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Current prisoners were recruited for the study by Wisconsin Department of Corrections staff from January 2009 to August 2009. Individuals were considered eligible to participate in the study if they were male; were age 35 or younger; were scheduled for release to Milwaukee, WI, with at least six months of community supervision; and had a history of violence or gang involvement. Sex offenders were not eligible. Study participants were recruited on a rolling basis. After providing consent to participate in the study, individuals were randomly assigned to the intervention (n = 90) or comparison group (n = 146). Because of low rates of eligibility among prisoners, 16 individuals in the comparison group were selected at random and reassigned to the intervention group.
The study began in January 2009 and ended in December 2011. The intervention was examined for 12 months from the time of prison release.
U.S. Department of Justice, through a grant from the Comprehensive Anti-Gang Initiative, a follow-on to Project Safe Neighborhoods
Wisconsin Department of Corrections and Wisconsin Community Services.
The Milwaukee Safe Street PRI was a new program, but the services to which the intervention group had access already existed.
The intervention offered services to justice-involved adults before and after release from prison. Six months before scheduled release, individuals were transferred to one of two facilities in Racine, WI (the Racine Correctional Institute or the Sturtevant Transitional Facility). In these facilities, individuals met regularly with a social worker who provided a case-management workup (including an assessment of needs; risk; child support; credit; and personal documentation issues, such as lack of a driver's license or Social Security number). In the six months before release, individuals were also offered a vocational-skills assessment, access to soft-skills training and vocational training, and an opportunity to participate in restorative justice circles. These circles consisted of a meeting with law enforcement officials, police, and community prosecutors, followed by a meeting with victims, who had a chance to discuss the suffering caused by the crime. In addition, intervention group members were expected to participate in the Breaking Barriers cognitive-reality curriculum (a life-skills and behavioral/cognitive-change program designed to increase self-efficacy, goal achievement, and personal accountability). Thirty days before release, individuals met with a coordinated-care team (including a social worker and a job coach, among others) to ensure they had suitable plans for housing, transportation, documentation, and job search. Individuals were also offered alcohol and drug treatment and remedial education services, and guaranteed access to reach-in services from the Community Corrections Employment Program, including assistance with finding jobs, work experience, training, and education vouchers, and subsidies to and help with bonding for employers for hiring parolees.
Individuals in the comparison group were neither barred from receiving intervention group services nor guaranteed to receive these services. In practice, some comparison group members accessed some intervention group services, but rates of uptake were low and sometimes zero.
None
A typical participant received intervention services for 6 months before release from prison and 12 months thereafter.
U.S. Department of Justice
The study took place in correctional and transitional facilities in Racine, WI, and in participants' communities in Milwaukee, WI.
Recidivism