Enabling Successful Reentry: Results From a Collaborative-approach Reentry Program

• In Event: Returning Home: A National Movement

Abstract

During the last decade, states and the federal government have attributed considerable financial resources to develop effective reentry programs. Research indicates that the reentry process should begin in the institutions and should continue during the transition of the reentrant to the society. Furthermore, reentrants tend to have multiple needs areas and have inadequate living arrangements and poor social support networks. Thus many reentry programs attempt to address multiple need areas. The purpose of the current study is to examine a New England reentry program that initiates treatment inside the prison and attempts to address multiple need areas including antisocial attitudes, employment, substance abuse, housing and health. The program is a result of a collaboration between multiple agencies and is designed within the risk-need-responsivity framework. Evidence-based procedures include the use of a validated risk assessment, targeting criminogenic needs, a cognitive-behavioral curriculum, and a structured community intervention. Preliminary results from the first year of the implementation of this program, as well as challenges met along the way will be discussed.

Author

• Mirlinda Ndrecka, University of New Haven