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Prisoner Reentry

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The transition from incarceration to life in the community has implications for public safety at large and for the communities into which the former prisoners are introduced. RAND research has explored how to prevent recidivism through correctional education, the public health issues of prisoner reentry, and the question of prisoner rehabilitation.

Report
Leveraging Technology to Support Prisoner Reentry
How can technology help ease the transition from jails or prisons back into the community—and ensure better outcomes for individuals who have been incarcerated?
May 3, 2022
Essay
What Programs Can Help Parents in Prison and Their Children?
Around 2.3 million people live in U.S. jails and prisons, and most of them are parents. What are prisons doing to help them be better parents when they get out? It's more than just a policy question—it's a social justice question.
May 2, 2022

Explore Prisoner Reentry

Report
Intellectual, Developmental, and Physical Disabilities in U.S. Legal Settings: A Scoping Review
The authors conducted a scoping review to assess the current state of the literature related to individuals with disabilities who interact with the criminal and civil legal systems, with the goal of developing a future research agenda.
Nov 30, 2023
Report
Intellectual, Developmental, and Physical Disabilities in U.S. Legal Settings: Perspectives from People with Relevant Experience
The authors conducted interviews with professionals and people with lived experience to understand what it is like to interact with the civil or criminal legal system while having a disability, with the goal of developing a future research agenda.
Nov 30, 2023
Blog
Nuclear Deterrence, Russia and Iran, Deepfakes: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on how much is “enough” for U.S. nuclear forces, the budding Russia-Iran partnership, the challenge of detecting deepfakes, and more.
Oct 6, 2023
Research Brief
Financial Incentives for Businesses Can Increase Employment of People with Criminal Records
Connecting individuals with criminal histories to jobs benefits both them and society, but employers are hesitant to hire them. Modest direct financial incentives such as tax credits could motivate employers to hire more people with prior convictions.
Oct 2, 2023
Report
Evaluation of the California County Resentencing Pilot Program: Year 2 Findings
The California County Resentencing Pilot Program was established to support and evaluate a collaborative approach to prosecutorial discretion in resentencing eligible incarcerated individuals. The authors document results from year 2 of the program.
Sep 27, 2023
Report
Improving Employment Outcomes for the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Returning Citizens
Gainful employment is a key factor in reducing recidivism, but individuals released from federal prisons face significant barriers to employment. This report presents findings from a workshop held to explore related challenges and opportunities.
Jun 26, 2023
Report
Implementation and Outcome Evaluation of LA DOOR: A Proposition 47-Funded Program in Los Angeles: Cohort 2 Final Evaluation Report
The authors discuss the Los Angeles Diversion, Outreach, and Opportunities for Recovery program, which uses a health-focused preventative approach to engage those at risk of misdemeanors related to substance use, mental illness, or homelessness.
May 24, 2023
Blog
Reflecting on the Pandemic, RAND Turns 75, Labor Trafficking: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, 75 years of influential RAND research, reducing labor trafficking in the United States, and more.
May 12, 2023
Research Brief
Wraparound Services Are Key to Helping Justice-Involved Los Angelenos Get and Keep Jobs
A team of researchers from the RAND Corporation and Harder+Company Community Research partnered with the Los Angeles Mayor's Office of Reentry to evaluate Cohort 2 of Project imPACT. This brief highlights program implementation and outcome findings.
May 12, 2023
Report
Implementation and Outcome Evaluation of Project imPACT — A Proposition 47–Funded Program in Los Angeles: Cohort 2 Final Evaluation Report
This report presents findings related to individuals served by Project imPACT, an employment-focused reentry program, between June 2020 and September 2022, demonstrating how service providers helped Fellows achieve several of the program's goals.
May 12, 2023
Blog
RAND Turns 75: A Look Through the Decades At World-Changing Research
From anticipating the Space Age in the 1940s to studying gun policy and COVID-19 responses in the 2020s, RAND is celebrating 75 years of research that has made a difference.
May 8, 2023
Journal Article
Failing to Follow the Rules: Can Imprisonment Lead to More Imprisonment Without More Actual Crime?
We find that people involved in low-level crime receiving a prison sentence are more likely than those with non-prison sentences to be re-imprisoned due to technical violations of parole, rather than due to new crimes.
Mar 30, 2023
Report
How Did COVID-19 Affect Prison Education?
Many U.S. correctional systems shut down or cut back on education and vocational programs because of the pandemic. But having to adapt to COVID-19 restrictions helped accelerate the adoption of online and hybrid learning models and the use of technology for prison education programs.
Mar 23, 2023
Journal Article
The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Workers with a Criminal History
In this article, we use data from the NLSY97 COVID-19 Supplement to examine the extent to which workers with a criminal history record had employment disruptions during the early months of the pandemic.
Feb 14, 2023
Report
Promising Services for Justice-Involved Youth: A Scoping Review with Implications for the Los Angeles County Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act
The authors of this report provide a review of the literature that evaluates programs for youth who are involved in the juvenile justice system to identify promising and effective practices, describing implications for Los Angeles County.
Jan 5, 2023
News Release
L.A. Program to Divert Homeless from Jail into Supportive Housing Decreases Use of County Services
A program that diverts some people with a history of homelessness from Los Angeles County jails into permanent supportive housing can significantly lower taxpayer spending on services such as hospital care and shelter use.
Aug 16, 2022
Research Brief
Supportive Housing Program Broke the Jail-to-Homeless Cycle and Mostly Paid for Itself
The Just in Reach Pay for Success program diverted people with a history of homelessness from Los Angeles County jails into permanent supportive housing. It achieved a one-year housing stability rate of 82 percent. And most of its costs were offset by a reduction in the use of other county services.
Aug 16, 2022
Report
Just in Reach Pay for Success: Impact Evaluation and Cost Analysis of a Permanent Supportive Housing Program
This report examines a Los Angeles County initiative to provide long-term housing and supportive services as an alternative to jail for individuals with a history of homelessness and chronic behavioral or physical health conditions.
Aug 15, 2022
Commentary
States Have Leading Role to Play in Preventing Mass Shootings
As the United States grapples with how to prevent mass shootings, state governments might be best positioned to take the lead on long-term, sustainable efforts that prevent targeted violence.
Jun 13, 2022
Journal Article
State Targeted Violence Prevention: Programming & Key Performance Indicators
This resource is a guide for U.S. state governments as they seek to implement comprehensive targeted violence prevention (TVP) programming and evaluate its implementation, outcomes, and impact.
May 18, 2022

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RAND Topic:
Prisoner Reentry

Topic Synonyms:
Re-Entry Services

Research conducted by

Researcher Spotlight

Shawn D. Bushway

Adjunct Policy Researcher

Shawn D. Bushway is an economist and criminologist at RAND, a professor of policy analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School, and a professor at the University at Albany (SUNY) where he received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship. He is a fellow of the American Society of…
Marika Booth

Statistical Analyst

Marika Suttorp Booth (she/her) is a statistical analyst at the RAND Corporation. Her current projects include systematic reviews and meta-analysis of social health determinants and robotic bariatric surgery. She analyzes the impact of socio-economic and disability status on STAR ratings and is…

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