With corrections budgets stretched to the bursting point, corrections officials have been looking into ways to reduce prison populations as a cost-saving measure. Throughout the country prisons and jails are being emptied. As these once overcrowded buildings stand vacant, the people who filled them are facing barriers to successful reentry. Reentrants often lack job skills, education, and housing. According to Gotham Gazaette, formerly incarcerated persons and those who advocate for them in New York are seeking to use vacant correctional facilities to house reentry programs and other initiatives designed to help reentrants successfully reintegrate back into the community.
Gotham Gazette recently posted an article, written by David Howard King, on repurposing empty correctional facilities. The article, “Can Empty Prisons Be Repurposed To Help Ex-Cons Reintegrate Into Society?” is reposted here with permission.
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