Most experts would argue the U.S. prison system is in need of change, and a number of programs are tackling this challenge in cities nationwide.
A study by the Vera Institute of Justice released on Wednesday found that local and county jails across the country are being misused. Instead of holding people who are viewed as a flight risk or too dangerous to release while waiting for trial, jails have become filled with those who are too poor to afford bail and people with mental health issues or a history of drug addiction, the report found. On any given day, the number of people housed in local facilities has spiked from 224,000 in 1983 to 731,000 in 2013.
And the problems continue on a broader scale.
In 2013, about 1,574,000 prisoners were in state and federal prisons, according to the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). As Think Progress reported, America has the largest prison population in the world.
For many prisoners, time spent behind bars isn’t a one-time affair either. Inmates who break the law repeatedly can spend years going in and out of the system. Last year, a study by BJS found that 67.8 percent of former state prisoners who were released in 2005 were re-arrested within three years, according to The Daily Beast. That figure shot up to 76.6 percent when considering those who were re-arrested within five years of their release.
There are several programs across the country, however, that are restoring justice and empowering inmates so they can benefit society on the outside. Here are six initiatives helping fix America’s broken prison system.
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Efforts in Hennepin County are “exceedingly rare” combining commitments from the sheriff’s department, social workers, judges, public defenders and the county’s hospital, Jesse Jannetta, a prison re-entry expert at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C., told The Star Tribune.
“Everyone recognizes that collaboration is necessary to reduce recidivism, but Hennepin County actually made it happen,” Jannetta said.
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced on Wednesday plans to give $75 million toward local jails across the country in an effort to help nonviolent offenders, the poor and those living with mental health issues stay out from behind bars, the Associated Press reported.
“For too long America has incarcerated too many people unnecessarily, spending too much money without improving public safety,” Julia Stasch, president of the foundation, said in a statement on Wednesday, according to the AP.
The outlet points to a new report the Vera Institute of Justice report that found nearly 12 million people pass through county and city jails in the U.S. Many of those locked up on nonviolent charges (and especially those with mental illnesses) are repeatedly admitted, the report found, contributing significantly to an annual cost of about $22.2 billion for taxpayers.
