From Prison Safety to Public Safety: Innovations in Offender Reentry

Source: (2002) Reentry Partnership Initiatives (RPI) series. College Park, MD: Bureau of Governmental Research, University of Maryland, College Park. Downloaded 28 May 2004.

Getting organizations to move outside the box and form system-wide, big picture partnerships to address the reentry issue is a significant first step toward real change in reentry practices. This paper provides a framework for implementing systemic reentry practices based on the experiences of the Office of Justice Program’s eight Reentry Partnership Initiative (RPI) sites. For too long, offender reintegration has been viewed as an ideal goal that correction officials could aspire to — at least publicly — as long as it didn’t interfere with more immediate concerns about prison safety and control. With the movement towards system-wide reentry partnerships, the focus of correction officials has shifted away from prison safety and towards public safety. A public safety goal creates opportunities to address both offender processing and offender change issues that span organizational lines, and, to redefine the role of both governmental and non-governmental agencies in reentry…. Drawing from prior relevant research and our own observations of pilot reentry initiatives across the country, this paper presents a working, conceptual model of the offender reentry process, and discusses evidence-based practices in the design and implementation of reentry programs. (excerpt)