This resource brief from the Evaluation and Sustainability Training and Technical Assistance (ES TTA) Project at RTI International and the Center for Court Innovation provides guidance on key decisions that need to be made when undertaking primary data collection with reentering populations for reentry program evaluation.
The brief helps evaluators determine what data need to be collected, from whom, when, and how, and summarizes best practices in designing your data collection instrument and developing and implementing data collection protocols.
Participant satisfaction surveys help behavioral health-criminal justice programs assess the quality of service being provided and their impact on individual outcomes, as well as help them to determine if there are disparities in program and service delivery. This brief presents important considerations when developing these surveys for people with behavioral health needs in the criminal justice system and ways to integrate survey feedback meaningfully.
This brief sets forth guiding values and recommendations for grounding prison research in principles of racial equity. These values are intended to help researchers more accurately capture and measure racial biases, and design and conduct research that can identify and disrupt systemic biases.
This brief is part of a larger research agenda for the Prison Research and Innovation Initiative, a five-year effort to leverage research and evidence to shine a much-needed light on prison conditions and pilot strategies to promote the well-being of people who live and work behind bars. The forthcoming research agenda aims to change the national narrative on corrections so that it embodies data-driven transformative innovations for reform and inclusive research approaches to build transparency and accountability for safer and more humane environments for people confined and working behind…
In this column, political scientist and historian Kaneesha Johnson traces the changing form and content of prison data and questions how and why different communities and institutions collect the data they do. In particular, she compares the data gathered about crime and incarceration by the U.S. government with data gathered by incarcerated people and their communities, in part to show that what we measure, collect, and count is always a reflection of the world we are trying to create.
This paper discusses researcher emotional experiences evoked while conducting narrative interviews in a research project that explored the rehabilitation experiences of 18 incarcerated women.
This resource details key elements of successful strategies in proposing and conducting jail-based research.
While correctional institutions provide orientation and training sessions to help instructors navigate the logistical and security aspects of teaching in such facilities, these efforts often have limitations. Notably, they tend to lack comprehensive guidance for instructors on effectively engaging students from a diverse range of cultural backgrounds and tailoring their pedagogical approaches to support students as they pursue their studies within the unique context of a correctional facility.
In response to this identified gap, FICGN has collaborated with Jobs for the Future’s…
The 2023 Colby College Justice Think Tank included 12 scholars from across all five Maine prisons, selected through a competitive application process and provided a stiped by the Alliance for Higher Education in Prison. During 2023, the Justice Think Tank Fellows conducted a research project of their own design, supported by Colby faculty and staff "walkalongs" who helped with document access, interview arrangements, and general support. The selected topic for 2023 was the restorative alternatives that Maine could develop to keep emerging adults out of the criminal legal system, that could…
Postsecondary education programs in prisons collect data on their students to inform program planning; assess students’ academic progress and outcomes; and meet institution, government, and funder reporting requirements. Also, programs applying to the U.S. Department of Education to become an approved prison education program (PEP) must include documentation in their application showing that their postsecondary institution has entered into an agreement with the oversight entity (typically a state department of corrections [DOC]) to obtain data on the transfer and release dates of…
