Experiment to Track Re-Entry Programs

NEW YORK — Employment success and recidivism will be evaluated under a new experiment that will track former inmates in several states.

Starting in January, the Transitional Jobs Reentry Demonstrations, developed by the Manpower Development Research Corporation in New York, will use controlled-study parameters to track the success of two groups of prisoners released from incarceration.

One group of prisoners will receive instruction on proper work etiquette, employments skills, resume preparation, and assistance in looking for a job. The second group of prisoners will receive the same training, but the offenders will also be given a job for a few months that will allow them to familiarize themselves with a work routine.

The experiment will include groups of former inmates participating in programs in Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee and St. Paul, Minn. It is designed to determine the effects of re-entry programs that provide former inmates with temporary jobs to provide them with income directly after their release. The programs also allow officials an opportunity to identify and mitigate any potential problems that could thwart an offender’s employment success.

Evaluators will follow both groups for at least one year, using unemployment insurance earnings and criminal justice data from the participating states, according to Manpower. The evaluation is expected to be complete by 2009.