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"Stopping the Revolving Door"
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The United States has one of the highest incarceration rates globally. In 2022 the US incarceration rate was 541 per 100,000 population, with just over 1.2 million inmates in federal and state prisons and nearly 600,000 inmates in county and municipal jails. One of the reasons the US incarceration rate is so high is that the US has one of highest rates of recidivism (the tendency of individuals convicted of crimes to reoffend after release) in the world. According to research by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 66% of prisoners released from 24 state prison systems were arrested within three years, and 82% were arrested again within 10 years. While not all were subsequently convicted, 61% of released prisoners returned to prison within 10 years of their release.
This is a fundamental problem with the U.S. criminal justice system for multiple reasons. Keeping inmates in jail or prison is expensive - costs vary but generally range from $20,000-50,000 annually per inmate, for a total of $80 billion annually in direct costs. When indirect social costs (impact on families, future loss of job prospects for inmates, community impact, etc.) have been included, the National Institute of Corrections estimates that the real cost could be as high as $1 trillion annually. Reducing the high recidivism rate would thus have major financial benefits for the U.S.
But can anything be done about this? Yes, and we have a successful program right here in Clinton and Essex Counties. The CV-TEC Corrections Education and Community Re-entry Program has been successful at dramatically reducing the recidivism rate of former inmates who are enrolled in the program. While the normal 3-year recidivism rates for inmates from Clinton and Essex county jails are 54% and 60%, respectively, those for inmates in the program are 23% and 21%.
We welcome three staff members from the CV-TEC Corrections Education and Community Re-entry Program - Mr. Dana Poirier, Corrections Coordinator, Ms. Madeline Brassard, Adult Literacy Teacher/Case Manager, and Ms. Penny Darrah, Adult Literacy Teacher - to the Institute to discuss the program. They will help us understand how the various components of the program - education, workforce training, behavioral modification, and community re-entry - work together to help former inmates rebuild their lives and avoid the cycle of re-offending and re-incarceration so common in America.