Returning Home Illinois Policy Brief: Employment and Prisoner Reentry

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Finding employment is one of the most important reintegration challenges ex-prisoners face after release, and one that can have a significant impact on their chances of remaining crime-free. Prior research shows that finding and maintaining a legitimate job after release can reduce the chances of reoffending following release from prison, especially for older offenders.¹ Research also shows that the higher the wages, the less likely persons released from prison will return to crime.²

Although two-thirds of former prisoners report that they held a job just prior to their incarceration, most prisoners experience great difficulties finding jobs after their release.³ During the time they spend in prison, individuals lose work skills, forfeit the opportunity to gain work experience, and sever interpersonal connections and social contacts that could lead to legal employment opportunities upon release.⁴ And, while the period of incarceration could be viewed as an opportunity to build skills and prepare for placement at a future job, the evaluation literature provides mixed support for the effectiveness of in-prison job training programs.⁵ After release, the stigma of their ex-prisoner status makes the job search even more difficult: a recent survey of 3,000 employers in four major metropolitan areas revealed that two-thirds of the employers would not knowingly hire an ex-prisoner.⁶

This policy brief draws on employment data gathered as part of the Returning Home study through interviews with 400 male Illinois prisoners before and up to three times after their release.⁷ We present findings on pre- and in-prison employment training and experiences as well as postrelease employment outcomes among released prisoners who returned to Chicago. We also detail the characteristics of successful job seekers and briefly discuss the policy implications.

Notes from this section

1. Christopher Uggen. 2000. Work as a Turning Point in the Life Course of Criminals: A Duration Model of Age, Employment, and Recidivism. American Sociological Review (65), 529-546. Robert Sampson and John Laub. 1997. A Life-course Theory of Cumulative Disadvantage and the Stability of Delinquency. Advances in Criminological Theory (7), 133-161; Miles Harer. 1994. Recidivism of Federal Prisoners Released in 1987. Washington, D.C.: Federal Bureau of Prisons, Office of Research and Evaluation; Robert Sampson and John Laub. 1993. Crime in the Making: Pathways and Turning Points through Life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

2. Jared Bernstein and Ellen Houston. 2000. Crime and Work: What We Can Learn from the Low-wage Labor Market. Washington, D.C.: Economic Policy Institute; Jeff Grogger. 1998. Market Wages and Youth Crime. Journal of Labor Economics (16), 759-91.

3. James Lynch and William Sabol. 2001. Prisoner Reentry in Perspective. Crime Policy Report. Washington, D.C.: The Urban Institute.

4. Bruce Western, Jeffrey Kling, and David Weiman. 2001. The Labor Market Consequences of Incarceration. Crime and Delinquency (47) 410-27; Robert Sampson and John Laub. 1997. A Life-course Theory of Cumulative Disadvantage and the Stability of Delinquency; John Hagan and Ronit Dinovitzer. 1999. Collateral Consequences of Imprisonment for Children, Communities, and Prisoners. In M. Tonry and J. Petersilia (eds.) Prisons. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

5. Shawn Bushway and Peter Reuter. 2001. Labor Markets and Crime. In J. Petersilia and J. Wilson (eds.) Crime. ICS Press; Gerald Gaes, Timothy Flanagan, Laurence Motiuk, and Lynn Stewart. 1999. Adult Correctional Treatment. In M. Tonry and J. Petersilia (eds.) Prisons. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; David Wilson, Catherine Gallagher, Mark Coggeshall, and Doris MacKenzie. 1999. A Quantitative Review and Description of Corrections-Based Education, Vocation, and Work Programs. Corrections Management Quarterly 3 (4), 8-18.

6. Harry Holzer, Stephen Raphael, and Michael Stoll. 2004. Will Employers Hire Former Offenders?: Employer Preferences, Background Checks, and Their Determinants. In B. Western, M. Patillo, D. Weiman (eds.) Imprisoning America: The Social Effects of Mass Incarceration. New York, NY: The Russell Sage Foundation.

7. For more information about study methodology and respondent characteristics, see Nancy La Vigne, Christy Visher, and Jennifer Castro. 2004. Chicago Prisoners' Experiences Returning Home. Policy Brief. Washington, D.C.: The Urban Institute. Available at: http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=311115.

Note: This report is available in its entirety in the Portable Document Format (PDF).

The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.

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