Key Findings: Equip Individuals with Personal Responsibility Tools, Inside and Outside of Prison Walls
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Approximately 156,000 individuals are currently institutionalized in the State of Texas.[i] At least 95% will eventually return to our communities.[ii]
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In 2007, TDCJ released 72,032 individuals; of those, 47,904 (roughly 66%) had been previously incarcerated in TDCJ.[iii]
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The most pivotal period of re-entry is within the first year of release. When looking at a formerly incarcerated individual’s first three years after release, it is the first year which will account for nearly two-thirds of all re-offending.[iv]
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Recidivism rates are negatively affected by ongoing substance abuse, which tends to lead to criminal activity. [v] In fact, substance abuse-related offenses constituted the majority of offenses among TDCJ’s released population in FY 2007.[vi] Yet only 34% of state prisoners with substance abuse problems receive treatment while incarcerated, while a much smaller population – only 6% – of state jail confinees do.[vii]
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In a 2008 survey of state re-entry practitioners, the largest percentage of survey respondents feel there are “sometimes” or “often” mental health and substance abuse issues that pose barriers or obstacles to re-integration, especially with regards to (a) post-release inconsistency in taking psychotropic medication, (b) post-release inability to access/afford psychotropic medication, (c) pre-release inconsistency in taking psychotropic medication, and (d) a lack of pre-release mental health services.
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Access to health care services upon release is limited and community-based care is lacking, which creates additional public safety risks.
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Re-entry failures are expensive and fiscally burdensome: total TDCJ expenditures in FY 2007 exceeded $3 billion.[viii]
[i] Mike Ward, Prison growth.
[ii] U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Program, Reentry Trends in the United States, (Washington, DC: 2000).
[iii] Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), Overview of Reentry Programs. (August 2008), 15.
[iv] U.S Department of Justice, Office of Justice Program, Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 1994 (Washington, DC: 2002). “The first year is the period when much of the recidivism occurs accounting for nearly two-thirds of all the recidivism of the first three years.”
[v] The Urban Institute, Returning Home: Exploring the Challenges and Successes of Recently Released Texas Prisoners, (May 2007), http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=311247.
[vi] TDJC, Overview. “TDJC Total Releases by Offense Record, Drug/Total 36%.” These categories were “Drug Possession, Drug Delivery, and Drug Offense-Other.”
[vii] The Urban Institute, Returning Home.
[viii] Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Where the money goes, (2007), http://www.window.state.tx.us/comptrol/expendlist/cashdrill.php.