Reentry Discussion: Overcoming Challenges When Leaving Incarceration

• NCJ Number: 253520
• Author(s): Alix McLearen; John Wetzel
• Date Published: August 2019
• Length: 2 pages
• Agencies: NIJ
• Publication Type: Report (Technical Assistance); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Description; Instructional Material (Programmed)

Annotation

In this video (2 minutes and 14 seconds), Alix McLearen, acting assistant director of the Reentry Services Division of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and John Wetzel, secretary of corrections in the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, discuss in-prison programs and services that their agencies provide to help persons address the challenges of reentry into communities after incarceration.

Abstract

McLearen describes the individualized services provided to inmates by the federal Bureau of Prisons that will help them address the challenges of living responsibly in a community after their release. Each inmate is assessed to identify what resources he/she must develop while in prison in order to be better prepared to implement law-abiding lives after release. The resources available include mental health services that address trauma, social adjustment, and severe personality disorders; educational services that better prepare them to manage their lives responsibly and expand their employment options; and how to counter impulses and address challenges that increase risks for recidivism. Wetzel emphasizes the importance of identifying and addressing the needs of each inmate and then matching in-prison services to needs that have high priority in preparing them to have successful social and vocational adjustments after their release.