Addressing homelessness after prison release

People who are released from prison face challenges with social reintegration,1Harding DJ Morenoff JD Wyse JJB On the outside: Prisoner reentry and reintegration. University of Chicago Press, Chicago2019Crossref Google Scholar and securing suitable housing constitutes a particularly important issue, which might be associated with recidivism risk.2Kirk DS Barnes GC Hyatt JM Kearley BW The impact of residential change and housing stability on recidivism: pilot results from the Maryland opportunities through vouchers experiment (MOVE).J Exp Criminol. 2018; 14: 213-226Crossref PubMed Scopus (0) Google Scholar After release from prison, many people might end up with unstable housing, reside with family or friends, or in temporary shelters.3Hassan S Kirk DS Andersen LH The importance of living arrangements for criminal persistence and desistance: a novel test of exposure to convicted family members.J Dev Life Course Criminol. 2022; 8: 571-596Crossref Scopus (0) Google Scholar, 4Leverentz A Intersecting lives: How place shapes reentry. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA2022Google Scholar, 5Warner C Remster B Criminal justice contact, residential independence, and returns to the parental home.J Marriage Fam. 2021; 83: 322-339Crossref Scopus (7) Google Scholar The links between imprisonment, homelessness or unstable housing, and the risk of recidivism are complex; in The Lancet Public Health, Sandra Nilsson and colleagues make an important contribution to this area of research, using high quality nationwide, register-based data from Denmark. In their cohort study, the authors investigated the associations between previous history of homelessness (defined as any homeless shelter contact of a minimum of 1 day before index imprisonment) and psychiatric disorders and risk of homelessness after release from prison, and the association between homelessness after release and risk of recidivism.6Nilsson SF Nordentoft M Fazel S Laursen TM Risk of homelessness after prison release and recidivism in Denmark: a nationwide, register-based cohort study.Lancet Public Health. 2023; (published online Aug 25.)https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(23)00152-4PubMed Google Scholar Nilsson and colleagues used administrative data obtained from the Danish Civil Registration System, which comprised of all 37 382 people born between 1980 and 2007 who were released from prison in Denmark for the first time between 2001 and 2021.6Nilsson SF Nordentoft M Fazel S Laursen TM Risk of homelessness after prison release and recidivism in Denmark: a nationwide, register-based cohort study.Lancet Public Health. 2023; (published online Aug 25.)https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(23)00152-4PubMed Google Scholar The population data were linked by use of unique individual identifiers (Person Register number), which captured all periods of incarceration during the study period. The use of high-quality register data in this study overcomes data limitations of most previous research, such as non-response bias.7Frank L When an entire country is a cohort.Science. 2000; 287: 2398-2399Crossref PubMed Scopus (751) Google Scholar, 8Lyngstad TH Skardhamar T Nordic register data and their untapped potential for criminological knowledge.Crime and Just. 2011; 40: 613-645Crossref Scopus (87) Google Scholar In their analysis, the authors included information on release date, homeless shelter contacts, previous diagnoses of psychiatric disorder, and new convictions, in addition to basic demographic information. Each of these population variables were accurately linked to the cohort using individual identification numbers, which enabled the measurement of any occurrence of such variables. The results from Poisson regression analysis showed that previous history of homelessness and mental illness, especially when combined, are important risk factors for homelessness after release, and that homelessness after release is strongly associated with recidivism. The high-quality data enabled Nilsson and colleagues to focus on all homeless shelter contacts. According to the largest survey of the homeless population in Denmark, as discussed by Nilsson and colleagues, just 47% of the homeless population were in contact with homeless shelters in 2022.9Benjaminsen L Hjemløshed i Danmark 2022. National kortlægning.https://www.vive.dk/da/udgivelser/hjemloeshed-i-danmark-2022-ozokjnvn/Date: 2022Date accessed: July 26, 2023Google Scholar This indicates that a sizeable proportion of homeless people were not included in the study. Undocumented migrants and other groups who do not possess an identification number, for example, were not included in the study. However, people experiencing homelessness who possess an identification number might still not use homeless shelters, which raises questions about barriers to accessing emergency overnight accommodation in one of the countries with the strongest social safety nets in the world. Results from the study by Nilsson and colleagues raise interesting questions with social policy implications. For example, the risk of homelessness after release was higher for people who were incarcerated for less than 6 months than for people who had been incarcerated for longer. This finding is interesting, because in Denmark housing benefits can be offered during imprisonment periods shorter than 6 months.3Hassan S Kirk DS Andersen LH The importance of living arrangements for criminal persistence and desistance: a novel test of exposure to convicted family members.J Dev Life Course Criminol. 2022; 8: 571-596Crossref Scopus (0) Google Scholar For longer sentences, a caseworker assists the individual who is incarcerated in finding suitable housing on release—eg, by assisting with the registration for social housing. In a country where funding tools are available to break the link between incarceration and homelessness after short sentences, those tools simply seem ineffective, and the assistance of a caseworker might be more effective. Better understanding of strategies that can effectively tackle the risk of homelessness after prison release is needed. Finally, it should be acknowledged that the type of housing arrangement organised after release is also important. A Danish study showed that the risk of recidivism increases during periods when people recently released from incarceration reside with others who have recent criminal convictions.3Hassan S Kirk DS Andersen LH The importance of living arrangements for criminal persistence and desistance: a novel test of exposure to convicted family members.J Dev Life Course Criminol. 2022; 8: 571-596Crossref Scopus (0) Google Scholar The findings highlight the importance of housing arrangements and family ties during the post-release period. I declare no competing interests. Risk of homelessness after prison release and recidivism in Denmark: a nationwide, register-based cohort studyCriminal justice services should review approaches to reduce risk of homelessness, and consider improving liaison with mental health and substance misuse services to prevent adverse outcomes on release from prison. Clinical guidelines applied to criminal justice settings should address the health of individuals who experience homelessness. Full-Text PDF Open Access