University Class Research Project Partners with EOTC to Study Prisoner Recidivism

In a perfect world, incarceration would be a once-in-a-lifetime event. Those who’ve made mistakes that resulted in a prison term would not only learn from those mistakes, but learn from what others are willing to teach them upon release, and never see the inside of a cell again.

Unfortunately, this is not a perfect world and what others are ready to teach is not always what prisoners are ready to learn.

“You can tell a prisoner to do A, B and C, but if they don’t buy into it, it’s not going to mean anything,” said Loreen Wolfer, Ph.D., a University of Scranton professor of sociology and criminal justice.

That’s why Dr. Wolfer and students in two of her classes, Research Methods for the Social Sciences and Statistics for the Social Sciences, have teamed up on a multi-year project with the Employment Opportunity and Training Center (EOTC) of Northeastern Pennsylvania to study recidivism intervention at the Lackawanna County Prison.

High rates of recidivism, or relapse into criminal behavior, have long been part of a complex problem not only for the criminal-justice system but for those trying to make a meaningful difference.

One way to try to combat the problem, according to Dr. Wolfer, is to offer programs that prisoners themselves say they want and therefore might actually use.

That’s the basic idea behind the partnership with EOTC, which, in its first year, is in the needs-assessment stage.

“EOTC believes that our mission’s future depends upon frequent, honest examination of the programs and services we offer in our community through ongoing assessment of clear outcomes that create meaningful, measurable, and sustainable growth opportunities for the individuals, children and families whom we serve,” said EOTC Executive Director, Linda Ciampi.   

Dr. Wolfer and her students have committed themselves to finding out which types of programs prisoners request and actually might take advantage of once they find themselves back in the outside world.

That starts with plain-and-simple asking, which is exactly what the University team is doing in the first year of this project, which can last as long as five years.

Preliminary findings, Dr. Wolfer said, are that prisoners’ top concerns as they near release are using drugs and alcohol, reconnecting with family and children and avoiding problematic friends.

“But the No. 1 issue,” she said, “is actually finding a job that pays a living wage.”

“One of the key classes they want that they are not getting right now is computer skills, which would be directly relevant to finding a job,” Dr. Wolfer explained. “About two-thirds of the sample want to attend computer classes in prison.”

That sample, Dr. Wolfer said, “is pretty big,” with 256 current prisoners having been preliminarily surveyed by the University-EOTC team.

“Another big issue is help with drugs and alcohol,” Dr. Wolfer said.

Knowing what prisoners want and need, she said, from help with child care to help with relationships, is crucial to knowing what to offer and should be a help to EOTC, which seeks to provide meaningful programs that can cut down on recidivism.

The University-EOTC relationship is not just about information gathering, however, but about collecting hard data to see if the provided programming actually worked and cut down on recidivism.

“Once we find out the needs and they start putting programs in place,” Dr. Wolfer said. Project leaders can then track who has taken advantage of classes and whether they return to prison down the road.

In years two and three, Dr. Wolfer said, the University team will assess the types of programs EOTC is offering most and who is attending those programs. In years three through five, the team will look at recidivism and relate it to the fears expressed in year one, as well as program attendance or non-attendance that same year.

A more in-depth article about this project appears in the University’s Community Relations newsletter.