Five Questions for Amy Solomon

Amy Solomon, a senior research associate at the Urban Institute, is lead author of “Life After Lockup: Improving Reentry from Jail to the Community.” The report examines ways to help inmates transition out of local jails and points out the unique challenges and opportunities for a population previously overlooked by policymakers and practitioners focused on reentry from state and federal prisons. Solomon answers questions about her research and discusses strategies to help people exiting jail return to their communities.

Five Questions Archives

May 14, 2008

1. Why is it important to help people leaving jail reenter society?

We want to give inmates the skills and tools they need to be productive, law-abiding citizens when they get out, so they’ll be less likely to reoffend. The reentry philosophy is about using time on the inside to prepare people for life on the outside. In jails, where 80 percent of the population is behind bars for a month or less, the idea is to very quickly figure out what inmates need and identify what resources and connections in the community can help them. To do that, jails need to let community agencies, faith volunteers, and families inside the gates to begin services and skill-building that can continue on the outside.

2. How are jails different from prisons and how does that affect planning for reentry?

Jails have contact with a much larger population—9 million people who account for 12 million admissions and releases a year. Prisons house about 1.5 million people on any given day and release about 700,000 each year. From, say, a mayor’s perspective, this means that 95 out of 100 people leaving lock-up are coming from jails, not state and federal prisons.

With prisons, I think the “aha” moment for the policy community was realizing that almost all prisoners eventually get out. And since people are in prison for an average of about two and a half years, there was an opportunity to build prisoners’ skills, treat their addictions, and get them ready for release. But the jail population cycles in and out quickly. The “aha” with this group is that many are already clients of health and human services and community agencies. In Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, for example, half the jail population also used Department of Human Services programs before or after incarceration. Among chronic offenders, nearly three-quarters did. It makes sense, then, for jails and community organizations to work together, pooling resources and coordinating support and supervision, to figure out how best to keep this population out of both systems.

3. Why has the field’s focus been on transitioning from prisons, not jails?

Prisoner reentry was a rational place to start. Prisoners are locked up a longer time and are usually incarcerated far away from families and jobs. They become disconnected from their communities and need help on their way back in. We hear stories about long-termers who come out completely unprepared to use the latest technology, like an ATM, or navigate new bus routes. Also, it’s more complicated to organize policy reform for jails. Reforming prisons means dealing with 50 state systems, as opposed to 3,365 jails independently operated by sheriffs or local administrators.

There was some doubt as to what could be achieved with a population that cycles in and out of jail so quickly. Some people also wondered if the jail population was really serious enough to warrant attention. Through this research, we’ve learned the jail population has very similar risks and needs as the prison population. The vast majority have substance abuse problems, most have been unemployed or underemployed, many are homeless or have a mental illness, and most have been incarcerated or on probation before. Clearly there is an opportunity to intervene with this group—to reduce recidivism, ER visits, and homelessness and improve public safety and public health.

4. What can communities do?

This isn’t a problem jails can solve alone. Even the most advanced and effective jail system can’t address reentry on its own because inmates return to the community so quickly. It takes a team approach with employers and people from law enforcement, health and human services, and support networks, such as families and the faith community. If these teams can assess people’s key problems and match them with the right services, they’re going to see some successes. Ideally, case managers will work with high-risk, high-needs inmates so that one person manages the transition starting in jail and out into the community.

Jail administrators and community partners can use our Toolkit to help them get started. We’ve included talking points about why helping with reentry is good for the community, and useful tools and resources gathered from jurisdictions across the country. We got permission for anyone to use the materials included in the Toolkit and adapt it so that jails new to this won’t have to start from scratch. We’re also working with the National Institute of Corrections to develop a “Transition from Jail to Community” model for the field. We’re going to implement the model in six sites over the next year and develop technical assistance materials for any community that wants to give it a try.

5. What initial, low-cost steps can jails take?

Every person walking out the door should receive a discharge pack or resource kit that tells them exactly where they can go for treatment or training services, identification, even help getting clothes for a job. New York City’s 311 phone line has information for people recently released from jail. In Davidson County, Tennessee (Nashville), regardless of whether people are incarcerated for two hours, two days, two weeks, or two months or longer, they walk out with a packet of information on where to find help and services.

And another thing—making sure people leave jail with proper identification is crucial because you can’t get a job, benefits, or anything without an ID. At Montgomery County’s jail, everyone leaves with what they call a community reentry ID pass. It’s a 60-day government-issued ID card that doubles as a 60-day bus pass and a library card.

Amazingly, some inmates are still released in the middle of the night to high-crime, high-drug areas with no job, no ID, and nowhere to go, so they easily fall back into their old habits. Our policy goal should be making sure that everyone walking out the door leaves in the morning with an ID and a bus pass and has a plan for how they’re going to spend their first day or first week out so they get on the right track.