How does the implementation of state prison work, educational, and vocational programs in OR, MN, WA affect recidivism rates and post-incarceration employment of racial groups?

States with lower recidivism rates will have more whites imprisoned than states with high recidivism rates.

Prison labor
◦ Federal Prison Industries (FPI) or UNICOR employs over 12,000 inmates to produce goods and provide services in exchange for developing qualities necessary for employment after prison
Education
◦ Basic (ABE), secondary (GED), and post-secondary
Vocational
◦ Training employment skills as well as trade-specific skills
Work Release
◦ Inmates with 8 months remaining in their sentence may qualify for employment outside of prison and are housed in alternate detention centers

Minnesota: highest recidivism rate - 61.2%
Oregon: lowest recidivism rate - 22.8%
Washington: recidivism rate increase of 10% between 2002-2007

Racial disparities persist beyond sentencing policy
Felon disenfranchisement
Questions the efficacy of our policies

◦ Robert P. Weiss
◦ “In exchange for enhanced labor rights, prisoner-workers are offered a category of citizenship lower than accorded free workers […]
This confronts prisoners in the“postmodern” penitentiary with a dilemma familiar to their free-world counterparts in the penal circuit: Stick to idleness and isolation, or work at hyperexploitative social production.”
◦ Hadar Aviram
◦ “The focus on private actors as the bogeymen of American incarceration belies a naïve understanding of neoliberal politics and a gross underestimation of the extent to which everyone—private and public actors alike—respond to market pressures and conduct their business,including correctional business […].”

Private Companies
Legislators
State Prisons
Government Agencies

State population: 5,420,380
◦ White: 86.2%
◦ Black: 5.7%
◦ Hispanic: 5%
◦ American Indian: 6.5%
◦ Prison population: 9,986

◦ 350 person work crew program managed by Minnesota Department of Corrections in order to construct affordable housing, cut state costs, and train inmates
◦ Eligible prisoners – adult males
◦ Exhibit good behavior
◦ No violent actions/disturbances in past six months
◦ Paid $1.00-$1.50/hr

3,570 offenders were released between 2007-2010

State population: 6,971,406
◦ White: 81.2%
◦ Black: 4%
◦ Hispanic: 11.9%
◦ American Indian: 6.5%
Prison population: 18,233

Study 1: Statewide findings of work release
◦ Hispanics were less likely to apply for work release than whites or blacks
◦ 40% of black and Hispanic were returned to prison compared to 25% white
Study 2: Impact of work release on recidivism
Offenders with a prior history of cocaine were more likely to receive infractions

WA legislators prioritize PSE
Increased funding to the Early Childhood
Education Assistance Program in 2006 rather than invest in a new prison

State Population: 3,930,065
◦ White: 88.1%
◦ Black: 2%
◦ Hispanic: 12.3%
◦ American Indian: 1.8%
Prison Population:

The Prison Reform and Inmate Work Act (Measure
17) passed in 1994 requiring all inmates to be at work or enrolled in training programs 40-hours a week
Inmates are assigned to work crews and work alongside with state departments and communities
Develop practical skills and a strong work ethic

For many states, technical violations are the reason for reverse reentry rather than new crimes
SB 267 requires evidence-based practices for drug and alcohol treatment

Sociocultural
◦ Minnesota – Racial disparities in prison populations and vocational programs
◦ Oregon – History of inmate labor
Socioeconomic
◦ Washington – the decision to invest in education over prison construction is telling of how legislators look for cost-effective solutions
◦ Minnesota – employment favors a small segment of the prison population
*Political Institutions Oregon – SB 567, Measure 17
◦ Post-prison policies are unforgiving in other states
◦ Oregon - Referendum allows for testing new ideas
Legal Institution
◦ Washington – Work release programs favor whites
◦ Minnesota – Work release programs disfavor minorities
Recidivism

http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/law_enforcement_courts_prisons.html
- US census http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/rd_stateratesofincbyraceandethnicity.pdf
file:///C:/Users/Zack/Downloads/NorthcuttBohmert_Duwe_2011_CJPR-libre%20(1).pdf
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0347.pdf
http://www.prisonpolicy.org/profiles/MN.html http://www.prisonpolicy.org/profiles/WA.html
http://www.indiana.gov/idoc/files/Work_Release1.pdf
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-
IXeXxY4twLM/TbiCWrqFaRI/AAAAAAAAAWg/3bZuY_Xe7X0/s1600/Untitled%2B2.jpg
file:///C:/Users/Zack/Downloads/SSRN-id2492782%20(1).pdf