A model of ex-offender reentry in Suffolk County, Massachusetts

Abstract

The United States, like every other country, has a system of correctional facilities in which it places people for punitive and rehabilitative reasons. To determine what kinds of people come back compared to those who went in to prisons, we must examine what happens to prisoners while they are incarcerated and how they return to society as ex-offenders. To that end, this thesis investigates the reentry model and reentry in practice in Suffolk County, Massachusetts. Broadly defined, this reentry model consists of the criminal justice system, the social service system, and the community. These three systems collaborate to produce a reentry model for all offenders who are incarcerated. The model promises supportive services for any offender and ex-offender who need them. This reentry model does not work well for most offenders and ex-offenders. Instead of a model that gives services in proportion to need, the reentry model has several systemic characteristics that result in less needy offenders and exoffenders receiving the most intensive services and support at the expense of the most needy offenders and ex-offenders. A pilot program in Suffolk County, called the Boston Reentry Initiative, seeks to help reverse the outcome of this model by offering services to the most needy offenders.