Help with substance abuse, mental health services and education serve as key factors in reducing recidivism rates

Marcus King, senior community outreach administrator for the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) signs off on community service hours for one of Aurora University’s criminal justice students who participated in a recent IDOC Summit of Health. The summit sought to engage parolees in the reentry process by connecting them to health providers who discussed resources in the community.
Marcus King, senior community outreach administrator for the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) signs off on community service hours for one of Aurora University’s criminal justice students who participated in a recent IDOC Summit of Health. The summit sought to engage parolees in the reentry process by connecting them to health providers who discussed resources in the community.

Help with substance abuse, mental health services and education serve as key factors in reducing recidivism rates

BY LISETTE GUSHINIERE

According to the Bureau of Prisons, there are 207,847 people incarcerated in federal prisons. Roughly half (48.6 percent) are in for drug offenses. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, there are 1,358,875 people in state prisons. Of them, 16 percent have a drug crime as their most serious offense.

Moreover, data from a national study in five major American cities indicated that at the time of arrest, 63% to 83% of people had drugs in their system.

Among researchers and policy makers, a general consensus exists which shows in some way, drug use is linked to criminal behavior and recidivism.

But other data, including a 2009 report released by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), highlights the fact that when offenders receive help with substance abuse while in prison and even when they get out, statisticians report a “substantial reduction” in recidivism rates among returning citizens.

In 2000, an Illinois Probation Outcome Study, which included 3,017 individuals discharged from probation in the state from October 30 through November 30, 2000, reported, drug abuse is also prevalent among probationers in Illinois. In total, 64% of the study sample had a prior history of substance abuse. The study also found that, “probationers with a history of drug abuse were 1.2 times more likely to be arrested in the four years following discharge and 1.3 times more likely to be arrested on a drug-related charge.”

An Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) Summit of Health, designed to engage parolees in the reentry process, was recently held on April 24 in Aurora, Illinois. By connecting parolees and probationers to health related resources, organizers hoped to give former prisoners a successful chance at reintegrating back into society. Services at the summit included health screenings and information about mental health and substance abuse. Participants also made important connections with health care providers in the community.

These are “valuable,” resources said Marcus King, senior community outreach administrator for IDOC, who added, Illinois has been holding the summits since 2010–about 12 events per year. Vendor participation was at 100%, King added, and healthcare providers included VNA Health Care, Chicago Behavioral Hospital and Public Health, among others. Three hundred and fifty parolees were invited to attend, over half showed up and about 80 students from Aurora University’s criminal justice program participated.

While Illinois has 27,000 parolees, according to King, he added the recidivism rate in the state is 43%, down from 51% five years ago.

Even though the rate is going down, the cost in Illinois for recidivism is still a heavy price to pay. Each instance of recidivism, costs, on the average, approximately $118,746. according to a 2015 report by the Illinois Sentencing Policy Advisory Council, hence, reducing recidivism ends up playing an important role in strengthening both households and the economy.

Besides programs like the Summit of Health, education programs can also be transformative in reducing recidivism rates.

A 2013 federal report affirmed this stating, “on average, inmates who participated in correctional education programs, had 43 percent lower odds of returning to prison than inmates who did not.”

The Bard Prison Initiative or BPI, which has an exceptionally low recidivism rate, is one example of a program that seems to be working. The college is spread across six interconnected prisons in New York State, enrolls over 300 students and organizes a host of extracurricular activities to replicate the breadth of college life and inquiry.

Yun Qin, a language educator who taught Mandarin through the Bard Prison Initiative in 2012, wrote in the Washington Post, that teaching students who were imprisoned was a lesson for him as well.

“The experience provided me with an education, too,” Qin wrote. “Consumed with grading exams and creating lessons, teachers can lose sight of their goals. But when you see men confined to lives behind bars suddenly inspired by life outside of it, you realize the true impact of your work. With the potential to reduce the prison recidivism rate from 50 percent to four percent, you can’t help but acknowledge the power of education,” he said.

Latest Stories

Latest Podcast

STARR Community Services International, Inc.