Looking Beyond Recidivism: New Research on Well-Being in Prisons and Jails From the National Institute of Justice
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| Author: Stephen Tripodi
At the National Institute of Justice’s (NIJ) 2023 National Research Conference, Sanchez led a discussion on corrections research that looked beyond preventing recidivism to explore evidence-based ways of improving individual experiences and institutional culture within prisons and jails. The conversation was a direct outgrowth of Sanchez’s belief that services focused on improving people’s lives after prison cannot come at the expense of efforts to expand their opportunities while inside.
Category: Criminal Justice System, Criminal Justice Reform, Well-Being
Study protocol paper for the multisite randomized controlled trial of comprehensive trauma informed reentry services for moderate to high-risk young males releasing from state prisons
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| Author: Carrie Pettus, Tanya Renn, Stephen Tripodi, Sarah Tamburri
This study will provide critical information about how trauma-informed reentry programming impacts traditional reentry outcomes (e.g., recidivism, housing, employment) and identify key mechanisms of action (e.g., reduced impulsivity and aggression). Coping with trauma symptomatology is a largely untapped area of scientific inquiry for criminal justice-involved populations, despite the significant role trauma plays in individuals’ lives. Results advance identification of critical components of trauma-informed reentry interventions for moderate- to high-risk young men.
Category: Trauma, Reentry, Well-Being, Community
Measuring Well-Being During Reentry
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| 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
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| 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
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
COVID-19, Incarceration, and Reentry
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| Author: Carrie Pettus-Davis, Stephanie Kennedy, Faye Miller
This report presents data on the COVID-19 related experiences of incarcerated individuals and individuals recently released from incarceration. Study participants report how they learned about COVID-19 while incarcerated and identified the strategies both the facilities they were incarcerated in and they themselves as individuals took to prevent infection.
Category: 5-Key Model for Reentry, Well-Being, COVID-19
How research at IJRD examines equity throughout the criminal justice system
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| Author: Institute for Justice Research and Development
Learn how our work at IJRD promotes racial and economic equity throughout the criminal justice system - from an individual's first contact with law enforcement to their return home from prison.
Category: Well-Being, racial and economic equity
Trauma and Loss During Reentry
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| Author: Carrie Pettus-Davis, Tanya Renn, Stephanie Kennedy
This report presents data about the extremely stressful life events experienced by study participants in the 8 months after they left incarceration and returned home. These stressful life events included losing a loved one to homicide, having been violently assaulted, witnessing violence and death in the home or community, finding out about the death or serious injury of a loved one, being diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, and losing critical resources like housing, employment, income, transportation, and social support.
Category: Reentry, Well-Being, 5-Key Model for Reentry
Going Back to Jail Without Committing a Crime
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| Author: Carrie Pettus-Davis, Stephanie Kennedy
This report presents data on reasons other than criminal behavior that 5-Key Model study participants report they were re-arrested.
Category: Reentry, Well-Being, 5-Key Model for Reentry
When Death Follows Release
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| Author: Carrie Pettus-Davis, Stephanie Kennedy
This report highlights the reentry period - leaving incarceration and returning home - as the highest risk time for death in a formerly incarcerated individuals’ life. The purpose of this report is to explore the deaths that occur during the reentry period from several different vantage points.
Category: Reentry, Well-Being, 5-Key Model for Reentry
Voices of 5-Key Model Participants
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| Author: Carrie Pettus-Davis, Stephanie Kennedy
This report contains interviews from four study participants involved in the 5-Key Model. The purpose of this report is to highlight the stories of participants in the 5-Key Model to provide a personal window into the experiences of those recently released from prisons. The interview explored participants’ lives and families, successes and challenges, and solicited advice for effectively helping individuals leaving incarceration.
Category: Reentry, Well-Being, 5-Key Model for Reentry
Intervention development study of the five-key model for reentry: An evidence-driven prisoner reentry intervention
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| 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
Accelerating Science Using the Research-to-Practice Feedback Loop
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| Author: Carrie Pettus-Davis, Stephanie Kennedy
The report details the implementation of a Research-to-Practice Feedback Loop and how this Feedback Loop has been used to overcome challenges and adapt both the 5-Key Model intervention and how the intervention is delivered to individuals as they release from prison. The Feedback Loop provides space for practitioners, study participants, and researchers to identify areas for improvement and formalizes a process to ensure that any changes made are consistent with the original model, acceptable to all parties, and implemented fairly across all study sites.
Category: Reentry, Well-Being, 5-Key Model for Reentry
The Quality of Life Perception Gap in Prison Health Care Settings
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| Author: Stephanie Prost, Stephen Tripodi, Jeffrey Lacasse
Peer caregivers are specially-trained incarcerated persons who support the needs of patients in correctional health care settings. Their role is of particular importance in light of the growing population of older adult prisoners with complex health problems in U.S. prisons. The purpose of the current study was to examine the disparity between patient and peer caregiver ratings of patient quality of life in a sample of correctional health dyads (n = 52) in a state prison system.
Category: Well-Being
The Psychological Toll of Reentry
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| Author: Carrie Pettus-Davis, Stephanie Kennedy
The struggle of reentry is common across hundreds of study participants and the reentry experience has a wide range of ripple out consequences for individual, family, and community well-being, and it intersects with the potential for future criminal behavior and public safety.