Over the past decade, some states have begun to rethink the ways their prisons work, making prison life safer for incarcerated individuals and staff while enriching educational and vocational opportunities to improve post-release outcomes. A new report from our organization offers a window into some of these innovative programs. They’re in red states and blue. And they’re models the rest of the country should follow.
In Chester, Pa., for example, the State Correctional Institution established a unit to test a more humane approach to incarceration. The people in this unit experience more autonomy and a living space that better reflects spaces on the outside — an exercise area, a game table, access to a kitchen and more. For those on the unit preparing for their release date, it’s a more gradual transition than going straight to the outside world from the more restrictive conditions of the prison’s general population. In addition, the corrections staff assigned to the unit have been trained to develop one-on-one relationships with the residents. Officers may, for example, connect residents to information that they need in prison to start preparing for life outside, such as resources on post-release employment and housing.
This program is based on successful correctional practices in Norway and Sweden. It’s dubbed “Little Scandinavia.” The unit opened in May 2022, and results so far are promising: The unit saw almost no violent episodes in 2024, even as violent incidents increased 22 percent in other prisons across the state. Now there is a plan to expand the program to three additional state prisons.
With similar goals for young adults behind bars, Restoring Promise units focus on improving conditions and support for incarcerated individuals ages 18-25. These units, which are found in six states, train staff to build relationships with residents based on respect rather than control. That shift creates more opportunities for young adults to develop the communications and social skills they’ll need when they rejoin their communities. Units are also designed to include community spaces like kitchens, schedules with “commuting time” to prison jobs and other features that mimic as much as possible a typical day on the outside. Results from South Carolina’s Restoring Promise programs show a 73 percent reduction in the chance of being written up for violence and an 83 percent reduction in restrictive housing stays, where a person is confined to their cell for a vast majority of the day.
States are also taking aim at one of the key challenges facing people upon release from prison: the ability to find and maintain employment. Vocational programs provide incarcerated individuals with training, experience and connections that can help them secure a job after they’re released. In Michigan, Vocational Village units at multiple prisons are geared toward individuals within a year or two of their earliest release date. Residents live together and travel to training areas together, fostering a sense of community. State agencies, trade associations and professional societies, and more offer residents who complete their training professional certifications in fields including automotive mechanics, cosmetology, welding, horticulture, coding and software development.
Through a correctional partnership with Michigan’s Department of State, for example, villagers in the commercial truck-driving program can complete the necessary classroom and simulation portions of their training while incarcerated and earn their commercial driver’s license upon release. It’s an example of how the Vocational Village program helps newly released individuals rejoin their communities by aligning training programs with labor needs and fostering partnerships with area employers. From the program’s launch in 2016 through July 2023, just 12.6 percent returned to prison at some point after their release — about half the return rate for all of those Michigan released in 2020.
But despite these promising programs and bipartisan support for change, improvements are not as swift or sweeping as they should be. Incarcerated individuals across the country — including in states that have made important reforms — still face a dearth of rehabilitative programming, and many suffer from inhumane conditions, violence, trauma and other challenging circumstances that make it harder for them to rejoin their families and communities.
We know that improving conditions and developing a more holistic approach to rehabilitation improve safety for correctional facility staff, reduce violence and enhance opportunities for success after release. Corrections officials themselves support expanding these programs. With both momentum and political will aligned, now is the time to make these changes more widespread.
Lauren-Brooke Eisen is senior director of the Brennan Center's Justice Program and the author of Inside Private Prisons: An American Dilemma in the Age of Mass Incarceration. Ram Subramanian is the director of the Brennan Center's Justice Program. Both are co-authors of the new report “Prison Reform in the United States.”
Governing's opinion columns reflect the views of their authors and not necessarily those of Governing's editors or management.
Related Articles
