Christopher Veeh
Measuring Well-Being During Reentry
Published:
| Author: Christopher Veeh, Tanya Renn, Stephanie Kennedy, Carrie Pettus
A growing number of scholars and reentry practitioners are seeking alternative approaches to identify how community stability and success can be measured for those returning home from incarceration to our communities. Our team developed a well-being-oriented conceptual framework – the Well-Being Development Model – and a manualized reentry program approach – the 5-Key Model for Reentry – which focus on human potential and thriving.
Category: 5-Key Model for Reentry, Well-Being
The Well-Being Development Model: A Theoretical Model to Improve Outcomes among Criminal Justice System–Involved Individuals
Published:
| Author: Carrie Pettus, Christopher Veeh, Tanya Renn, Stephanie Kennedy
This article proposes a new conceptual framework, the Well-Being Development Model (WBDM), to support the development, implementation, and assessment of innovative reentry interventions designed to increase well-being among the millions of individuals released from prisons and jails each year. In contrast to prominent models guiding reentry services, the WBDM increases incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals’ capacity to reach their full potential while addressing common problems and barriers to success.
Category: Well-Being, Reentry
Incarcerated individuals’ experiences of COVID-19 in the United States
Published:
| Author: Carrie Pettus-Davis, Stephanie Kennedy, Christopher Veeh
This study examines steps taken by correctional staff and incarcerated individuals to reduce transmission risk for COVID-19. Data were drawn from interviews with 327 individuals incarcerated in 3 states. Overall, 9.9% of participants contracted COVID-19. Most participants wore face masks, washed hands, and practiced physical distancing. Participants reported that most facilities suspended visitation and volunteers, provided face masks, and sanitized. Few individuals were released early. Data indicate early adoption of many CDC guidelines, although state variation existed.
Category: COVID-19
Associations between Well-Being and Reincarceration
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| Author: Carrie Pettus-Davis, Christopher Veeh
Preliminary findings from the 5-Key Model study suggest that participation in 5-Key Model services was associated with reduced reincarceration at 8 and 15 months post-release. Increased overall well-being and increased well-being on each of the 5 Keys were also associated with reduced reincarceration; those receiving the 5-Key Model had higher levels of well-being at 15 months post-release.
Category: 5-Key Model for Reentry, Well-Being
The Role of Preparatory Programming in Increasing the Effectiveness of a Sex Offender Treatment Intervention
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| Author: Tanya Renn, Christopher Veeh, Melissa D. Grady, David Edwards, Carrie Pettus-Davis, Katherine Kelton
Increasing the effectiveness of programs designed to treat individuals who have sexually offended is a critical step in reducing the rates of sexual violence in our communities. Yet, the research on such programs have yielded inconsistent results with regards to their effectiveness in reducing sexual recidivism among participants. Some researchers have explored whether the dose of treatment impacts recidivism, but there remains limited knowledge around the dose-response relationship for individuals who have sexually offended.
Category: Sex Offenders
Associations of Childhood and Adult Trauma on Substance Misuse and Mental Health Among Incarcerated Men
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| Author: John Moore, Tanya Renn, Christopher Veeh, Carrie Pettus-Davis
Men are overrepresented in prisons and report higher rates of trauma exposure than the general population. This study examines the role of trauma exposure across the lifespan on substance use disorder, mental health status, and emotional well-being among incarcerated individuals nearing community reentry. Childhood trauma exposure severity was significantly associated with generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive episode, and reduced emotional well-being. Adult cumulative trauma exposure was significantly associated with substance use disorder.
Category: Trauma, Mental Health, Substance Use
A Point-In-Time Survey of State Department of Corrections Prison-based Programming
Published:
| Author: Tanya Renn, Carrie Pettus-Davis, Christopher Veeh
Research indicates that providing services to incarcerated individuals increases the chance that they will be successful upon reentry to communities. The current study assessed the provision of services (i.e. trauma and reentry) in state departments of corrections (DOCs) throughout the United States. DOCs from all fifty states and the District of Columbia were contacted to determine what services were provided to prisoners, with 44 of 51 providing responses. Results suggest that DOCs provide a range of programming, as well as assessments.
Category: In-Prison Intervention
Reforms of Policy Barriers to Positive & Productive Community Engagement of Individuals with Felony Histories
Published:
| Author: Carrie Pettus-Davis, Christopher Veeh, Sheree Hickman
Over the past four decades, civil disability policies have proliferated throughout the United States in tandem with the rising use of criminal sanction as social policy. There are currently more than 45,000 different state and federal statutes that impose a type of civil disability on individuals with a felony conviction. This preliminary report provides a brief overview of the reform efforts that have thus far been enacted, but not introduced, to either eliminate or ameliorate existing civil disability policies at the state level between 2010 and 2017.
