Abstract
There is ample evidence that imprisonment deteriorates the income and housing situation of former prisoners. Little is known about the degree to which income and housing of (former) prisoners deteriorates during imprisonment. The objective of this article is to give a more detailed description of the changing income situation and housing situation during imprisonment by describing income and housing of (former) prisoners directly before and directly after imprisonment. To this end we make use of data on the entire population of prisoners who were released from Dutch prisons during the second half of 2008. Our results show that prisoners are characterised by a considerably problematic profile with regard to income and housing both before and after imprisonment. The income and housing situation of prisoners is worse directly after imprisonment than directly before imprisonment.
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Notes
In total, this involves 32.2 % of all prisoners who have completed their sentence.
In this research we consider shelter as having an accommodation, although in the US shelter stays are sometimes used as an indicator of homelessness. We do so, because in Dutch aftercare policy shelter is considered as a type of accommodation, because their aim is to get prisoners off the streets.
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Weijters, G., More, A. Comparing Income and Housing of Former Prisoners After Imprisonment with their Situation Before Imprisonment. Eur J Crim Policy Res 21, 35–48 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10610-013-9225-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10610-013-9225-3