Incarceration Analysis

Words: 1372
Pages: 6

Mental health issues, substance abuse disorders, and homelessness are prominent factors that contribute to the high incarceration and recidivism rates in the United States legal system (Spjeldnes, Jung, Maguire, & Yamatani, 2012). Very few offenders receive proper treatment while in jail and even fewer receive treatment or know where to find resources once released. Due to a lack of adequate treatment, jail becomes a revolving door for many individuals with mental health, substance abuse, and homeless issues (Spjeldnes et al., 2012). Incarceration not only affects the individual but also the community and taxpayers. Since these individuals are at a higher risk for recidivism, the financial cost of incarceration increases as well as the removal …show more content…
Many inmates when leaving jail are faced with the question of where are they going to live? With limited funds and a lack of shelter, homeless prisoners are placed at a greater risk of returning to jail (Lutze, Rosky, & Hamilton, 2013). In addition, for those offenders with a history of drug abuse, the ability to obtain safe accommodation after release is vital in preventing them from returning to their addiction. With a lack of affordable housing and little income, ex-offenders are often unable to rent from the private sector, which forces many offenders to return to the streets in high crime rate areas (Lutze et al., 2013). Interestingly, an approach that seeks to apply Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is the Housing First Program, which places ex-felons in a housing program designed to help reduce recidivism (Somers, Rezansoff, Moniruzzaman, Palepu, & Patterson, 2013). The Housing First program offers congregate housing and scattered-site housing, with congregate housing involving transforming old hotels into individual housing units. It provides ex-offenders with a sense of community and support among other occupants. Whereas, the scattered-site option places ex-felon throughout a city, but still within proximity of other ex-felons (Somers et al., 2013). Having a viable place for ex-felons to live makes meeting this basic need obtainable when working to fulfill Maslow’s …show more content…
The researchers will be using a single-group pretest posttest structure. Participants who enroll in the Recovery Project program between January 1, 2017 and January 1, 2018 will be assessed using a pre-test and post-test. The pre-test examines an offender’s arrest record prior to entering the Recovery Project. Analysis of an individual’s records will be obtained using Odyssey, an online nation database. Information gathered from an individual’s arrest records will include education level, age, sex, race, offensives committed, total arrests, total days spent in jail, juvenile arrest record, days on probation, and any other programs an offender completed after released from jail. Six-months after an individual has completed the Recovery Project a follow-up of his or her arrest records will be conducted. The researcher(s) will re-examine an individual’s arrest records, looking for new arrests, new convictions, and return to jail sentencing. Data collection will be able to be completed at the end of September 2018, 9 months after the last participants begin the Recovery Project (with January 1, 2018 start date, 3 months of program, then 6 months to follow-up). Once all of the data has been collected, a meta-analysis will be used to combine and compare the results of individuals’ pre-test and