Subsistence via Public Assistance: Exploring Ex-inmates’ Use of Public Assistance

• In Event: Inside and Out: The Challenges of Living in Prison and Returning Home

Abstract

With research demonstrating that ex-inmates suffer negative employment outcomes, it is vitally important to understand how incarceration influences individual and societal finances and resource use. When incarceration compromises wages, income, and wage mobility, ex-inmates can find it difficult to make a living wage. As such, it is conceivable that ex-inmates rely more heavily on public assistance to supplement their earnings. This study uses fixed-effects and event history analyses to consider the lengths of time ex-inmates use public assistance, and whether ex-inmates turn to public assistance more quickly than individuals who have never experienced incarceration. I find that first-time ex-inmates report using public assistance for equivalent lengths of time as their never-incarcerated peers, while ex-inmates with multiple incarceration experiences report using public assistance longer than their never incarcerated peers. However, regardless of the number of incarcerations experienced, ex-inmates report using public assistance sooner after their release from incarceration than their peers do after arrest or probation conviction.

Author

• Amanda D Emmert, Towson University