Putting the Community in Community Corrections: Investing in the Lives of People Leaving Prison

• In Event: Rehabilitation, Reentry Challenges, and Community-Based Programs

Abstract

People leaving prison face critical gaps in resources and interpersonal relationships that have yet to be effectively addressed by reentry programming. The intense stigma that follows people with criminal convictions is isolating and difficult to overcome. As a result, community members exclude the people who need their support the most. What could it look like to instead have ‘ordinary citizens’ invest in the success of people leaving prison for healthier and stronger communities? This thesis examines a community-based pilot reentry program in Phoenix, Arizona to understand the complexities of community involvement in reentry and to inform best practices moving forward through a process evaluation and initial exploration of program impact by analyzing notes from program development, pre/post network data from the table participant, and semi-structured interviews with each table member. Results show the Open Table program is critical to providing emotional support that is otherwise missing for some people in reentry. Findings also suggest that community investment matters in reentry and that community investment is complex, with both pre-investment and who is investing playing a key role.

Author

• Madeline Boersma, Arizona State University