Correctional Facilities

This is a program for homeless individuals who are often in jail, to increase their housing stability and reduce their criminal justice involvement. The program is rated Effective. Individuals in the treatment group had statistically significant reductions in arrest, jail stays, days in jail, and shelter stays and visits, and statistically significant increases in mental health services, compared with the control group, but there was no statistically significant effect on substance use services.

This is an intensive, supervised release program for individuals released from prison in Minnesota who are at high risk for reoffending. The primary goal of the program is to reduce recidivism of released individuals. The program is rated Promising. The program reduced the risk of general, felony, and violent reconvictions and any rearrests, but increased the risk of a technical violation revocation. All of these differences were statistically significant.

This is a juvenile reentry program that offers services to youth returning to the community in Tulsa, Okla., after their out-of-home placements. The goal of the program is to reduce rates of recidivism for high-risk youth. The program is rated No Effects. There were no statistically significant differences in reconviction rates for treatment group youth who received the program’s services, compared with comparison group youth who did not receive services.

This is a policy reform passed by California voters to downgrade drug and property offenses from felonies to misdemeanors, to focus prison resources on the most-serious violent offenses, reinvest savings toward prevention, and reduce recidivism. The program is rated Promising. In an evaluation of recidivism, the intervention group had statistically significantly fewer rearrests and reconvictions for any crime or revocation, compared with the control group, at the 1-year follow-up.

This is a program that uses an interdisciplinary team to address factors contributing to clients’ contact with the court. The program is rated Promising. Participants experienced a reduction in average sentence length and were more likely to be released on recognizance, compared with those who received traditional legal services. These differences were statistically significant. However, there was no statistically significant impact on conviction or on future arrest rates.

Prison visitation allows individuals housed in Minnesota facilities to be visited by family, friends, and other approved persons. The program is rated Promising. Individuals visited at least once during their confinement had statistically significant lower risks of reconvictions and technical violation revocations compared with those who were never visited. Those who were visited specifically by community volunteers also had statistically significantly lower risks of recidivism compared with the

This program is a prison-based therapeutic community for drug-involved individuals. The program is rated Promising. After 3 years, results showed statistically significant increases in remaining drug-free; however, there were no statistically significant effects in being arrest-free.

This is a residential work-release program that uses therapy, counseling and treatment for persons convicted of a crime with a history of substance use who are reentering society. The program is rated Promising. There were statistically significant increases in participants being injection-free at 6 months and being drug-free after 3 years; however, there were no statistically significant effects in condom use (at 6 months) or being arrest-free (after 3 years).

This is a group-based, cognitive-behavioral therapy and mindfulness training intervention targeted at male youth in high-security correctional facilities. The program is rated Promising. Results indicated a statistically significant reduction in the decline of attention skills for the treatment group, measured as accuracy and response variability on the Attention Network Test; however, there was no statistically significant effect on response time.

This program combines enhanced employment opportunities and wraparound services for incarcerated persons before and after release from prison. The program is rated Promising. There was a statistically significant reduction in likelihood of rearrests for program group participants, compared with the control group. There was also a lower rate of reimprisonment for program participants than nonparticipants; however, this difference was not statistically significant.

Implemented by the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, this is a cognitive–behavioral program for male parolees that aims to build psychosocial skills in areas such as self-control, interpersonal problem-solving, and critical reasoning. The program is rated No Effects. The authors found no statistically significant effect of program participation on recidivism and employment measures.

The program is targeted at individuals whose mental illnesses are seen as instrumental in their offenses, and who are likely to qualify for and benefit from publicly supported treatment in the community. The overall goal is to reduce recidivism . The program is rated Effective. Participants in the program were less likely to be convicted of any new offense and convicted of felony offenses, compared with the matched comparison group. The difference was statistically significant.

Under a 2003 Washington State law, incarcerated individuals who had committed certain nonviolent offenses were able to acquire earlier release time of up to 50 percent of their maximum sentence. The program is rated Promising. Individuals who were released early under the law had a statistically significant lower rate of felony convictions, compared with individuals who were not released early; however, there was no statistically significant difference on violent convictions.

