The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

It was part of a yearlong study by the Urban Institute, a nonprofit social and economic policy research organization in Washington, D.C. The larger study also included released prisoners from Texas, Maryland and Illinois.

Primary researcher Christy Visher said there are certain things that men can do to reduce the chances of returning to jail.

"It sounds simple, but he needs a good attitude about his chances of staying out of trouble, but one that is realistic so he knows that it won't be easy," she said. "If he is too optimistic from the start, he'll be hit with reality, and things will go downhill very fast."

The biggest challenge is to find work, which is difficult for many people in society even without the baggage of a prison sentence.

"It's hard, but people in our study did find jobs," she said. "The jobs may not pay a lot of money, but there are companies that will hire these men as movers, laborers or in the food service industry. Jobs are vital for these men and knowing how to work is also important."

Many of the men had settled disagreements with violence, something that will not be tolerated in the outside world. The study showed that half of the men used drugs or alcohol in the six months before arrest. There is a tendency to slip back into drug and alcohol use, which could cripple their newfound employment.

"You can't be out drinking all night and go to work the next day," she said. "You're more likely to be late, or get into fights with co-workers. We recommend that the men get involved in drug and alcohol support groups, get a mentor they can turn to when things get rough and they are tempted to do drugs or alcohol."

Lastly, she said the cities and the religious communities need to offer programs to help ex-prisoners turn their lives around. Otherwise, they will quickly return to old friends and old habits, the kind of thing that landed them in prison in the first place.

The Ohio study group was representative of the more than 28,000 inmates released from Ohio prisons in 2004. They were imprisoned for crimes ranging from burglary and drug offenses to crimes of violence. Twenty-two percent planned to return to Cuyahoga County. Nearly 80 percent of those returning to Cuyahoga County planned to live in Cleveland.

The Urban Institute report can be found online at: www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/311359_cleveland_prisoners.pdf.

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