In decades past, the corrections director’s responsibility for offenders typically ended when they walked out the prison gate. No more. Today, those who run our state correctional systems are deeply invested in the chapter that follows incarceration – reentry and efforts to keep ex-offenders from committing new crimes.
Pew’s Public Safety Performance Project spoke recently with five state corrections directors about their strategies for reducing recidivism and the barriers that complicate the job. The overall message? Helping offenders succeed after incarceration is everyone’s business, and a top priority for states in lean economic times.