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Recidivism In Texas Prisons

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The Texas Department of Criminal Justice System (TDCJ) incarcerates 143,691 inmates housed in 124 units (Texas Tribune, 2016). Nearly 95% of prison inmates across the United States will be released from prison (Petersilia, 2004), (as cited in Orrick and Vieraitis, 2015). 21,000 prisoners were released from Texas Prisons, and according to the statistics, one out of five of these inmates will within commit more crime three years after release (Burnett, 2015). According to Burnett (2015), recidivism in Texas is contributed to the lack of decent jobs and or supportive families, and ex-inmates tend to fall into the same environments without any new survival skills. Over time they go back to what they know best, which is to survive by way of criminal …show more content…

Finding a suitable place to live can be further complicated by not having gainful employment to sustain the offender’s cost of living. According to the research of Orrick and Vieraitis, (2015), there are some promising results found in evaluations of job assistance programs that combine pre, and post-release services coupled with agencies incentives for hiring ex-offenders. Notwithstanding income may meet short-term needs of ex-offenders, but Martin (2011) contends that financial literacy and asset ownership should cut down on recidivism. The biggest obstacle is the lack of education and work experience most especially for young offenders (Martin, 2011). The literature points to the lack of income and the inability to attain financial freedom legally as one of the primary variables that cause ex-offenders to reoffend. Martin (2011) writes that asset poverty should be combated at the micro-level and the macro-level, in doing so, reentry programs must target the ex-offender, community, and society. (p. 137). Reentry programs may focus on the bare necessities that ex-offenders may need to navigate in society and equip them with the knowledge and tools to enhance their life and overcome the tendency to commit future crimes. However, giving these ex-offenders a stake in society through asset ownership could give them a sense of inclusion in society, therefore, the desire to reoffend can decrease. Programs that focus of wealth accumulation is a great asset to include in reentry programs alongside the traditional educational and economic programs already offered (Marin,

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