ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an exploratory review of the field of socio-ecological interventions in prisons, jails, and communities impacted by incarceration. Based on the experience of a growing national network that is seeking to understand and implement some form of socio-ecological intervention within and beyond correctional settings, this chapter looks at the implications and possibilities of such programs. Using examples featured at the 2021 Conference on Social and Ecological Infrastructure for Recidivism Reduction, three key areas that define this emerging area of scholarship and action are introduced: centering relationships, negotiating access, and navigating money and measurements. Particular emphasis is given throughout to designing, implementing, and studying interventions that include a mix of social dimensions and ecological, environmental, or nature-based elements. The chapter concludes that for socio-ecological interventions to fulfill their potential, they require social and organizational innovations that create new collaborations and networks in the process of implementation.