This program was designed to provide an alcohol intervention to incarcerated women with hazardous drinking habits who were being released from prison. The program is rated No Effects. There were no statistically significant differences between the treatment and comparison groups on the number of days abstinent from alcohol consumption at the 6-month follow up.

This program was designed to help individuals make a successful transition from prison to the community through provision of stable housing and support to obtain employment. The program is rated Promising. Program participants had a statistically significant decrease in rearrest, reconviction, and reincarceration rates, and an improvement in employment and number of hours worked. However, participants also had a statistically significant higher likelihood of revocations for technical violations.

This program was an intensive alternative reintegration program for high-risk male juveniles who were being released to probation from a juvenile corrections facility. The program is rated Promising. Results showed that while there were no differences between the treatment and comparison groups on the percent who had been re-arrested during the 9-month follow up, the treatment group had a statistically significantly lower number of re-arrests than the comparison group.

This program linked incarcerated persons who had disabilities and were at risk for homelessness to supportive housing upon their release from prison. The goal was to reduce recidivism, homelessness, and multiple systems use. The program is rated Promising. The program was shown to statistically significantly reduce the probability of rearrest (but not re-incarceration) and length of time from release to rearrest; however, treatment group participants were rearrested more frequently.

This program was located at a secure-custody residential facility that provided educational and vocational training to moderate-risk male youth. The program is rated No Effects. Participants showed a statistically significant greater likelihood of obtaining a degree, compared with nonparticipants. However, there were no statistically significant differences in any arrest for any offense overall and felony arrest specifically, employment, time employed, or higher education enrollment.

This boot camp intervention in Minnesota combines a traditional military institutional program for 6 months with two 6-month phases of intensive, supervised release aftercare. The program is rated Promising. Program participants had statistically significant lower rates of re-arrest, felony reconviction, and return to prison for a new offense than the comparison group, but no statistically significant difference in the rate of return to prison for any offense.

This is a prison-based, cognitive–behavioral skills enhancement program in England. The program is rated Effective. Program participants showed statistically significant reductions in reconviction rates and frequency of reoffending, compared with nonparticipants. However, there was no statistically significant difference between groups in severe offense reconviction rates.

This intervention linked women who committed nonviolent offenses to community-based, substance use treatment after release from jail. It was designed to reduce recidivism and alcohol and drug use, and to promote long-term recovery. This program is rated No Effects. The treatment group had a statistically significant greater likelihood of participating in substance use treatment; however, there were no significant effects for recidivism, alcohol and drug use, or number of days spent in jail.

This is a reentry program designed to facilitate selected individuals’ transition from incarceration to community living by providing work opportunities outside of correctional facilities and less structured housing alternatives. The program is rated Promising. Program completers had statistically significantly lower recidivism rates, compared with comparison group members who did not participate in the program, at the 3-year follow-up period.

This is a post-custody, community-based intervention for individuals with co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorders. The program is rated No Effects. While the program statistically significantly reduced the number of reconvictions and incarcerations, it did not impact the number of arrests, days in jail, felony convictions, or percent of reconvictions.

This is a transitional employment program that gives those who are newly released from prison the opportunity to work and find housing. RWA seeks to provide clients with work and foundational skills so that they can find a job, secure housing, and become financially independent. The program is rated No Effects. After 3 years, RWA showed a statistically significant positive impact on jail sentences, but there was no statistically significant impact on arrests, convictions, and prison sentences.

The program provides cognitive–behavioral treatment and relapse prevention to people who commit repetitive, compulsive sex offenses. Cognitive–behavioral treatments focus on reconstructing person’s cognitive distortions; relapse prevention focuses on pattern recognition and breaking the cycle of recommitting sex crimes. The program is rated Promising. The intervention participants showed a statistically significant lower likelihood of recidivating, compared with the general prison-population.

