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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 9:37 pm
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Results for work programs
3 results foundAuthor: Irish Prison Service Title: Community Return: A Unique Opportunity. A descriptive evaluation of the first twenty six months (2011 - 2013) Summary: In October 2011, the Probation Service, in partnership with the Irish Prison Service, commenced a pilot Community Return Programme. The Community Return Programme is an incentivised early release scheme introduced in line with the recommendations of the Thornton Hall Project Review Group. All participants have demonstrated their willingness and ability to co-operate with the prison regime and to engage with the therapeutic services available. Community Return is a novel and unique initiative combining unpaid work for the benefit of the community with early release and resettlement support. In its development, no equivalent or similar initiative could be identified anywhere in the world and none had been reported in academic reviews or criminal justice literature. In the Community Return Programme, qualifying prisoners may be released early from their custodial sentences, with a period of unpaid community work as a condition of their incentivised, structured and reviewable temporary release. The Community Return Programme pilot, between October 2011 and April 2012, proved to be very successful in assessed compliance with the conditions of the release and behaviour, and in terms of the very low level of reconviction of participants. The success of the pilot led to the programme being mainstreamed. The aim of this research study is to assess the operation, impact, and effectiveness of the Community Return programme through a piece of descriptive and evaluative research. The study cohort comprised all 761 Community Return Programme participants between October 2011 and December 31st 2013. A mixed methods approach was used in the study, as well as analysis of anonymised pre-existing data on participants held by the Irish Prison Service. Questionnaires were completed by relevant Irish Prison Service and Probation Service personnel. The Community Return Programme participants were predominantly male, with females comprising approximately 6% of the population on the programme. 77% of the population were aged between 21 and 40, with the greatest concentration in both genders (43%) in the ten year age group between 21 and 30 years. - 62% of Community Return Programme participants were from Leinster. 43% of all participants were from Dublin. Of the total population who commenced the Community Return Programme, approximately 53% were located in three major urban areas (Dublin, Cork and Limerick). - Of the 761 offenders who commenced the Community Return Programme, (90%) were serving custodial sentences of less than six years. 45% were serving sentences of between two and four years imprisonment. The average sentence length was 3.2 years - 40% of Community Return Programme participants had been convicted on drug offences. 16% had been convicted in respect of offences including assaults and related offending. 9% were convicted of offences including robbery and related offences. - 38% of participants were released from open prisons, Shelton Abbey and Loughan House, while Mountjoy Prison was the closed prison with the highest release rate at 11%. The high percentage of prisoners released onto the Community Return programme from open prisons reflects the Irish Prison Service Incentivised Regime policy in practice and the pre-release role of open prisons. - Of the 761 participants who had commenced the Community Return Programme between October 2011 and December 31st 2013, 548 had completed it and 108 were still in progress. 88, approximately 11%, breached conditions of the Community Return Programme and were returned to custody. Almost 89% had either successfully completed their Community Return Programme or were still working on the Programme. Of those participants (n =233) released during the first year of the programme, 91% had not been committed to prison on a new custodial sentence in the period up to the end of 2013. - 9,580 weeks of Community Return Programme work, comprising 201,056 hours unpaid work, was completed by participants. Based on the national minimum wage in 2014 for an adult worker of L8.65 per hour, this represents L1,739,135 worth of unpaid work completed for the community by Community Return participants. - The most common types of work undertaken by Community Return Programme participants were landscaping/gardening, painting/decorating and renovation, with participants preferring work which allowed them to see 'a job through from beginning to end rather than constant switching between jobs'. Supervisors reported that Community Return Programme participants performed positively in their work and displayed a positive attitude towards the work. - Over 80% of community based Probation Officers attributed Community Return Programme participant compliance primarily to a desire to avoid returning to prison. In some cases this was complemented by secondary motivational factors such as participant enjoyment of the work experience, appreciation of their early release or, a sense of commitment to the Community Return contract. - Access to social protection entitlements ('social welfare') was the single biggest difficulty faced by Community Return participants involved in this study following their release, affecting one third of participants. According to participant feedback, difficulties appear to have stemmed from an apparent lack of a shared understanding regarding access to income maintenance payments by Community Return participants. - The Community Return Programme participants identified particular benefits in the Programme, including the structure and routine which aided re-integration, the work ethic and self-esteem developed, their positive profile in working in the community and the learning of work skills transferable to employment. Challenges included coping with the strictness and frequency of the signing-on conditions, difficulties accessing entitlements and payments, and time and costs in travelling to worksites. - The Community Return Programme helped participants stay out of trouble according to some of them, by keeping them occupied, providing positive supports and a starting point to build on, particularly in the early stages after release, when, according to research here and abroad, newly released prisoners are particularly vulnerable to relapse to anti-social behaviour, companions and offending. The Community Return Programme has potential for further expansion and detailed recommendations are outlined in Chapter 7. Details: Longford, IE: Irish Prisons Service; Dublin: Irish Probation Service, 2014. 