There are many aspects to prison life and the extremities in the differences between prison life and life after prison that contribute to recidivism. However there are many ways we can prevent and reduce recidivism in inmates by modifying the prison system. There have been many proposals that have been made in response to assist in the assurance of a smooth adjustment of inmates when they return to the free world. This paper will review three different solutions that have been proposed by: The Boston Consulting Group, the Bronner Group, and Deloitte. All three have very different approaches to this problem, after they are reviewed this paper will discuss which of them is the best decision to invest in at the moment.
Boston Consulting Group-
The Boston Consulting Group’s approach to reducing recidivism is by first focusing on the federal prison population itself by evaluating the overall needs of the inmates and if the deliverance of the current programs meet those needs. Its goal is to provide a framework for what kind of evidence based programming should be provided to whom and what BOP needs to affect change. What type of programing is needed and how it should be implemented is addressed. They identified four areas of opportunity for improvement on how programs are provided and carried out which are:
Resourcing
Enrollment
Lack of connection to free world
Variable learning environments
There are over 11,000 programs that are offered to prisoner. There are 18 national programs which are the most standardized and are guaranteed to provide the best quality resources. There are 38 model programs which measure the progress and success in different approaches to issues which do not replace national programs. There are 11,341 local programs which has the most evidence for success that must be implemented as a national program. BCG’s proposes that the standardization of these programs will be most effective in reducing recidivism in inmates.
There are four main program types dedicated to the needs of inmates:
Education
Occupational training
Cognitive/behavioral assistance
Life skills and release preparation
The first three program types have the most evidence that proves a significant reduction of recidivism in individuals, as a result BCG believes that it is most important to focus on improvement in these types of programs. Based on the data BCG gathered, they discovered that programs dedicated to cognitive services are biased to those with drug addictions. Inmates without a history of substance abuse have the lowest rates of enrollment. The psychology services themselves provide 60% of the funding for drug treatment. There are no national programs that address victim impact or relationship management in any of the cognitive behavioral programs.There are no national parenting programs.There are no national programs for providing inmates with a pre-GED education, college education, nor special education.
A major issue in BOP’s programs is the enrollment of individuals in the programs. None of the programs are mandated and incentives are applied consistently. The progress of the inmates are not constantly reviewed. Case workers responsible for identifying the needs of an inmate do not posses the certifica Although programs for education have the highest number, enrollment in these programs are inconsistent. This is due to constraints in resourcing and criteria for admission into the programs. BCG identified that the prison systems are in need of a significant
Their recommendations to solve these problems is to conduct robust assessment of inmate needs and program effectiveness, expand critical programs and services, and ensure program enrollment and quality delivery. Their projected cost of these changes are approximately $15M for the first year with run rate of approximately $55M which is less than 1% of the total BOP budget.
The solutions focus on the standardization of reentry preparation program(RPP), piloting of the children of incarcerated parents, piloting of “Second Chance Pell Grants to open up higher education opportunities for inmates, and implementation of video service at all female facilities to improve family ties piloting of “core correctional communications” which is training for correctional officers to enhance staff communications with inmates. There are 38% less people enrolled in cognitive/behavioral programs than in educational programs due to resource restraints and specific criteria of inmates for the admission of inmates. Inmates without a history of substance abuse have little access to programs. In summation BOP programs offered are in ne
ed of more research to assessed if they really work. Categories with the most evidence need more scrutiny. Evidence for national programs are outdated.GED is the BOP’s literacy standard but is often met by the assistance local facilities.
Overall the environment of prisoners vary from prison to prison. Programs such as drug abuse treatment have a low intensity in terms of how many hours and varies significantly for programs such as adult education and parenting.
There are a limited amount of resources are geared to creating and maintaining inmates links to the outside world.
Overall the environment of prisoners vary from prison to prison. Programs such as drug abuse treatment have a low intensity in terms of how many hours and varies significantly for programs such as adult education and parenting.
The Bronner Group’s main focus in their proposal is the educating of inmates. Studies have shown that those with a higher education especially those with at least a high school education or equivalent are less likely to commit crimes. Those with a higher education also have an easier time finding employment so that they have the ability to support themselves and their family financially. Delivering quality education programs today requires coordination and communication with more than five BOP headquarters divisions, six regional offices, and 122 institutions. Each of the 122 institutions is largely handling education programming in their own way and to their own standard, hiring their own educators, utilizing an ad hoc budgetary commitment, and operating without a common vision, common policies, and common fidelity of implementation. In their report they proposed the establishment of an Education Office which would essentially take the role of a school district within the prison system. The EO would make five key changes to the education of inmates:
The development of the Education Office would improve the quality of education and job training for inmates but would require the placement of an organized administration. With a staff of only thirteen, BOP has insufficient Central Office resources. The Bronner Group recommends first employing a Chief Education Administrator who will report directly to the RSD Director and six regional Education Administrators who will report to the CEA but assigned to the six regional offices with the duty of ensuring quality standards are being met. Current REA’s do not have any staff and so they would be….The EO would have the authority to set standards, policies, approve programs, and set budgets with BOP’s approval.
EOP will oversee four branches that will support staff with supplying them with the resources they need.
Criteria to be employed as a teacher are not well defined resulting in inmate's needs not met due to lack of certification especially those working with inmates with special needs. All full-time teachers will be required to be certified who will report directly to the Local Education departments.
Deloitte’s main focus is improving the residential reentry centers otherwise known as halfway homes and the services for those who were released. It addresses the management of the services that ensure releases have access to the resources that they need.
In this section the RRC’s intake procedures, program offerings, and reentry resources will be evaluated. RRC’s throughout the nation vary in the intake procedures and length of stay of inmates. Inmates released to RRCs typically have been isolated from society on an average of six years. Some inmates are immediately placed on home confinement which delays their capabilities of finding employment. Whether or not an inmate is placed in an RRC that is in or within a small proximity of their hometown varies. Nearly 20% of releases stay in RRCs that are more than 75 miles away from their home. This may result from multiple reasons including limited spacing at the RRC. Inmates upon release face many challenges on finding employment. Inmates who are placed in RRCs that are in cities they are unfamiliar with may have more transportation issues and difficulty finding opportunities for employment. The minimal requirements for RRCs vary and are not rigorous enough for the resources the provide to inmates. RRCs are simply required to work with individuals on financial management, allow inmates access to YMCAs, simply provide inmates with a list of job opportunities, and basic cognitive behavioral therapy taught by people with little to no experience. Individuals are unable to attain employment due to lack of documentation such as: state identification, social security cards, and birth certificates. Most individuals released from prison are forbidden to have passports. In most instances Nearly 20% of individuals report the possession of an ID and less than have reported that the RRCs helped them to attain it. Individuals may have a hard time acquire these documents because of costs and the the time it takes for these documents to be processed also delays their time to find employment and even acquire housing upon release from the RRC. They may also lack medication and appropriate clothing. All RRCs are required to be located within one mile of public transportation but the area surroundings are less likely to have job opportunities available, there for requiring individuals to make long commutes.
In response to the programs that are provided the reports made by the RRCs and residents vary on the actual frequency of usage of programs offered. Based on surveys taken by the residents themselves, they don’t find the employment resources helpful and would like to see some more skill development programs.