Returning Home: Understanding the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry Maryland Pilot Study: Findings from Baltimore

This publication presents the final technical report for a pilot study of Returning Home: Understanding the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry. This pilot study, which examined the process of prisoner reentry in Maryland and more specifically, within the city of Baltimore, involved self-administered surveys with 324 male and female prisoners approximately 30 to 90 days prior to their expected release date, and two post-release interviews with subsets of the original sample, one within 30 to 90 days after release, and one approximately 4 to 6 months after their release. In addition, 41 family members of prisoners were interviewed and focus groups were conducted with residents in two Baltimore neighborhoods experiencing high rates of returning prisoners. The purpose of this pilot study was both to examine the process of prisoner reintegration in Baltimore through the experiences of released prisoners in our sample, as well as to test our survey instruments and research design in preparation for implementation of the study in the three full-study sites.