52p. Source: Internet Resource: Probation Service Research Report 5: Accessed February 12, 2015 at: http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Community_Return_Study_Report_v3_9.pdf/Files/Community_Return_Study_Report_v3_9.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Ireland URL: http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Community_Return_Study_Report_v3_9.pdf/Files/Community_Return_Study_Report_v3_9.pdf Shelf Number: 134613 Keywords: Alternatives to Incarceration (Ireland)Community ServiceEarly ReleaseProbationProbationsWork Programs |
Author: George, Anitha Title: Evaluation of day one mandation of prison leavers to the Work Programme Summary: The Work Programme is an active labour market programme launched in Great Britain in June 2011. Since 1 March 2012 prison leavers claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) have been mandated to join the Work Programme immediately on release from custody. This was based on the recognition that prison leavers' extensive barriers to employment suggest a greater need for employment assistance. A key feature of the policy is the facility for prisoners to make an advance JSA claim from up to five weeks pre-release. The evaluation examined the policy implementation and programme delivery of day one mandation. Key findings Advance JSA claims were seen as beneficial by payment group 9 (PG9) claimants and Employment and Benefit Advisers (EBAs). They made the process easier and quicker, as well as helping to prevent financial hardship. The introduction of PG9 did not result in substantial changes to providers' models. Providers reported lower than expected referral numbers and hence financial constraints to providing dedicated PG9 support. However, some changes did occur including: some prerelease work (though this was not extensive); the training or increased use of ex-offender specialist advisers and/or subcontractors; and greater provision of in-work support for the group (as PG9 claimants, in general, were seen to be more in need of this than other claimants). Results from the survey of claimants did not suggest intensive support for the group. Survey findings of note include the low proportion of respondents who stated having had a skills assessment (43 per cent) or drawing up an action plan (49 per cent). Respondents found seeing the same adviser all or most of the time to be helpful in order to build a trusting relationship. Additionally, prison leavers are a heterogeneous group, some of whom have extensive barriers to employment, making it difficult for them to find work in the two years of the programme. Details: London: Department for Work & Pensions, 2014. 179p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 2, 2016 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/399519/rr897-evaluation-day-one-mandation.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/399519/rr897-evaluation-day-one-mandation.pdf Shelf Number: 138028 Keywords: Employment ProgramsEx-offender EmploymentPrisoner ReentryWork Programs |
Author: John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Prisoner Reentry Institute Title: Building Communities, Changing Lives: The NYC Justice Corps Community Benefit Projects Summary: The NYC Justice Corps aims to change the dynamic between justice system-involved young adults and the communities in which they live. At the heart of the program are community benefit projects - from renovation and restoration projects to educational and arts initiatives - designed and carried out by Corps members. Community beneft projects promote transformation on several levels. By taking the lead in all aspects of creating and completing their service projects, Corps members learn the hard and soft skills needed for their return to education or entry into training and the workforce. As they seek input from Community Advisory Board members and carry out projects in community centers, parks, and other important local sites, Corps members come to view themselves as contributors to the vibrant fabric of their neighborhoods, developing a stronger connection to the physical landscape and people around them. As one Corps member said: "So [we] give back to them and put ourselves in a different light, definitely. It's wonderful." Neighborhoods, too, beneft from transformational physical improvements and the positive engagement of their young people. One community leader noted that Justice Corps members had come at the "opportune time" and "stepped up" to complete their service project. Community benefit projects have the potential to pave the way for a shift in community members' perception and experience of young people with criminal histories. Young adults aged 18-24 returning to their communities after criminal justice involvement are at a turning point. As criminologist Shadd Maruna notes, individuals at the reentry "'threshol... shed their former identities, but what they shall become is not yet known. They stand outside the normal structures of society in a liminal state characterized by jeopardy and promise." The NYC Justice Corps ofers young people a chance to change their paths through youth-led, collaborative service work in the form of community benefit projects, structuring their program participation to reduce the "jeopardy" and maximize the "promise" of reentry. Details: New York: The Institute, 2017. 72p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 29, 2017 at: https://kf4fx1bdsjx2as1vf38ctp7p-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/NYC-Justice-Corps-Community.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://kf4fx1bdsjx2as1vf38ctp7p-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/NYC-Justice-Corps-Community.pdf Shelf Number: 146932 Keywords: Community-Based ProgramsPrisoner ReentryRehabilitation ProgramsWork ProgramsYoung Adult Offenders |