Prisons Plan for Punishment, Not Release

[Washington, D.C.] — As Second Chance Month is observed across the country this April a new report released today by The Sentencing Project, “Learning Life All Over Again: Reentry After Long-Term Imprisonment,” finds that the reentry experience after long-term imprisonment is driven less by individual choices and more by how prisons prepare—or fail to prepare—people to return home, with consequences that ripple outward to families and communities alike.

“Learning Life All Over Again: Reentry After Long-Term Imprisonment” highlights the experiences and challenges of thirty-three formerly incarcerated people released after decades of imprisonment in California, Colorado, Louisiana, Nevada, New York, Oregon and Washington, D.C, as they attempt to rebuild their lives in a dramatically changed social, economic, and technological landscape. Based on a self-reported measurement of well-being, 45% of respondents were thriving, 33% were surviving and 21% said they were suffering.

Each year, nearly half a million people are released from prisons nationwide. Yet, the systems designed to support their reentry remain fragmented and insufficient. Because of the lack of preparation, the process of reentry is made even more challenging as people face the stigma of felony convictions alongside gaps in preparation, documentation, financial resources and access to support services during a critical transition period. Women, older adults, people with disabilities, those with mental health needs, and other vulnerable populations require additional resources to address their unique reentry needs.

Improving reentry outcomes is critical to building safer, more equitable communities. When corrections systems fail to prepare people for release after decades of incarceration, the consequences do not stop with the individual: families, community organizations and local services are left to absorb the responsibilities the system did not meet. Meaningful investment in reentry support strengthens community stability by reducing avoidable strain on families, service providers and the broader community that share in the ripple effects of reentry outcomes.

“This report shows how difficult returning home can be for people who have served decades in prison, when departments of corrections abandon them at the point of release. By blocking access to rehabilitation, failing to prepare people for life outside, and shifting responsibility onto families and communities, corrections systems have effectively designed reentry to fail, said Kristen Budd, senior research analyst at The Sentencing Project and the report’s lead author. “Meaningful reentry requires removing barriers to rehabilitation programs, investing in comprehensive reentry planning, paying fair wages during incarceration and providing adequate gate money, streamlining parole and probation rules so they don’t interfere with work or family, and supporting the community organizations that already do this work.”

Based on the interviews, the report identified the following systemic barriers that shape the reentry experience:

• Prisons largely fail to prepare people for life on the outside. People released after 20+ years received little meaningful assistance with things like getting a state ID and social security card, and other important documents, learning new technology, planning for employment, or understanding available services.
• People with long sentences are often blocked from programming that could help them succeed later. Many participants said they were denied or delayed access to rehabilitative programming, certain job and educational opportunities and trade programs due to their sentence length.
• Most participants returned home with housing and jobs– but they still experienced strain. While most of the interview participants were employed and had a place to live, many described ongoing challenges including lower wages, limited job and housing mobility and financial pressure, especially right after release.
• Leaving prison with little to no money makes reentry harder than it needs to be. More than half of those interviewed received no “gate money” upon release, and combined with extremely low prison wages, many were forced to rely on family or community organization when they first returned home.
• Parole and felony probation rules can interfere with work and family life. Travel restrictions and approval delays made it harder for people to travel for work, accept promotions or even visit family– factors that research notes are critical to rebuilding lives after prison.
• Navigating today’s digital world is challenging– especially without access or training. Technology – from smartphones to digital banking and healthcare portals to online job applications – was one of the most commonly cited hurdles to successful reentry after decades in prison.

The report also emphasizes that individuals returning from long-term imprisonment are resilient and have a strong desire to contribute to their communities regardless of obstacles and potential setbacks. The full report is available here.