Challenges and Opportunities in Jail Reentry: Insights from the Transition from Jail to Community Initiative Expert Advisory Panel

U.S. Department of Justice
National Institute of Corrections

320 First Street, NW
Washington, DC 20534

Patrick Mirandy
Director

Holly Busby
Deputy Director

Stephen Amos
Chief, Jails Division

Stephanie Hove
Project Manager

nicic.gov

Disclaimer

This document was funded by the National Institute of Corrections, U.S. Department of Justice under cooperative agreement number 23JD02. Points of view or opinions stated in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. The National Institute of Corrections reserves the right to reproduce, publish, translate, or otherwise use and to authorize others to publish and use all or any part of the copyrighted material contained in this publication.

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Acknowledgments

This brief was funded through a partnership with the National Institute of Corrections. We are grateful to them and to all of our funders who make it possible for Urban to advance its mission.

The views expressed are those of the author and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders. Funders do not determine research findings or the insights and recommendations of Urban experts. Further information on the Urban Institute’s funding principles is available at www.urban.org/fundingprinciples.

Jesse Jannetta is a senior policy fellow in the Justice Policy Center, where he leads projects on prison and jail reentry, community antiviolence initiatives, police-community relations, parole and probation supervision, and risk prediction.

Shruti Nayak is a policy analyst in the Work, Education, and Labor Division at the Urban Institute, where she focuses on apprenticeships, workforce development, and jail reform.

Introduction

Millions of people in the United States experience jail incarceration each year. In 2023 there were over 7.5 million admissions to jail, and almost 665,000 people were held in U.S. jails on any given day (Zeng 2024). The jail population turns over quickly. The average length of stay for a jail inmate was 32 days in 2022, and the weekly turnover rate in jails was 43 percent (Zeng 2023). The high volume and rapid turnover of the jail population creates unique challenges for supporting successful transition from jail to the community, compared to reentry from prison. At the same time, as locally operated institutions, jails tend to be much closer to the communities to which people return than prisons, creating opportunities for coordination with community-based services and supports.

Despite these important differences between prison and jail reentry, the reentry research and practice base has been and continues to be heavily focused on return from prison. Recognizing this gap, the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) partnered with the Urban Institute in 2007 to launch the Transition from Jail to Community (TJC) Initiative (box 1). This initiative developed and tested a systems change model for reentry that was specifically tailored to the realities of the jail population. Lessons learned, examples, and practical implementation guidance to apply the TJC model were made available to practitioners via the TJC Online Learning Toolkit released in 2010.

To ensure that this foundational resource, last updated in 2015, reflects advancements in the reentry field and changes in the dynamics of jail populations and relevant policy changes, NIC re-engaged the Urban Institute in 2023 to update the Toolkit (Transition From Jail To Community (TJC) Toolkit). As part of this effort, NIC and Urban convened a group of ten subject matter experts who work in the jail and reentry ecosystem (table 1). This group reflected a variety of perspectives, many deeply experienced in jail administration and programming, and others working in capacities ranging from advocacy to elected office. Through a series of meetings, experts were asked to reflect upon challenges and opportunities that have arisen around jail reentry in recent years and identify best or promising practices for how to address them.

This white paper captures the insights of this group on the current state of jail reentry, providing a deeply informed and complex snapshot of the current realities of jail reentry. It begins with a summary of the changes identified by the advisory group that are significantly affecting jail reentry work. It then expands upon the main thematic areas that emerged from the advisory group meetings, including practical examples of how to address each area.

Table 1

TJC 2023-2024 Subject Matter Expert Panel Meeting Participants

The Transition from Jail to Community Initiative

In 2007, the National Institute of Corrections partnered with the Urban Institute to launch the Transition from Jail to Community Initiative. The TJC Initiative seeks to improve public safety and to enhance the success of individuals returning to the community from local jails. This initiative developed and field tested an innovative, evidence-informed transition model developed by NIC and Urban with input from seasoned practitioners and other experts in the field. The model includes a data-driven triage process that starts in the jail but continues into the community, which is situated in a systems-change approach that organizes leadership, collaboration, sustainability and self-evaluation components.

Between 2008 and 2015, the NIC/Urban national TJC team, which also included Alternative Solutions Associates, Inc., Corrections Partners, Inc., and John Jay College of Criminal Justice, provided intensive technical assistance to 14 communities to implement the TJC model. During Phase 1 (2008-2011), the national TJC team tested the TJC model in six learning communities: Davidson County, TN; Denver, CO; Douglas County, KS; Kent County, MI; La Crosse County, WI; and Orange County, CA. A process and systems change evaluation in the six Phase 1 sites found that TJC model implementation was associated with significant, positive systems change (Buck Willison et al. 2012).

During Phase 2 (2012-2015), six additional learning sites joined the TJC Initiative in September 2012, along with two California jurisdictions that received TJC technical assistance to assist them with managing the policy changes associated with Public Safety Realignment in that state. Phase 2 learning sites included Ada County, ID; Franklin County, MA; Fresno County, CA; Hennepin County, MN; Howard County, MD; and Jacksonville, FL. Santa Barbara County and San Diego County comprised the two California realignment sites.

For more information on the TJC initiative and related publications, see Transition From Jail To Community (TJC) Toolkit