From One System (Prison) to Another (Shelters)

You'd assume that the end of a prison sentence would bring relief to a former inmate. But many inmates leave prison reluctantly, since they have nowhere to go but the streets upon their release. Our failure to overhaul prisoner re-entry policies have all but guaranteed that former inmates will simply move out of jail and into the shelter system.

It's sad, but true: for some individuals, their homelessness is a result of difficult trade-offs. Like Danielle (pictured above), whose story was covered today in Medill Reports. At 24, she has served a four-month prison sentence for drug possession and is winning her addiction battle with heroin. She has served her time in jail, and doesn't want to go back. She's stayed in shelters, had her belongings stolen, and doesn't want to go back there, either. She's considered stealing what she needs to survive, but she doesn't want to get caught and wind up in prison. So she reluctantly panhandles. Hoping to make enough money to find a way off the streets.

According to author Stephen Metraux, people re-entering communities after confinement face difficulties that hinder adjusting to life outside of bars, such as illiteracy, geographic mismatch, lack of resources, and broken family connections. What's more, employment opportunities are much harder to come by when you have a record, and being a convicted felon exempts you from many federal housing programs.

In Illinois, re-entry programs for prisoners cost an average of $12,000 per year for incarceration and supportive services. And how much does a year of prison cost? Upwards of $60,000 per inmate, per year.

Another study released this year looked at supportive housing programs for looked at 177 former Illinois inmates in supportive housing programs over the course of two years. Researchers found that these re-entry programs saved more than $850,000; $400,000 from a decrease in state mental health hospitalizations, over $215,000 from a decrease in state prison admissions and $183,000 from a decrease in use of Medicaid-reimbursed services.

The cost savings associated with re-entry programs are clear. The cycle between prison and shelters is well-established. So why do we continue to drag our feet on this issue? Neglecting to provide housing and support services to every inmate at the time of release from prison is missed opportunity to get more leverage from our federal dollars. But it's also a missed opportunity to provide a second chance to those individuals who have served their time. Winding up homeless on the streets should not have to be a second sentence.