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Policy Framework
The number of people incarcerated in the U.S. has quadrupled since the 1970s. The more than 600,000 people who are released from prison each year face a range of obstacles to successful reentry into the community. Perhaps not surprisingly, outcomes are often poor: Two-thirds of those who are released from prison are rearrested and half are reincarcerated within three years. States and localities are searching for programmatic approaches to improve reentry outcomes, but there is limited evidence about which strategies work best.
Many believe that it is most critical to address former prisoners’ employment needs in the period immediately following their release. The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Reintegration of Ex-Offenders (RExO) Random Assignment Evaluation will provide highly reliable evidence about the effectiveness of a group of employment-oriented programs for former prisoners that have received funding from DOL for the past several years. The Department of Labor selected a team led by Social Policy Research Associates (SPRA) to evaluate this important initiative. MDRC and the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago are subcontractors to SPRA.
Agenda, Scope, and Goals
The RExO project is testing programs that have received funding under the Prisoner Reentry Initiative, which was launched by DOL and the U.S. Department of Justice in 2005. The grantees funded by DOL provide job readiness, job placement, mentoring, and other services to former prisoners. The purpose of the RExO evaluation is to determine whether the programs are increasing employment and reducing recidivism.
Design, Sites, and Data Sources
The study is using a random assignment research design. Ex-prisoners who agree to participate in the study will be assigned, at random, either to a program group that has access to the DOL-funded programs or to a control group that will not have access to the DOL-funded programs but that will be able to seek out other services in their communities. Up to 24 grantees in 18 states will participate in the evaluation.
The evaluation team will follow both groups for at least one year, using administrative records and surveys to measure employment and recidivism outcomes. The random assignment process ensures that the two groups are comparable at the start of the study, so any significant differences that emerge over time can be attributed to the services provided by the DOL grantees.
What's Next
Enrollment of study participants is expected to begin in early 2010. A report on the implementation of the programs is planned for 2011.
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