Understanding and Improving Prisoner Reentry Outcomes "Mass imprisonment and mass prisoner reentry are two faces of the same coin. In a comprehensive and penetrating analysis, Daniel Mears and Joshua Cochran unravel the causes of this pressing problem, detail the challenges confronting released prisoners, and provide an evidence-based blueprint for successfully reintegrating offenders into the community. Scholarly yet accessible, this volume is essential reading—whether by academics or students—for anyone wishing to understand the chief policy issue facing American corrections." Francis T. Cullen Distinguished Research Professor, University of Cincinnati Prisoner Reentry is an engaging and comprehensive examination of prisoner reentry and how to improve public safety, well-being, and justice in the "era of mass incarceration." Renowned authors Daniel P. Mears and Joshua C. Cochran investigate historical trends in incarceration and punishment policy, the salience of in-prison and post-prison contexts and experiences for reentry, and the importance of understanding group differences in offending, punishment, and social context. Using extensive reliance on both theory and empirical research, the authors identify how reentry reflects criminal justice policy in America and, at the same time, has profound implications for crime prevention and justice. Readers will develop a diverse foundation for current policies, identify the implications of reentry for families, community, and society at large, and gain a conceptual and empirical toolkit for analyzing and improving the lives of those released from prison.

Overall, 67.8% of the 404,638 state prisoners released in 2005 in 30 states were arrested within 3 years of release, and 76.6% were arrested within 5 years of release.

An award-winning journalist and producer of This American Life traces the stories of five convicted murderers to assess their struggles for redemption, efforts toward parole and first steps in transitioning back to civilian life. 25,000 first printing.

Doing Time, Writing Lives offers a much-needed analysis of the teaching of college writing in U.S. prisons, a racialized space that - despite housing more than 2.2 million people -remains nearly invisible to the general public. Through the examination of a college-in-prison program that promotes the belief that higher education in prison can reduce recidivism and improve life prospects for the incarcerated and their families, author Patrick W. Berry exposes not only incarcerated students' hopes and dreams for their futures but also their anxieties about whether education will help them. Beginning by exploring the need to move beyond narratives of hope when discussing literacy initiatives within prisons, Berry then illustrates how teachers and students frequently hold on to different beliefs about literacy and its power in the world. After discussing the possibilities and limitations of professional writing courses in prisons, the author argues that we need to pay greater attention to teachers and their motivations in prison education initiatives. Finally, he offers a case study of one formerly imprisoned student who uses writing in his current life and how this does (and does not) connect with what he learned in his prison education program. Combining case studies and interviews with the author's own personal experiences teaching writing in prison, Doing Time, Writing Lives chronicles how incarcerated students attempt to write themselves back into a society that has erased their lived histories. It challenges polarizing rhetoric often used to describe what literacy can and cannot deliver, suggesting more nuanced and ethical ways of understanding literacy and possibility in an age of mass incarceration.

Corrections criminology / Sean O'Toole and Simon Eyland --World correctional population trends and issues / Mike Bartlett --Prison populations in Australia / Kyleigh Heggie --Australian coomunity corrections population trends and issues / David Daley --Prisonography : Sources of knowledge and perspectives about prisons / Lucien Lombard --Commissions of inquiry and penal reform / David Brown --Security in correctional systems / Ron Woodham --Privatisation in the corrections industry / Sean O'Toole --Human rights in corrections practice / Brian Tkachuk and Eileen Skinnider --"Good corrections" : implications for leadership and organisational performance / Ole Ingstrup --Inspecting prisons / Richard Harding --Causes and prevention of violence in prisons / Ross Homel and Carleen Thompson --The over-representation of indigenous persons in custody / Bill Anscomb --Risk and responsibilities in women's prisons / Pat Carlen --Managing an ageing prison population / John Dawes --Prisoner health / Michael Levy, Tony Butler, Tony Falconer --Managing mentally ill offenders released from jail - the US experience / Dale Sechrest and Don Josi --Offenders with drug and alcohol dependencies / Maria Kevin --A framework for minimising the incidence of self-harm in prison / Greg Dear --Beyond what works : a retrospective of Robert Martinson's famous article / Rick Sarre --Bridging the gap between prison and the community : post-release support and supervision / Stuart Ross --Prison industries in a time of science-based prison programming / Judy McHutchison --The effect of post-release housing on prisoner re-integration into the community / Eileen Baldry --Ethics and the role of the correctional officer / Anna Grant --Measuring prisons and their moral performance / Alison Liebling --Professionalising the correctional officer : the US perspective / Don A josi and Dale K Sechrest --Human resources analysis of the Australian corrections industry / Sean O'Toole --Towards crime prevention / David Biles --What future for the prison? / Paul Wilson.