This was a two-phase reentry program with an overall goal of reducing recidivism and improving incarcerated persons’ transition into the community. Phase 1 provided incarcerated persons with in-jail programming and services to prepare them for release. Phase 2 provided them with up to 12 months of supportive services in the community. The program was rated Effective. Program participants had a 10 percent chance of rearrest, compared with a 34 percent chance for the comparison group.

This was a case management program implemented in seven different correctional institutions across Minnesota. The program connected caseworkers in prisons with supervision agents in the communities to which participants return upon release from prison. The program is rated Promising. It statistically significantly reduced recidivism as measured by rearrest, reconviction, technical violation revocation, and reincarceration for any reason, but had no impact on new offense reincarceration.

This is a pre-booking, community-based diversion program designed to divert those suspected of low-level drug and prostitution offenses away from jail and prosecution and into case management and other supportive services. The program is rated Promising. The intervention group had a statistically significant lower likelihood of having been rearrested, compared with the control group. However, there was no statistically significant impact on non-warrant rearrests.

This is a curriculum-based, gender-responsive intervention created to address the different cognitive–behavioral needs of incarcerated women. The program is rated Promising. Participants in the program had a statistically significant lower likelihood to be rearrested and reconvicted, compared with the control group participants; however, the program did not have a significant impact on reincarcerations for a new offense and technical violation revocations.

This is a problem-solving court program that seeks to divert mentally ill adults who committed misdemeanor and felony offenses out of the justice system and into treatment to address their mental health issues and reduce their risk of recidivism. The program is rated No Effects. There was no statistically significant effect on rearrests or reconvictions for treatment group participants, compared with similar individuals with a mental disorder in jail, at the 30-month follow-up.

The program engages persons incarcerated in state prison in private sector jobs (which pay minimum wage or higher), in an effort to increase post-release employment and reduce recidivism. The program is rated Promising. Compared with those who worked in traditional prison industries and participated in other activities such as education and drug treatment, treatment group participants showed a statistically significant increase in post-release employment and a decrease in recidivism rates.

This program is designed to reduce recidivism by placing released those convicted of offenses in halfway houses and community-based correctional facilities in Ohio, to provide a range of programming related to chemical dependency, education, employment, and family relationships. The program is rated Promising. Participants in the treatment group had a statistically significant lower number of new arrests and reincarcerations, compared with those in the comparison group, at the 2-year follow up.

This program is an alternative to incarceration for felons with substance abuse problems. In lieu of confinement, they must successfully complete a residential, chemical-dependency treatment program in the community. The program is rated Promising. Residential DOSA was shown to statistically significantly reduce overall recidivism rates compared with prison-based DOSA.

Visitation in prison allows incarcerated persons to connect to the outside world by developing social bonds with family members and friends. The overall goal of in-prison visitation is to reduce recidivism and assist in helping incarcerated persons adjust to transitioning back into their community. The program is rated Promising. The recidivism rate was statistically significantly lower for incarcerated persons who received visitation compared with those who did not receive visitation.

This program consists of post-booking jail diversion mental health courts, which seek to keep justice-involved individuals with serious mental illnesses out of the court system and place them into community-based treatment without jeopardizing public safety. This program is rated Promising. Mental health courts in the four studied cities were shown to have statistically significant reductions in participants’ rates of arrests and incarceration days at the 18-month follow-up.

In Minnesota, bed shortages created an increase in the prison population in the first few years following 2000, resulting in eligible male inmates being transferred to a private prison facility to serve their time. The program was rated No Effects. Confinement in the private prison resulted in statistically significant increases in the risk of rearrest and reconviction. There was no statistically significant impact on reincarceration for a new offense or revocation for a technical violation.

This is a prison work crew program designed to increase the availability of affordable low-income housing while training inmates in construction-industry-specific occupational skills. The program is rated No Effects. The program had a statistically significant effect on participants’ likelihood of gaining employment in the construction field. However, there were no statistically significant effects on rearrests, reconvictions, and reincarceration.

