(Ex)Prisoner Reentry, Recidivism, and Mortality: A Public Policy Issue
Why do two-thirds of people released from prison return there within three years? Many have argued that it is because of the people – they are criminals and have criminal tendencies. Others have argued that it is because prison creates better criminals. Yet only recently has it been argued that public policy creates environments inside and outside prison that foster incarceration as a long-term solution to poverty. In my talk, I present a synthetic “perfect storm” argument to explain why people released from prison cannot survive the community. This argument focuses on public policies that (a) use prison as a solution to poverty- based criminal behavior; (b) defunded rehabilitation efforts inside prison and created “mass deskilling” environments; and (c) withhold publicly-funded resources and promote discrimination against people released from prison in the name of public safety but also in the spirit of bachi (retribution). These policies also explain why the one- third of people released from prison that do not return there have elevated rates of mortality in the first year post-release from causes related to drugs, homicide, suicide, and heart disease.
Nancy Wolff, PhD is a professor of public policy in the E.J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy and the Director of the Center for Behavioral Health Services & Criminal Justice Research in the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research at Rutgers University. Her research and that conducted by the NIMH-funded center which she directs focus on issues facing people with mental health and addiction disorders who, for a variety of reasons, find themselves arrested, detained, incarcerated, and decarcerated. Emphasis is on the effect of culture and stigmatizing labels of mental illness, addiction, and criminal histories on their access to treatment and social services inside and outside prison settings. Dr. Wolff is currently working with a multi-disciplinary group of researchers, practitioners, and consumers to develop, implement, and evaluate services, practices, and interventions that will directly and effectively respond to and enhance the behavioral health outcomes of people with mental illness who are criminally involved or at risk of criminal involvement. With the nation's prisons and jails becoming primary mental health facilities, her most recent research explored how access to mental health and substance abuse treatment by race and ethnic groups varies inside and outside prison settings, as well as how race, ethnicity, and mental illness predict sexual and physical victimization and feelings of safety among people who are incarcerated
