About 600,000 individuals are released from prison each year with about two-thirds being rearrested within three years. And most parole violations stem from unemployment or lack of income. Given the importance of the time immediately after release, it is astonishing that many formerly incarcerated individuals are given little or no help with housing, employment, or health issues to close this negative loop that is costly to society in terms of public safety and money ($60 billion per year in prison costs).

Unsubsidized employment may not be a realistic option for ex-prisoners as a first step out of prison. Similar to welfare recipients and other long-term unemployed individuals, this group faces significant barriers to employment and often requires extensive services before being able to find and retain a job. They often lack both hard and soft work skills. Many face personal barriers, such as substance abuse, lack of housing, depression, and physical and mental health problems. They may also face structural barriers to employment, such as lack of transportation and employer reluctance to hire. Many have never worked or have been out of the labor market so long that they have little to offer employers in the form of previous work experience.

Transitional Jobs Reentry Demonstration In 2006, the Joyce Foundation launched a demonstration research project, led by MDRC, awarding grants totaling nearly $6 million, to test a promising employment strategy for people leaving prisons to connect to jobs. The grants provide the lynchpin for a $15 million demonstration research initiative that will evaluate whether “transitional jobs” can improve employment outcomes and reduce recidivism for the growing number of recently released former prisoners in Midwest urban cities.

One-year findings from the study were released in October 2010. Click here to read MDRC's executive summary of the research findings, and visit www.mdrc.org to download the full report. Click here to read Joyce's policy overview that provides insights on the implications of the findings.

Transitional Jobs are time-limited, subsidized jobs that combine real work, skill development, and support services to help participants overcome substantial barriers to employment. The core ingredients include a temporary, wage-paying subsidized job, case management, mentoring, job development, placement in unsubsidized work, and job retention. Transitional jobs are targeted for hard to employ populations, such as long-term welfare recipients, ex-prisoners, foster and disadvantaged youth, and other chronically unemployed individuals. More information on transitional jobs is available from the National Transitional Jobs Network, www.transitionaljobs.net.

Click here to download the National Transitional Jobs Network's overview on the Transitional Jobs Reentry Demonstration findings and next steps based on the research.

Four transitional jobs sites in Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee and St. Paul were selected competitively and are being evaluated by MDRC in collaboration with the Urban Institute and the University of Michigan. Each site recruited 400 male ex-prisoners who have been released within 90 days from prison into the demonstration. MDRC randomly assigned half into a transitional job and half receive basic job search services. Evaluators will examine long-term employment, income, and incarceration rates for participants in transitional jobs and compare them to those who got basic job search services. In addition, there is an ethnographic component that will document interviews with men from all four sites. The results of the study will be released in 2010. The evaluation is being jointly funded by Joyce, the New York-based JEHT Foundation, the U.S. Department of Labor and various state corrections departments. MDRC recently completed similar research on the New York-based Center for Employment Opportunities that showed strong impacts on reducing recidivism. More information is available at the MDRC Web site.