Transition Processes
Guidelines
Reentry education providers should work closely with their partners to assess students' needs and risks, identify services and support needed, and develop a service delivery schedule that takes into account various transition points. Specific approaches to easing transitions may depend on whether a provider is working with a prison, jail, or in the community.
Transitions Into and Out of Prisons
Prison-based providers should create a structured intake and prerelease process that includes:
- Assessing students' knowledge, skills, and occupational interests.
- Engaging students in creating an education and career plan.
- Determining students' eligibility for and the timing of education services.
- Referring students to community-based programs.
- Sharing data with community partners to prepare for a student's release.
Transitions Into and Out of Jails
With little time or notice to help students prepare for release, jail-based providers should focus on making program referrals and strengthening partnerships with community services to facilitate students' transition into the community.
Transitions in the Community
Community-based providers may serve students who have had varied experiences with the criminal justice system. Providers therefore should create a flexible approach to verify students' education record, administer assessments, create an education and career plan, and direct students to appropriate services.
Tools
This illustration shows how students in the corrections system can progress through their education path as their correctional status changes.
This tool provides a template to help programs address participants' criminogenic needs by mapping program elements and proposed enhancements to four categories of criminogenic needs.
Resources
- National Reentry Resource Center Provides a searchable resource collection on a variety of reentry topics, including correctional and community supervision and risk and need principles.
- Supporting Successful Reentry for People with Disabilities: A Brief Guide to Resources and Issues Provides a guide for navigating issues and identifying resources to support successful reentry for individuals with disabilities.