Prisoner Reentry in the Era of Mass Incarceration by Daniel Mears and Joshua Cochran is a book that emphasizes on how the economic, academic, social, and political landscape shifted in the 1970s, 1980s, and the 1990s. The shift contributed to the movement away from rehabilitative approaches to crime, to punishment that were largely focused on retribution, incapacitation, and deterrence (Mears & Cochran, 2014). Having in place more punitive punishments and lengthier sentences has seen mass incarceration present problems associated with mass reentry as more than 93% of offenders will still return to society. The information of the authors asserts that investing and implementing in evidence-based practices and theories are necessary with regard to examining the experiences of offenders. Moreover, it will address the needs offenders, the progress of risk prediction that includes insights of the victim and practitioners (Mears & Cochran, 2014).
Chapter 1 of the book starts off by giving a brief introduction to mass incarceration and reentry issues. Reentry aspects are understood best by looking at the happenings of prisoners before being released back into the society. Crime and correctional policy are also understood because relevance is given to understanding reentry, which has become a societal problem in recent decades. The chapter looks at how politicians flourished through the process of politicizing crime as they acquired numerous benefits. The historical context that gave rise to ‘mass reentry’ with underlying reasons for this kind of change is the tenet for this chapter (Mears & Cochran, 2014). The goals of the book have also been stipulated by the authors and this has helped readers in understanding ‘criminology’ versus the ‘criminal justice theory.’ Moreover, the authors also mention the research conducted on the issue of mass incarceration and reentry. Terminology and scope of work being covered is also observed. Having established the context, focus is now given to reentry as shown in the following four chapters.
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Chapter 2 looks at the historical trends by separating issues of corrections and reentry policy and practice. This part of the book manages to highlight all the considerable changes that have occurred in the criminal justice system. The contemporary approaches to punishment are outlined in this chapter and looked at the reentry of particular inmates into communities. Mass incarceration and reentry is discussed using historical context situations (Mears & Cochran, 2014). In addition, various approaches have been highlighted by the authors used in combating crime. The reentry policy and practice mentioned in this chapter manages to establish a framework that helps readers identify the ways of improving and understanding punishment in the modern society. A range of reentry outcomes have also been established in the United States because they entered an era of ‘mass incarceration’ and ‘mass corrections.’
Chapter 3 goes on to look at the causes of mass incarceration that contributed to mass reentry approach. Mass incarceration is a large-scale shift taken by the American corrections. This punitive turn occurred due to a larger set of political and cultural forces shaping diverse aspect of society, which also includes the education and social welfare policy. The factors addressed in this chapter are many and have managed to show how they contributed to the investment in a portfolio that is ideal when it comes to issues of sanctioning (Mears & Cochran, 2014). It is through this chapter that the authors use prior work in different ways to identify how systems-level force brought about reentry and problems associated with the approach. Systems-level force is seen to contribute to the increased growth of prisons and sustained investment in mass incarceration (Mears & Cochran, 2014).
Chapter 4 talks about the profile of the inmate population and looks at the ‘typical’ inmate, and the salience of this type of profile when talking about reentry. Reentry is a challenging thing and it is important to understand the struggles faced by the inmates during prison and even after their release. This will help in understanding those who land in prison and those exiting the facility. The primary focus of the chapter is on the implications of inmate characteristics such as their socioeconomic, prior involvement and to the criminal justice system, demographic and health backgrounds. The highlights of the chapter state the reasons to identify the inmate profiles and what forces change is experienced by these profiles over time. In addition, the implication of such change is also addressed in order to understand mass incarceration. The disadvantages of prisoner population and the communities they come from is the central theme observed in this chapter. Certain groups, for instance the drug offenders face tougher incarceration. It is evident that challenges are presented when looking at creating improved life circumstances like reducing recidivism, which creates substantial barriers to attainting successful reentry. Reentry groups are different and thus, using silver-bullet solutions is not wise because it does not fit well with their associated problems and heterogeneous set of characteristics.
Chapter 5 gives an account of the prison experience by describing it and looks at how this might affect their reentry outcomes. The description manages to point to the heterogeneity inherent to the prison experience of offenders in the previous chapter (Mears & Cochran, 2014). Arguments raised by the authors relate to the different types of prison experiences and show how they can affect the behavior of inmates and the outcomes of reentry like recidivism. Other outcomes relate to post-release issues like employment and housing. Importation theory and deprivation theory are also mentioned because they are powerful frameworks in understanding what really happens to inmates. Moreover, looks at how their experiences and characteristics can contribute to issues of misconduct and recidivism. The prison experience described includes prison visitation, solitary confinement, programming, and victimization, which continues to illustrate how their experiences in prison may influence the inmates and success of reentry. Here, important emphasis is given in understanding how the inmates perceive themselves. Scholars continue to concentrate on the issue of mass incarceration without considering how their experiences affect their behavior, both during and after incarceration. Questions investigated highlight on the complexity of reentry, such as: prisons are intended to punish offenders, but what exactly should the punishment involve? Accountability issues are also raised with regard to preventing the reoccurrence of abuses present in coercive settings. Such are the questions examined and addressed, which identified the exiting tension in America’s punishment policy. For instance, those punishments that tend to lead to more recidivism are more problematic. The underlying question is why the government should continue to spend money for more crime. The writers raised the concern of what the society would want the prison experience to entail in order to attain appropriate amounts of retribution and reduce recidivism.
In summation, the motivation behind the writing of the book illuminates from the opportunities that exist to reduce crime and the costs suffered (Mears & Cochran, 2014). It also looks at accompanying crime by using and creating more effective justice systems. The authors are advocating for the improvement of reentry approach because having a one-solution mindset is not appropriate. As such, Mears and Cochran are looking at the wide range of opportunities available for the consideration of the criminal justice system in bringing order to the communities, correctional facilities. It is all about looking at ways to improve the reentry of prisoners into society and the criminal justice and corrections systems.
Reference
Mears, D. P., & Cochran, J. C. (2014). Prisoner reentry in the era of mass incarceration. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
