opportunity lie within these failures. Improving parole and probation supervision could substantially reduce crime in our communities, overcrowding in our prisons, and strain on our state and local budgets. The president could play an important leadership role in advocating for a consistent set of community supervision principles. These principles, supported by the most innovative and effective correctional leaders in the country, center on enhancing public safety and reducing recidivism; concentrating resources on high-risk people, times, and places; weaving incentives and rewards into supervision; and engaging community partners and families in supervision plans.
Local law enforcement agencies, an often overlooked partner in successful community supervision, could help accomplish these goals. Officers can encourage former prisoners to comply with their conditions of post-release supervision, link ex-offenders to services in the community, and exchange valuable intelligence with corrections officials that can be used to prevent and solve crime.
Unfortunately, police departments, prisons, and community corrections are strapped for resources. Recruiting and retaining law-enforcement officers has gotten harder as basic law enforcement funds have been rerouted to homeland security. Local law enforcement needs federal support and guidance to help shore up its forces and stem the tide of crime that many experts predict will increase under these uncertain economic times.
Finally, President Obama can encourage joint work across federal agencies. Combined, cooperative approaches would be better funded than single-agency initiatives—especially important in this era of fiscal restraints. Such an approach would be extremely beneficial in improving the safety and well-being of our nation’s communities.
Other Policymaking Advice for the New President:
