Each year, over 700,000 convicted offenders are released from prison and enter cities and towns across the country. Although existing research has shown that where they settle has important implications for their chances of successful reentry, little is known about how released offenders come to reside in certain neighborhoods. The proposed research will utilize restricted social survey data that contains both residential and incarceration histories to examine the impact of incarceration on the sorting of individuals into neighborhoods of varying quality. As such, the study will examine (1) how incarceration impacts residential mobility decisions, (2) the types of neighborhoods individuals move to after prison, and (3) if ex-inmate neighborhood location adversely impacts individual well-being. Given the scope of prisoner reentry, the results of the proposed study will provide important knowledge about the role incarceration plays in shaping residential outcomes. The findings will also suggest avenues through which policymakers can enact effective legislation that promotes residential stability in hopes of reducing recidivism rates.
The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Our current correctional population reflects four decades of social "wars" on crime, generally, and drugs, specifically. A growing body of research has documented the ways that criminal justice contact through incarceration affects individuals long after their prison spell ends. Ex-inmates have problems finding stable employment, making a livable wage, creating and maintaining personal relationships, and exhibit long-term mental and physical health deficiencies. At the heart of these post-prison struggles is a lasting and negative social stigma that casts ex-inmates as untrustworthy, dangerous, and lazy. The current project extends this line of research by examining the impact that incarceration has on housing and residential outcomes. Specifically, the project asks two questions. First, to what extend does incarceration contribute to residential instability? Second, what types of neighborhoods do ex-inmates move out of and in to following prison? In relation to the first question, the project found that the period following release from prison is one of increased residential mobility. Even after controlling for the fact that ex-inmates tend to be poor, uneducated, and unemployment (factors associated with high rates of mobility), the findings indicate that going to prison puts individuals on a trajectory of residential stability across time. In relation to the second question, the project found that going to prison increases the likelihood that an individual will move out of a non-poor neighborhood and move in to a poor neighborhood. As such, incarceration contributes, through increased mobility, to a process of downward social mobility into poor and disadvantaged neighborhoods. The findings of this project are of public interest for a number of reasons. Policymakers and practitioners are paying increased attention to issues surrounding incarceration and prisoner reentry. Several new initiatives are targeting high rates of recidivism in hopes of reducing incarceration by helping released prisoners stay out of prison in the future. Finding stable housing is an important component of the reentry process, and released prisoners that lack stable housing are more likely to return to prison through recidivism. Findings from this project suggest that the incarceration experience itself is an obstacle in obtaining stable housing, while at the same time pushing ex-inmates into disadvantaged neighborhoods where legitimate opportunities are scarce. As such, any attempt to reduce recidivism should include efforts to help former prisoners find stable and secure housing.
