Indiana

The Indiana Department of Correction (IDOC) releases over 16,000 adult offenders and over 1,200 juvenile offenders back into the community each year. Approximately 35% of the adult offenders and 39% of the juvenile offenders return to the city and counties surrounding Indianapolis. Recidivism, defined as a return to IDOC custody within three years of release, is 39.3% for adults and 32.8% for juveniles. In recognition of these facts, IDOC has worked to engage other state agencies in the prisoner reentry process.

The key areas identified for improvement in Indiana include the following:

• Job training and placement;
• Access to housing;
• Offender financial and debt assessment;
• Improving connectivity of services in the community for mental health, health, and substance abuse needs of offenders;
• Improving coordination and communication at the local level among service providers, faith-based organizations, and other non-profits;
• Assuring programming is targeted to the needs of the offenders and is evidence-based and effective;
• Improving case management processes within facilities and assure communications between case managers, counselors, and offenders; and
• Strengthening communication and handoff between institutions and community supervision agencies.