Exit strategy for parolees: helping former inmates get a job and the services they need can cut the chances of returning to prison--and save money, too.

• Author: Lawrence, Alison

There are plenty of opinions about how best to improve the criminal justice system, but this fact stands out: Ninety-five percent of all inmates will one day be released from prison and, within three years, about 50 percent will be back.

Returning to prison--for everything from committing a new crime to violating parole--is referred to as recidivism, and it's a huge and costly problem for states. Lawmakers increasingly are turning to a growing body of information on what works and what doesn't in supervising offenders. They're using it to create policies that reduce recidivism, increase public safety and decrease prison costs.

And at least in some states, it seems to be working.

"If investments the Washington Legislature made in evidence-based programming are sustained," says Senator Karen Fraser "there will be a significant slowing in prison growth, and Washington will postpone by 10 years the construction of 2,000 additional beds. Postponing these costs would save us about $630 million a year in prison budgets over the next decade."

The stakes could hardly be larger. In 2007, the U.S. state prison population was at 1.4 million inmates at a cost of $34 billion to states, and parolee recidivism accounted for about one-third of all prison admissions. That year, the Pew Center on the States reported that if nothing was done, the prison population would continue to grow to 1.7 million inmates by 2011 at an additional cost of $27.5 billion.

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Although states have been experimenting with programs to reduce recidivism for years, the federal government got behind the effort in 2008 with the Second Chance Act. The law provides grants to states, local governments and nonprofit groups to improve community safety by providing services that will help ensure offenders' successful transition back into the community.

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The first round of funding in FY 2009 provided $25 million for reentry programs that include employment assistance, substance abuse treatment, housing, help for families, mentoring and victims support. Victim services can include counseling and support services for the victim; ensuring payment of restitution; and notifying the victim when the offender is released. Funds are administered by the Bureau of Justice Assistance and have increased substantially in FY 2010 to $100 million.

WISCONSIN WINDOWS

The Wisconsin Department of Corrections is using Second Chance Act funding to expand its Windows to...