Substance Abuse and Recidivism in the Ex-Offender Community (Blog Post Five)

            On a road trip recently from Denver, Colorado, to Houston, Texas, a friend and I encountered a checkpoint just across the Oklahoma state line. It came out of nowhere, which is funny considering that it’s Oklahoma, home of flat, rolling plains and the dust bowl. We sat calmly in our car behind the other cars on the interstate, waiting for our turn with the mirrored glasses-equipped law enforcement officers, and wondering aloud what all the fuss was about. My friend thought perhaps there was a fugitive on at large who was seeking to cross into Colorado and smoke some weed. As the words emerged from his mouth, our eyes locked, and her hand snaked down toward the glove compartment, where there were three joints rolled in anticipation of our reunion with good friends in Oklahoma City. How could we have forgotten they were there? What were the cannabis possession penalties in Oklahoma? Were we about to be arrested?

Drug abuse and trafficking and offender populations have come under much scrutiny lately as new cannabis laws seek to help shape and determine the prison sentence length of drug-associated offenders in the penal system of the United States. Numerous questions have arisen concerning the relationship between drug abuse, drug possession, and the incidence of recidivism in the ex-offender community. Clearly, drug abuse is a factor in ex-offender populations, both in initial imprisonment likelihood and recidivism after release. According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), “Nearly seven million American adults are under supervision of the state and Federal criminal justice systems: approximately two million of these individuals are incarcerated for their crimes, while the remaining five million are supervised through probation or parole” (2014). 14 percent of female and 25 percent of males incarcerated report substance abuse counseling, and 8 in 10 reentering offenders report drug or alcohol use in the six months prior to incarceration. This indicates the drug abuse is a significant contributor to incarceration, which is already a known issue; however, the prison system and counseling services provided to prisoners and ex-offenders must integrate this knowledge into their programs. Ex-offenders with drug and alcohol abuse programs are highly likely to fall back into abuse patterns with the pressures of release and society reintegration that present themselves.

The ONDCP notes that two-thirds of incarcerated people are substance abusers or dependents, but less than 15 percent of them receive treatment while incarcerated, upping the ante on recidivism and repeated substance abuse once they are released back into society (2014). One-fifth of male and one-quarter of female substance abusing ex-offenders return to prisons, as compared with 12 and 19 percent of those with no substance abuse problems. It is also true that more substance abusers violate parole conditions and commit more crimes than those without drug and alcohol dependencies; it’s a vicious cycle that results in higher penalties for both society and the penal system (Huebner, 2014). Substance abuse must be addressed initially within the penal system in order to prevent recidivism and increase the success of societal reintegration after offender release. Ex-offender counseling and drug and alcohol abuse continued treatment is also required in order to prevent recidivism in parolees as well as those released from the penal system.

Something Must Be Done....But What?! (Blog Post Four)

           Imagine you are standing on the street in any city, U.S.A., and 590,400 people emerge from the office building just behind you, tumbling over themselves, trampling others, all of them reaching out their hands to you and trying to get your attention. Some of them are asking for a place to stay, help with finding a job, assistance in reuniting with their family members. Do you run? Are you able to run? How can you keep ahead of this massive wave of people, all clamoring for help? Maybe you disappear down an alley or into another building, therefore escaping the tide of 590,400 people who need your help. How can you be expected to help them all? This is the plight of the all prisoners released from the penal system into society in 2013 in the United States, as well as the plight of nonprofits and other governmental agencies attempting to help them re-assimilate into society.

Nathan James (2014) is an Analyst in Crime Policy for the Congressional Research Service, which informs legislators in Congress. His 2014 report on ex-convict re-entry into the community and recidivism states that “almost five million ex-offenders are under some form of community-based supervision” currently. The numbers are overwhelming, the resources very limited, and the results are not encouraging. Something must be done to help ex-convict become productive members of society once their sentences have been served and they are released. James’ report was prepared for members of Congress, to inform them of the specific issues in this area today. James notes that nearly two-thirds of all 2005 ex-offenders participated in recidivism, and more than half returned to prison (2014). Three offender reentry phases are emphasized in James’ report: programs during incarceration, programs during offender release period, and long-term permanent reintegration programs. Public policy-makers and the public at large are pressured under the constantly growing wave of ex-offenders in society today, and must make rapid decisions to avoid exacerbation of the problem.

