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Prisoner Reentry
"Reentry provides a major opportunity to reduce recidivism, save taxpayer dollars, and make our communities safer."-Attorney General Eric Holder
The DOJ Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships (CFBNP) seeks to expand the range of grantees and partners working in community-based reentry programs. The Center recognizes and supports the important role that Faith-based Organizations (FBOs) have traditionally played around reentry in terms of outreach and direct services to returning individuals. Quite often, FBOs provide reentry services effectively and at lower costs than that of other organizations. Community and faith-based organizations are helping to play a critical role in reentry collaboratives all throughout the country. They provide valuable reentry services in prisons and jails and in communities, linking returning citizens to resources that can help them successfully reenter communities.
Each year nearly 700,000 prisoners are released from state and federal facilities, and many more are cycled through local jail facilities. This large volume of people moving in and out of correctional institutions impact public safety, public health, family networks and community well being - especially in communities already affected by crime and unemployment. The reality of the need for reentry services are described below.
- Federal and state corrections facilities held over 1.6 million prisoners at the end of 2009 - approximately one of every 199 U.S. residents.1
- At least 95 percent of state prisoners will be released back to their communities at some point.2
- During 2009, 729,295 sentenced prisoners were released from state and federal prisons, an increase of 20 percent from 2000.3
- Approximately 9 million individuals are released from jail each year.4
- More than 5 million individuals were on probation or parole at the end of 2009.5
- In a study that looked at recidivism in over 40 states, more than four in 10 offenders returned to state prison within three years of their release.6
- In 2009, parole violators accounted for 33.1 percent of all prison admissions, 35.2 percent of state admissions, and 8.2 percent of federal admissions.7
- Twenty-three percent of adults exiting parole in 2010 - 127,918 individuals - returned to prison as a result of violating their terms of supervision, and 9 percent of adults exiting parole in 2010 - 49,334 individuals - returned to prison as a result of a new conviction.8
To find out more information about how your organization can assist with Prisoner Reentry efforts in your community visit the National Reentry Resource Center for information about grants and best practices: http://www.nationalreentryresourcecenter.org/audiences/community-faith-based
September 27, 2011 Reentry Council Photo Gallery
Audio Link and Slides for 1/31/12 Webinar on Faith & Community-Based Approaches to Offender Reentry