Category: Civil Disabilities
Employment and Behavioral Health-5-Key Model Preliminary Results for Policy Stakeholders
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| Author: Carrie Pettus-Davis, Tanya Renn, Christopher Veeh
This report features preliminary 5-Key Model results on study participant employment and behavioral health outcomes approximately eight months post-release. Results are presented by state to maximize usefulness to policy stakeholders.
Category: 5-Key Model for Reentry, Results for Policymakers
Intervention development study of the five-key model for reentry: An evidence-driven prisoner reentry intervention
Published:
| Author: Carrie Pettus-Davis, Tanya Renn, Christopher Veeh, Jacob Eikenberry
Over the past decade and a half, substantial resources were poured into the development of prisoner reentry programs. However, the excitement that surrounded the initial rollout of reentry programs has begun to wane from a lack of substantive change to the number of individuals who return to prison. Therefore, this article details the development of an intervention that can provide a new path forward for prisoner reentry programs.
Category: 5-Key Model for Reentry, Well-Being
What Trauma Looks Like for Incarcerated Men: A Study of Men’s Lifetime Trauma Exposure in Two State Prisons
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| Author: Maria Morrison, Carrie Pettus-Davis, Tanya Renn, Christopher Veeh, Christopher Weatherly
While it is understood that high rates of trauma exposure are common among incarcerated male populations, there is limited data on the nature of the trauma exposure. This study examined the trauma histories of a randomly selected sample of 67 men incarcerated in the Missouri Department of Corrections. The analyses revealed several patterns among study participants, including near universal trauma exposure in adolescence with the most frequent exposures involving witnessing or being proximate to violent deaths of family and friends.
Category: Trauma
The Intersectional Effects of Race and Gender on Time to Reincarceration
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| Author: Katie Ropes Berry, Stephanie Kennedy, Margaret Lloyd, Christopher Veeh, Stephen Tripodi
People of color are disproportionately incarcerated and reincarcerated after release. In an 8-year analysis of more than 21,000 individuals leaving state prisons, Black men were incarcerated more often and more quickly when compared to all other race/gender groups. However, with two exceptions (age at intake and marital status), Black men had lower risk scores on most variables when compared to other members of the sample. The interaction of race and gender was a potent predictor of time to reincarceration, even when controlling for a range of identified risk factors.
Category: Reentry, Recidivism, Racial and Gender BIas
The Relationship Between Severe Mental Disorders and Recidivism in a Sample of Women Released from Prison.
Published:
| Author: Erin A. King, Stephen Tripodi, Christopher Veeh
Women are one of the fastest growing sectors of the prison population, and have different pathways into prison and differing needs during the reentry process when compared to men. Women report higher levels of mental health problems overall, and report more severe symptomatology. The current study focuses on the role of severe mental disorders (SMDs) for 2,311 women released from prison and how SMDs relate to recidivism. Women diagnosed with SMDs were 16% more likely to have recidivated at eight years post-release compared with women who were not diagnosed with an SMD (p < .05).
Category: Reentry, Recidivism, Mental Health, Incarcerated Women
Promoting Reentry Well-Being: A Novel Assessment Tool for Individualized Service Assignment in Prisoner Reentry Programs
Published:
| Author: Christopher Veeh, Tanya Renn, Carrie Pettus-Davis
The Reentry Well-Being Assessment Tool (RWAT) is an innovative practice tool to systematically guide individualized assignment into reentry program services based on a participant’s changing needs during the transition from prison to the community. Clearly defined treatment targets that promote an individual’s well-being are paired with a comprehensive set of assessments within the RWAT to measure progress throughout a prisoner reentry program.
Category: Reentry, Well-Being
Deterioration of Postincarceration Social Support for Emerging Adults
Published:
| Author: Carrie Pettus-Davis, Elaine Eggleston Doherty, Christopher Veeh, Christina Drymon
More than 2.5 million emerging adults (ages 18-25) are incarcerated annually and most do poorly after release. Social support after an individual’s release from incarceration is a critical protective factor against recidivism for emerging adults. However, little is known about the stability of support for emerging adults post incarceration. This study uses hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to examine whether social support declines over time after incarceration and how change in support may vary by incarceration length.