James indicates that the multiple definitions of recidivism are a barrier to these decisions and procedures, preventing categorization of ex-offenders into continuous offenders and those who simply cannot meet the extensive financial requirements of their probations. Shivy, et al. studied different groups of ex-offenders in an attempt to determine the different issues and requirements of each group when reentering the workforce, and thus society (Shivy, Wu, Moon, Mann, Holland, & Eacho, 2007). The findings in this article suggest that counseling services and professionals need to focus specifically on “ex-offenders’ social networks, including social aspects of the workplace…as they can present a liability or support for career-related reentry attempts” (p. 466). The study also indicated the importance of internal and external impacts of incarceration stigmas on ex-offenders, concluding that education, training, and practical assistance in obtaining and maintaining a job are the primary support services ex-offenders need to reintegrate into society after prison release (p. 466).

Ex-offenders are released from prison into the outside world to find an environment that is very different from the one inside the prison. Shelter, food, and income are not issues in prison, they are provided freely by the institutions. The outside world is very different, and requires adjustment to a society and social norms in education, procedures, and intercommunication that is often very different from the outside world the prisoners last experienced. The only way to successfully reintegrate these ex-offenders into society and avoid extensive recidivism is to provide them with the tools to succeed, through education, career, and the basic features and requirements of the environment to which they are being released.

James, N. (2014). Offender Reenty: Correctional Statistics, Reintegration into the Community, and Recidivism. Congressional Research Service. Retrieved from http://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL34287.pdf

Shivy,V.A., Wu, J.J., Moon, A.E., Mann, S.C., Holland, J.G., and Eacho, C. (2007). Ex-offenders reentering the workforce. Journal of Counseling Psychology, Vol. 54(4), p. 466-473.

Christy A. Visher: Ex-Con Expert

In December of 2013, United States state and federal prisons held 1,574,700 people, which was an increase of 4,300 prisoners from 2012. Since the decrease in incarcerated persons in 2009, this is the first increase. 716 out of every 100,000 people in the United States are currently incarcerated. More than 10.2 million people are held in penal institutions all over the world, and almost half of them are in the United States. The justice system handles these criminals, but what happens when they are released from prison? How are they assimilated successfully back into U.S. society, if they are at all? Among the people focusing on this issue is Christy A. Visher, currently a professor in the University of Delaware’s Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware and Director of the Center for Drug and Alcohol Studies within that department. According to her 2014 curriculum vitae, she has over 25 years of experience with policy research on crime and justice issues. Her main research focuses are criminal careers, communities and crime, criminal justice evaluation, violence, and substance abuse. Her published works include numerous articles on youthful offending, the arrest process, crime prevention strategies, incapacitation, criminal justice system drug testing, and prisoner reentry. She attended Trinity University and Indiana University, obtained her Ph.D. in Sociology in 1982. She has worked at the National Institute of Justice at the U.S. Department of Justice. Her research has appeared in numerous scholarly journals such as Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, American Sociological Review, and Social Problems. Much of Dr. Visher’s research has focused on issues of prison reentry into society upon parole or release from prison.

She is a principle writer and researcher in the field of criminology, justice, and drug and alcohol abuse among ex-convicts and youth offenders. Her recently published works include an article with Jeremy Travis, “Life on the Outside: Returning Home after Incarceration” (2011); “Prisoner Reentry in the Decade of the Twenty-first Century” (2010), and “Reducing Intimate Partner Violence: An Evaluation of a Comprehensive Justice System-Community Collaboration” (2008). “Life on the Outside” is a particularly scathing indictment of the current prison system, although some issues have changed since it was published in 2011. Principle among these is the decriminalization of cannabis, which has resulted in the release of numerous non-violent offenders from prisons in states where cannabis has been legalized. It is expected that due to these new laws, the number of non-violent prisoners will continue to decline. Carson and Golinelli found that 2009 was the first year in which incarceration numbers had begun to decline since 1978, with 637,400 prisoners being released that year. Visher’s sociological research into the reasons for high unemployment rates, a lack of housing, and alcohol and drug abuse which lead to recidivism and ultimately re-incarceration is an attempt to solve a very pressing and unavoidable issue facing United States society today. These ex-convicts have served their time for their crimes, many of them non-violent. However, our society currently views cannabis possession as equal to homicide once a prisoner is released from prison. Is it fair to treat a murderer the same as a casual cannabis smoker? Visher is aware of the injustice of this presumption, and has been working for 25 years to dispel it.

