Think of probation as an enormous testing period: will you be able to adhere to the thicket of conditions governing your daily life? Fail at any of them and you could be sent to prison. At the heart of this testing ethos is drug testing, affecting almost all of the 2.9 million people on probation in the U.S. The tests are time-consuming, expensive, and traumatic. There is also little evidence justifying their use.
The Inside Literary Prize is the first major U.S. book award judged by people who are incarcerated, some of the most prolific readers in the country. Yet the walls we erect around incarcerated people also disappear them from conversations about culture, politics, history—conversations to which they can make vital contributions. On New Thinking, hear a behind-the-scenes portrait of a day of judging in Minnesota's Shakopee women's prison.
Every major reform is a hard-fought win, but if your goal is genuine system-change, getting your policy passed is only the beginning of your fight. With the help of a range of seasoned policy campaigners and real-world examples, our guide highlights the elements of strong, sustainable implementation, helping to ensure your policy translates into lasting change on the ground.
Vincent Schiraldi used to run probation in New York City; now he’s questioning whether it should exist at all. Schiraldi says some of the roots of mass supervision—and its connection to mass incarceration—can be found in a surprising place: the Supreme Court’s 1963 Gideon decision. It recognized, but failed to adequately support, a poor person’s right to a lawyer. Hear the final episode in New Thinking’s “Gideon at 60” series.
We talk of “second chances,” but rarely do we recognize that many of the millions of people returning from jail and prison each year never got a first one. This policy brief outlines a new vision for reentry focused on the social integration due to returning citizens. That starts with two priorities: immediate access to housing and to trauma-informed therapy.
April Barber Scales was a pregnant 15-year-old when she received two life sentences; Anthony Willis was 16 when he was sent away for life. After more than 25 years behind bars, they each received something desperately rare: clemency. They describe how they fought against a prison system that "sets you up for failure." We also hear from an organization in Baltimore that works exclusively with young people at high risk of violence. Rather than arrests and incarceration, what do these young people need?
This brief provides an overview of participatory research and discusses different ways that reentry programs can engage impacted populations (e.g., formerly incarcerated persons, past program participants) in the evaluation of their programs. It also summarizes key benefits of this approach, potential challenges and how to navigate them, and provides examples of how to build off existing participatory engagement strategies.
The Family Healing Project uses restorative practices to offer supportive spaces for individuals and families, after incarceration. Evidence shows that strong social support is positively correlated with stable housing and that stable housing greatly reduces the risk of re-arrest amongst formerly incarcerated people. Yet support for people coming home is often narrowly focused on material needs, while heads of households, primarily women of color, shoulder the emotional, psychological, and spiritual challenges for all.
While eviction is a universally stressful event, people with mental health conditions can face unique obstacles with housing retention for reasons related specifically to their disability. This guide provides a review of housing settings and specific risks of eviction for individuals with mental illness before focusing on housing court and the challenges these individuals and court personnel face therein and identifies junctures at which supportive, problem-solving interventions can ensure the necessary community supports and legal representation.
Developed with support from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Planning a Reentry Program: A Toolkit for Tribal Communities is designed to help tribal justice system practitioners create or enhance reentry programs for American Indians and Alaska Natives returning from jail or prison. It also offers guidance for practitioners who are currently working in a reentry program.
