A new Pew report,Collateral Costs: Incarceration’s Effect on Economic Mobility, discloses the related costs of imprisoning 2.3 Americans. Today one in every 28 American children has a parent who is incarcerated. The report discovered that prior to incarceration, two-thirds of prisoners were employed and over fifty-percent were the primary source of financial support for their children. Since the majority of prisoners will eventually be released, a look at what faces men upon reentry is eye-opening. According to the report:
After release, former male inmates work nine fewer weeks annually and take home 40 percent less in annual earnings, making $23,500 instead of $39,100. That amounts to an expected earnings loss of nearly $179,000 through age 48 for men who have been incarcerated.
Of former inmates who were in the bottom of the earnings distribution in 1986, two-thirds remained there in 2006, twice the number of non-incarcerated men.
Collateral Costs also breaks down the racial make-up of prisoners, with one in 87 white men of working age incarcerated, compared to one in 36 Hispanic men, and one in 12 African-American men. The racial disparity continues . Whereas one in 28 American children has a parent locked up, in the African-American community it is one in 9. Among African-American men in the 20-34 year-old age group who do not have a high school diploma or GED, more are incarcerated (37 percent) than employed (26 percent).
The report was researched and written by Pew’s Economic Policy Group, and the Pew Center on the States. Pew determined that implementing certain policies can lower recidivism, and thus improve a formerly incarcerated person’s transition back into the community. The suggestions include:
Reconnecting former inmates to the labor market through education and training, job search and placement support, and follow-up services;
Making work pay by capping the percent of an offenders' income subject to deductions for court-ordered fines and fees;
Funding incentives for corrections agencies and programs that succeed in reducing crime and increasing employment;
Offering earned-time credits to offenders who complete educational, vocational, or rehabilitation programs behind bars; and
Using swift and certain sanctions to deter probation and parole violations and reduce the cost of incarceration. For example, Hawaii's successful HOPE probation program uses short but immediate jail stays to punish drug use and other probation violations, imposing them on weekends so working offenders don't lose their jobs.
To view the full report Click here to go to the website
Source: Collateral Costs: Incarceration’s Effect on Economic Mobility
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