Visher’s research spans the multiple issues that affect prisoners during re-integration into society, including drug and alcohol abuse problems, the impact of family and marriage, and special cases of serious and violent offender re-integration. Her current work includes “Decide Your Time: Testing Deterrence Theory’s Certainty and Celerity Effects on Substance-using Probationers” and “Workforce Development Program: A Pilot Study of its Impact in the U.S. Probation Office, District of Delaware” (Visher, 2011).

Life After Prison: For Better or Worse?!

           It’s a muggy May New Orleans day, and you are packing toiletries into a second-hand backpack with one broken zipper. You forget it’s broken and everything inside (including your toothbrush) falls out. You sigh and sit down on the bed that’s no longer yours to repack. It’s supposed to rain cats and dogs later, and you’ve just been kicked out of your brother’s house for the second time in two months. The health-care center for the homeless that you’ve been staying in when you can’t stay with your brother has reached capacity, as has the local overcrowded transitional shelter filled with ex-cons like yourself who can’t find jobs. Your only option is going back to the nonprofit Breakthrough Ministries, which is helping you search for a permanent place to live.

“Sorry, bro,” your brother says as you walk out the front door into the humidity, “Hopefully you can find a job and a place of your own, soon.” Your nephew races happily into the room you just vacated, jumping on the bed jubilantly. You walk to the bus stop, glancing up at the threatening clouds.

Imagine this is your life; you were down and out on your luck, and thought that selling a few stolen IPods would save you. Now factor in your past criminal history including a few ill-advised car burglaries, and your age – sixty-two. You’ve done your time and been released, but haven’t been able to find a job because of your criminal history. You can’t find a place to live (public housing is off-limits to recently released convicts), and now you’re stuck. Your family has their own issues to deal with. What are you supposed to do? How can you succeed in life legitimately with no job and no place to live? It seems like the system WANTS you to be in jail and make a living as a criminal. What would you do if this was your uncle’s situation? Your father’s? Your grandfather’s? Or, god forbid, your son’s? How many families are dealing with the same problem? A recent article on ex-convicts prevented from residing in public housing was published in the May 13^th edition of the Wall Street Journal this year. Willie Davis Jr. is an example of the high rates of U.S. unemployment, homelessness and recidivism in our country today (Peters, 2013). If you’ve paid for your crime, why can’t you become a contributing member of the community? In New York City, 22 percent of inmates paroled from state prisons are homeless, and two-thirds of prisoners released in 30 states were arrested for a new crime within three years (2013). With numbers like these, it’s no wonder these ex-cons want to return to prison, where they have three square meals a day and roof over their heads. City governments in Chicago, New York City, and Los Angeles are seeking to allow certain inmates to move into public housing, and in New Orleans criminal background will not automatically result in rejection on a public housing application (2013). Are these changes enough to place ex-convicts in housing and help them obtain jobs that they can survive with? Will sufficient housing make them productive members of society and keep recidivism low?

Housing is one of Maslow’s requirements for human survival, and while these new laws are a step in the right direction, fears of community safety due to ex-convict populations in public housing spaces is legitimate, as well. The true test of successful ex-convict parole and release programs is whether ex-cons are able to obtain jobs. Without jobs they cannot feed themselves, get promotions, obtain education, or join the larger community. Job skills should be taught to prisoners who may soon be released, and at any point during their incarceration if they are to be productive members of society one day. Moving ex-cons into public housing does not elevate them to productive members of society, although it is a step in the right direction.

Contribute to the conversation on ex-convicts after parole and release here.

To begin, it is important to state that Corianne P. Scally of the National Housing Institute (NHI) states that over 600,000 prisoners were released annually in 2005. Ten years later, changing laws regarding cannabis are increasing this number. The number of prisoners released in 2009 exceeded the number admitted for the first time in 31 years. The U.S. Department of Justice states that 637,400 prisoners were released then, indicating that large numbers of ex-offenders are reentering society at a higher rate today. This blog will focus on the lives of ex-offenders by asking, how do ex-offenders successfully re-assimilate into society after release from prison? In order to answer this question, extensive research has been done in order to learn about ex-offenders’ lives.

This blog will be looking at the following issues, including but not limited to: limited housing, employment problems, recidivism, and alcohol and drug abuse. Anticipated positive life changes include gainful employment, positive relationships, non-recidivism, and continued education. The main focus of this blog is to educate the public and well as those in more scholarly fields about the impact of the prison population that is increasingly reentering society in the United States.