Considering the situated complexities and competing interest of exploitation and hope inherent in community literacy work, this article examines the ways that the Community Arts Program (CAP) at California State Prison-Sacramento complicates and also reifies archetypal grand literacy narratives and considers the place of such narratives within a…

The number of women under community-based criminal justice supervision in the U.S. has reached an all-time high. Because of this, there is an increased need for programs meant to address the unique needs of reentry women. In this article we examine a sample of 155 such programs to determine whether currently available reentry programs in the 10…

This article reports analyses of recidivism and relapse experiences of substance-abusing women inmates as they reenter the community. Outcomes are compared for women who completed a work-release therapeutic community program, women who entered but did not complete the program, and those who did not receive work-release therapeutic community…

Reviews juvenile community treatment alternative to long-term state institutionalization and presents means of monitoring participant progress through five-step Individual Developmental Treatment Alternative program. Analysis of 3 years of staff-generated residential behavior data on 30 participants revealed differentiation in response to…

We examined the frequency and stability of family contact with long-term institutional residents during a major deinstitutionalization project. Movers relocated to community accommodation between Assessments 1 (baseline) and 2. Stayers remained institutionalized. We investigated family contact longitudinally over four annual assessments. There was…

Effective aftercare interventions are the key to preventing recidivism among juvenile offenders. In 1987, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention established a research and demonstration program to develop, assess, and disseminate an intensive aftercare program targeted at these offenders. This program, the Intensive Aftercare…

In May 2006, the National Poverty Center (NPC) at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan hosted a meeting--"Research on Prisoner Reentry: What Do We Know and What Do We Want to Know?"--to discuss the state of research on employment-focused prisoner reentry programs. This paper, written as background for…

This document is a report evaluating the Community Options Program (COP) operated in Wisconsin in 1982 and 1983. The report states that the program is designed to reduce the institutionalization of disabled persons by supporting these persons in the community, thereby decreasing expenditures for long term support and slowing the demand for nursing…

We solicited offender-generated exchange rates between prison and several noncustodial sanctions from a sample of 588 offenders currently serving community-based punishments. We then regressed these exchange rates on demographic, attitudinal, and correctional experience indicators. Males, Blacks, older offenders, offenders with prison experience,…

The site visit report describes the Family Support Services program run by the Calvert County (Maryland) Association for Retarded Citizens. The program's goal is to prevent any person 21 years of age or younger from being institutionalized. It provides respite care services, specialized family support, and integrated day care for approximately 50…

A benefit-cost analysis was conducted to compare services for 11 individuals with severe mental retardation and challenging behaviors who had been moved from an institution to a community setting. Overall, the community-based program costs represented slight public savings over costs in the state institution. Less quantifiable benefits were also…

Forty-nine clients who had been deinstitutionalized into community settings were matched with clients who remained in the institution. In a subsequent assessment, community clients surpassed institutional clients in social and cognitive skills (including reading/writing, quantitative, community orientation, leisure time, vocational, and social…

Young offenders present many challenges to the juvenile justice system, the school system and the labor system as they transfer from residential commitment to their home communities. The challenges can be overwhelming, potentially creating a sense of hopelessness for the community and for the youth. In response to the need for appropriate academic…

This report documents the main challenges associated with the implementation of the Offenders' Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) and suggestions for overcoming some of these barriers. The evaluation is examining the implementation of OLASS in three development regions, prior to a national roll out in July 2006. Within a flexible framework, the…

This is the third and final report from the evaluation of the new Offenders' Learning and Skills Service (OLASS). The evaluation examined the impact of OLASS on: (1) Assessment of learners; (2) Monitoring procedures; (3) Information, advice and guidance (IAG); (4) On the offender learning/criminal justice workforce on provision for offenders (in…