This is a diversion program for 16- and 17-year-old defendants in the New York state adult criminal justice system. The program is rated Promising. Similar rates of recidivism were found for participants and comparison group members, which suggests that diverting older adolescents does not increase the risk of recidivism and risk to the public.

This is a voluntary, faith-based prisoner reentry program that attempts to prepare inmates for reintegration into the community, employment, family, and other significant relationships through programming. The program is rated Promising. There were statistically significant reductions in rearrest, reconviction, and reincarceration rates for the treatment group, compared with the comparison group. However, there was no statistically significant impact on revocations for a technical violation.

This is an interactive journal designed to help incarcerated persons who have been screened or identified as having a potential substance use disorder to help inmates make the connection between their substance use and criminal activity. The program is rated Promising. The recidivism rate of inmates who participated in the program’s interactive journal intervention was statistically significantly lower compared with the control group.

This is a residential program that provides mental health treatment to violent juveniles. The program is rated Promising. Participants in the treatment group demonstrated a statistically significant lower likelihood of violent (but not general) recidivism and had a longer offense-free period in the community prior to committing felony, violent, or violent felony (but not misdemeanor) offenses, compared with control group participants.

This is an institution-based transitional services demonstration program, designed to be a short, intensive intervention, which could provide a greater number of individuals with reentry services at a lower cost. The program is rated No Effects. Program participants showed a statistically significant higher rate of parole revocation and rearrests for new offenses, compared with comparison group participants. However, there were no significant differences in felony rearrest rates between groups.

This program is an adaptation of the therapeutic community models used with individuals who have co-occurring drug abuse problems and mental health disorders. It offers a more flexible, more personalized, and less intense approach to achieve greater reductions in substance use and recidivism. This program is rated Promising. Participants in the treatment group showed statistically significant reductions in illegal drug use, compared with the control group.

This interagency public safety initiative aims to help incarcerated violent adults who have been convicted of a crime transition back to their neighborhoods following release from jail through various services. The program is rated Promising. The study found that after 3 years statistically significantly fewer program participants had been arrested for any crime and violent crime compared to the control group. The program was also associated with reductions in the subsequent overall time to arre

This program provides intensive treatment in a dedicated housing unit to male incarcerated persons with substance abuse problems during the last 9 to 12 months of their prison terms. The program is rated Promising. Participants had statistically significant lower reincarceration rates at the 24-month and 5-year follow-up periods, compared with the control group. There were no significant differences between the groups in reincarceration rates at the 36-month follow up or in drug use at the 5-year follow up.

This prison-based substance abuse treatment program for women near the end of their incarceration period is designed to reduce substance use and recidivism following release. The program is rated Promising. The intervention group reported statistically significantly fewer arrests and reconvictions and less drug use at follow up compared with the comparison group. However, there was no statistically significant effect on reincarceration and employment.

This program uses a drug treatment continuum of prison-based therapeutic community and residential work release for drug-involved convicted persons. The program is rated Promising. Results showed statistically significant increases in remaining drug-free after 3 years and increases in condom use after 6 months; however, there were no statistically significant effects in being injection-free (after 6 months) or arrest-free (after 3 years).

This is a multicomponent treatment program administered in juvenile correctional facilities for youth with conduct disorders. This program is rated Promising. Program youth showed statistically significant improvements in social skills and had statistically significant fewer instances of self-reported and staff-reported institutional misconduct, compared with control group youth. However, there were no significant differences between groups on measures of moral judgment.

This is a court program in western Michigan designed to divert people convicted of driving under the influence (DUI) from jail, eliminate substance use, and reduce recidivism. The program is rated Promising. At the 2-year follow up, program participants were less likely to be rearrested and had longer time to first-rearrest, compared with control group participants. These differences were statistically significant. However, there were no significant differences between groups for alcohol or drug

This is a jail reentry program that works to reduce inmates’ recidivism once they reenter the community, in part by linking them to various resources. The program is rated Promising. Approximately 12 percent of program participants were rearrested during the 12-month follow-up period, compared with 82 percent of control group participants, a statistically significant difference.