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Public Policy Solution #6
Reconnecting Formerly Incarcerated Individuals with their Families, where Appropriate, May Help Reduce Crime and Prevent Relapse
A formerly incarcerated person’s family can be a positive influence on an individual’s recovery. Family members who do not participate in criminal activity or drug use, and who do not benefit financially from the criminal activity of the individual, can help the reentering individual to rebuild familial bonds and develop other positive social relationships helps to improve family functioning. These positive changes increase the likelihood that the reentering individual will remain drug and crime-free.1 Extending addiction treatment and prevention services to include the formerly incarcerated individuals’ family members – many of whom themselves have or are at risk for developing a drug or alcohol problem – can help the reentering individual to remain abstinent.2
1 “The Front Line: Building Programs that Recognize Families' Role in Reentry,” Mike Bobbitt and Marta Nelson, September 2004, http://www.vera.org/publication_pdf/249_476.pdf
2 Id.
Developed by the Legal Action Center in Collaboration with the National Institute on
Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institutes of Health/
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services