In a normal business, return customers are a great thing—increasing revenue. But in the prison system, return customers are the worst kind, draining the budget and offering nothing new to the community in between stints. According to a major study commissioned by the Christie Administration, it’s these return customers that are costing the state the most.
The Star-Ledger claims to have obtained a draft copy of the anticipated report, which they say recommends the state assist offenders with employment upon release to help prevent recidivism. Employment is one of the biggest determining factors in whether or not someone will return to prison. Helping ensure former inmates can obtain work is a sure way to reduce the revolving door effect.
According to the Star-Ledger and the Department of Corrections, about 60{74bbbd36a4df8b83bd1805c8c4f34bcc3063e84848f392c2fd8bb03fcdaa883e} of former inmates will be arrested again within only three years after being released. Often its finances that drive people back into the criminal lifestyle, though employment offers more than just a check.
When you look at the crimes these offenders are being rearrested for, they aren’t all enterprising offenses. In other words, you can’t say for certain that they are always turning to crime to pay the bills when a job can’t be obtained. Sure this is the reason in many cases, but not all. Employment does more than pay bills, it provides support.
Like family and positive friends, employment gives an offender structure, something to wake up to every morning and something to be accountable to. This sense of duty can have a dramatic impact on the desire to rejoin old acquaintances who remain involved in the criminal lifestyle. A sense of pride that a job can provide is often as dramatically impacting as the income it generates.
The report, which hasn’t been presented to Governor Christie yet is said to recommend concrete assistance to offenders as well as alternatives to incarceration and sentencing changes. Employment would be the main instrument, however, as the report suggests a program created with help from the Manhattan Institute and headed by the state Parole Board.
The proposed program would oversee job training and drug treatment, combining it with law enforcement and post release supervision. Supporters state this sort of well rounded and cooperative approach is needed in a system that currently lacks structure and centralized direction.
A similar program in Newark is having a positive impact and it’s said the statewide program would be modeled after this one. It has been working for the past two years where 829 of 1394 participants were placed in jobs with a 71{74bbbd36a4df8b83bd1805c8c4f34bcc3063e84848f392c2fd8bb03fcdaa883e} retention rate. Of these only 7{74bbbd36a4df8b83bd1805c8c4f34bcc3063e84848f392c2fd8bb03fcdaa883e} have been rearrested, a sharp contrast from the 60{74bbbd36a4df8b83bd1805c8c4f34bcc3063e84848f392c2fd8bb03fcdaa883e} mentioned earlier.
The prison cycle is ineffective and this proposed arrangement could put New Jersey at the forefront of real corrections reform. Such programming is often available through probation but the same isn’t always afforded for those sent to prison.