New data on prison programming and work

A new report from the Public Policy Institute of California puts data behind what we see every week in our programs: in-prison programming matters for what comes after. The report, which tracked employment outcomes for about 170,000 people released from California prisons, found that participants in certain in-prison programs, including vocational training, were more likely to find work after release. It also found that nearly half of formerly imprisoned people never held a job outside prison, and that post-release earnings rarely exceeded the poverty threshold.

The numbers reflect a system that releases people into significant economic precarity. One reason: California has more than twice the average number of regulations affecting employment for people with criminal histories compared to other states. Reducing those barriers is as important as building skills inside. 

Read the full report here.