Introduction
The Introduction to the Report of the Re-Entry Policy Council is divided into several sections. Click below to jump directly to a particular section:
- The Problem
- Opportunities for Change
- Sidebars from the Transition from Prison to the Community Initiative (TPCI)
- Report Organization
- Understanding Reentry
- Conclusion and Endnotes
The Reentry Policy Council is an unprecedented, bipartisan collection of nearly 100 leading elected officials, policymakers, and practitioners working in state and local government and community-based organizations who are committed to improving the likelihood that a person's transition from prison or jail to the community will be safe and successful. Together, the members of the Policy Council represent nearly every component of the criminal justice system, as well as those systems that make available education, job training, job placement, housing, health and mental health care, substance abuse treatment, and other forms of support and supervision. This report reflects the results of their work over the past two years: policy statements and recommendations that, if implemented, will ensure the safe and successful return of an individual to the community following his or her incarceration.
The target audience of this report is broad and diverse, paralleling the composition of the Reentry Policy Council. It addresses elected and appointed officials in government, but it also speaks to practitioners who work in criminal justice, health, mental health, substance abuse treatment, housing, and workforce development systems. Although policymakers and practitioners at the local, state, and federal levels of government are the primary audience, the information provided in this document should be equally valuable to researchers, advocates, and others interested in improving the transition people make from prison and jail to the community.
These agents of change can use this report to improve their understanding of reentry and to inform the development of-or advocate for-particular policies and programs that address reentry. The Report of the Reentry Policy Council provides, in a single document, a comprehensive analysis of those elements essential to a successful return to the community, a review of relevant research, and a look at programs and policies that illustrate how policymakers and practitioners in jurisdictions across the country have implemented a particular recommendation. In sum, while this volume cannot, on its own, change how people released from prison or jail reenter the community, it is an extraordinary resource in the hands of someone committed to effecting change around one of the most pressing public policy issues confronting governments, communities, and families today.