ABSTRACT
On the heels of a rapid uptick in incarceration during the late 1980s, scholars took note of the fact that the vast majority of incarcerated persons are eventually released, prompting a more holistic examination of reentry and the formulation of a more comprehensive view of rehabilitation along with the recognition that reentry is not a moment in time but a process of reintegration. This more nuanced and expansive view of reentry highlighted the dearth of research on the topic from the perspective of the individual released from prison along with the crucial family, peer, and community influences that can promote or inhibit reentry success. To fill this knowledge gap, in 2001, the Urban Institute (Urban) launched Returning Home: Understanding the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry. Returning Home focused on the pathways to prisoner reintegration within and across five domains—individual, peer, family, community, and state-through a multi-site, longitudinal study of men and women returning home from incarceration in three states. This chapter describes the Returning Home methodology and discusses how its findings informed subsequent federal and philanthropic reentry funding priorities and programmatic strategies and laid the foundation for subsequent national evaluations. The project has served as a source of survey instruments and data for researchers both nationally and internationally. And most importantly, the research helped guide policy on the ground, informing efforts to improve outcomes for people leaving prison along with their families and communities.
