Promoting Desistence By Strengthening Social and Human Capital for Justice Involved People with Mental Illness

Background: Leveraging different forms of capital is an important part of successfully navigating growth and stability for all adults. Involvement in the criminal justice system can limit individuals’ access to social and human capital. When individuals are released from prison and jail they often struggle to rebuild their relationship to family, friends and community and the capital these relationships provide. These struggles are often heightened for people with mental illness who typically have very few social and community connections to rebuild. This study contributes to this area of research by examining the types of support and assistance that people with serious mental illness need to rebuild their social capital after release from jail.

Methods: Data from an observational study of the reentry experiences of 97 individuals with mental illness incarcerated in large urban jail were used in this analysis. As part of this study participants engaged in a semi-structured interview where they identified whether they need help rebuilding their social and community relationships, whether they were receiving the needed help, and sufficiency rating for the help they received. Interviews were completed at baseline (prior to release from jail), and again at two weeks and six months’ post-release. Participants average age was 39.77 (11.16). 70% of the participants were male, 69% was African American, and 10% was Latina. 80% of the participants were single, never married, and less than 55% of the sample had obtained a high school degree.

Results: A substantial portion of the sample identified friends and family (e.g., reconnecting; n=24, 25%), community involvement (e.g., being around others; n=42, 43%), or leisure activities (e.g., finding peer groups; n=60, 62%) as areas in which they need support prior to release from jail. But very few individuals received help addressing these needs (baseline <22%; 2-weeks <15%; 6-months <27%). Over time, re-connecting to family and friends (2-weeks=30%, 6-months=27%), community involvement (2-weeks=34%, 6-months=29%), and leisure activities (2-weeks=51%, 6-months=51%) remained consistent needs. Furthermore, many offenders felt as though they were not receiving enough support among these areas during the follow-up periods. At two weeks post-release, 100% of the offenders who needed support with family and community involvement believed they were not receiving enough help and at six months 100% of participants reported they still were not receiving enough assistance with family issues.

Implications: Antisocial associates and activities associated with leisure time are important risk factors for reoffending.  Services and support that focuses on repairing or building prosocial bonds are foundational to the development of social capital. Services that focus on restoring and developing social capital could play an important role in creating more opportunities for people with mental illness to successfully reintegrate into the community after a period of incarceration.