HOMELESS SHELTER USE AND REINCARCERATION FOLLOWING PRISON RELEASE*

TLDR

The study investigates the incidence and interrelationships between shelter use and reincarceration among 48,424 New York State prisoners released to New York City between 1995 and 1998. The authors analyzed this cohort using survival analysis to assess risk factors for shelter use and subsequent reincarceration. Within two years of release, 11.4% of the cohort entered a homeless shelter and 32.8% of those were reimprisoned; survival analysis identified time since release and residential instability as key risk factors, with shelter use increasing reincarceration risk, suggesting that targeted housing services could substantially reduce homelessness and recidivism.

Abstract

Research Summary: This paper examines the incidence of and interrelationships between shelter use and reincarceration among a cohort of 48,424 persons who were released from New York State prisons to New York City in 1995–1998. Results show that, within two years of release, 11.4% of the study group entered a New York City homeless shelter and 32.8% of this group was again imprisoned. Using survival analysis methods, time since prison release and history of residential instability were the most salient risk factors related to shelter use, and shelter use increased the risk of subsequent reincarceration. Policy Implications: These findings show both homelessness and reincarceration to be substantial problems among a population of released prisoners, problems that fall into the more general framework of community reintegration. They also suggest that enhanced housing and related services, when targeted to a relatively small at‐risk group among this population, have the potential to substantially reduce the overall risk for homelessness in the group.