Restoring Community and Family Bonds
Roughly 600,000 people are released from prison every year. The number leaving county jails is exponentially higher—and the hard work of fostering stronger connections between incarcerated people and the communities they come from and return to has only just begun.
With our government partners, we’re using higher education as a sturdy bridge between life inside and life after incarceration. Bringing college back into prison and supporting people in their studies for two years after release pays off in increased rates of employment and higher incomes, as well as much lower recidivism rates—individual outcomes that also benefit the low-income families and communities formerly incarcerated people often rejoin. We’re exploring the potential of video visitation, to preserve family bonds no wall should sever. We’re helping cities reconsider blanket prohibitions that bar formerly incarcerated people from public housing, replacing them with individual assessments that can promote family reunification and prevent homelessness. And our Family Justice project pioneered a truly holistic approach to reentry that honors and marshals that natural support system that every person has.
Issue
Spotlights
Featured
Opening Doors
How to develop reentry programs using examples from public housing authorities
A growing number of public housing authorities (PHAs) across the country are implementing reentry programs and changing their policies to help formerly incarcerated people secure housing. This report highlights 11 PHAs doing this work and examines best practices and lessons learned from their experiences—including key factors of program design and ...
Investing in Futures
Economic and Fiscal Benefits of Postsecondary Education in Prison
Efforts to build robust postsecondary education programs in prison have accelerated in recent years, with support from a broad range of groups from correctional officers to college administrators. This report, which is the result of a collaborative effort with the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality, describes how lifting the current ban on ...
A New Role for Technology
Video visitation in prison
People in prison are often incarcerated far from their home communities, making visitation with family members difficult or impossible. Yet, studies show that in-person visitation can lead to improved behavior in custody and reduced risk of recidivism post-release. This study aims to explore a new visitation option for people incarcerated far from ...
Project
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Margaret diZerega
Related Work
Series: Target 2020
Voters in Battleground States Favor Restoring Pell Grants for People in Prison
These battleground state voters seem to understand that reinstating Pell eligibility for the greatest number of people in prison is a sound investment in our future. Plenty of other influential voices agree. Bipartisan momentum to get rid of the Pell ban for people in prison has been growing steadily: Since early 2019, the Association of State Cor ...
Blog Post
Margaret diZerega
How can we change a system set up to control Black people? By radically dismantling it.
The senseless and violent deaths of Black people—like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and David McAtee—at the hands of law enforcement are not isolated incidents. They are examples of an unjust and oppressive system that is weaponized against Black people. Though the just prosecution of officers involved in acts of police brutality is necessary, it h ...
Blog Post
Jamila Hodge
From Corrections to College in California
An Evaluation of Student Support During and After Incarceration
California is a national leader in providing higher education to justice-involved people. A key driver of this movement has been the Renewing Communities initiative, a joint project of the Opportunity Institute and the Stanford Criminal Justice Center that sought to expand access to higher education among justice-involved people in California, both ...
Series: Target 2020
Getting Rid of Private Prisons Isn’t Enough
Vera has committed to a 10-year strategy to end the incarceration of girls. To accomplish this by 2029, we have created a three-pronged approach: Target the top incarcerators. Together, the top eight states—California, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas—account for more than 50 percent of the nation’s incarceration ...
Blog Post
Logan Schmidt
Lesson Plans for Justice Reform: A Call to Action for Students and Teachers
Teachers and students are on the front lines of some of our justice system’s toughest issues—shootings in schools, immigration enforcement, disproportionate disciplining and policing of youth of color, and untreated trauma from being a witness to violence. Yet despite a vibrant bipartisan movement for justice reform in this country, teachers and st ...
Blog Post
Kevin Keenan
Britt Masback
Voters in Battleground States Favor Restoring Pell Grants for People in Prison
These battleground state voters seem to understand that reinstating Pell eligibility for the greatest number of people in prison is a sound investment in our future. Plenty of other influential voices agree. Bipartisan momentum to get rid of the Pell ban for people in prison has been growing steadily: Since early 2019, the Association of State Co ...
Blog Post
Margaret diZerega
Reimagining Justice
The Next 25 Years
Marking the 25th anniversary of the federal 1994 Crime Bill, this video offers a consideration of the visionary work, big ideas, and fundamental values that can guide the next 25 years of justice policy.
Growing Momentum to Expand Access to Quality Postsecondary Education for People in Prison
Postsecondary education in prison cuts costs, which provides opportunities to reinvest in communities. “Safer communities” is another way of saying less crime and less taxpayer dollars spent on prisons. According to the findings of Vera’s 2015 “Price of Prisons” report, states spend upward of $45 billion a year incarcerating people, but continue to ...
Blog Post
Fred Patrick
Embracing Human Dignity
Gala 2019 event video
Vera Institute of Justice's 13th Annual Gala event video, featuring Restoring Promise, SAFE Network, and College in Prison initiatives.
For Many, Second Chance Pell Offers a First Chance Opportunity
Vera also co-hosted a Second Chance Pell listening session on April 5 with the U.S. Department of Education, gathering representatives from SCP sites to discuss what’s working well and what could be improved if postsecondary education in prison programs are expanded. Secretary Betsy DeVos provided the opening remarks – and even took to Twitter afte ...
Blog Post
Logan Schmidt
(Returning) Home for the Holidays
As public attention grows to the difficulties people with criminal justice involvement face in securing housing, opportunities for reform emerge. We recently convened PHA representatives and local law enforcement partners from around the country in New Orleans to discuss how to move this work forward. And, Colorado’s Department of Local Affairs (DO ...
Blog Post
Byron Kline
Embracing Human Dignity
Annual Report 2018