NCJ Number
226426
Date Published
2009
Length
44 pages
Annotation
In exploring mentoring within the context of a comprehensive strategy for supporting successful reentry of persons released from prison, this report describes how mentoring was implemented in the demonstration sites for the U.S. Labor Department's Ready4Work program, whose primary goal was to reduce recidivism by addressing critical barriers faced by persons returning to their home communities after release from prison.
Abstract
Mentoring was the most challenging and innovative aspect of the Ready4Work program. Although the demonstration sites recruited sufficient numbers of mentors to serve all of the ex-inmates in the program, only about half of the inmates in the program chose to participate in the mentoring component, which enabled a comparison of the reentry success of ex-inmates who did and did not participate in mentoring. Findings show that ex-inmates who met with mentors fared better in the program than those who did not, as measured by how long they remained in the program and the employment outcomes they experienced during their period of enrollment. Mentoring, in conjunction with intensive case management and employment services, is apparently a promising approach for helping ex-inmates reintegrate into their communities after release. One chapter of this report describes the mentoring component as it was implemented at the Ready4Work sites. This is followed by a chapter that describes the participants who were drawn to mentoring, with attention to how they differed from the general population of Ready4Work participants. The chapter also describes the mentors and briefly discusses the challenges they faced in sustaining their relationships with the ex-prisoners. Another chapter examines the ways in which participation in mentoring was related to program retention and employment, as well as recidivism outcomes. The concluding chapter discusses the promise of mentoring as part of a comprehensive strategy to assist returning prisoners and suggests issues for future research. 2 figures, 33 notes, 40 references, and appended data sources, analytical procedures, and a table of characteristics of participants by mentoring status