Barriers to a Real Second Chance: Seeking Redemption While Set Up for Failure

With the enactment of the Second Chance Act in 2008, there has been a need to better understand the effectiveness of prisoner reentry programs and the services that are provided within these programs. Since then, numerous articles have described the barriers that previously incarcerated persons encounter during reentry and how this increases the likelihood of recidivism. The goal of this current study is to understand what current barriers exist for individuals within a local reentry program and then to suggest future implementations that could reduce the impact of these barriers. To achieve this goal, qualitative research methods are employed to understand the experiences of 24 clients within a local reentry program. In this study, secondary interview data collected in 2022 is reexamined to extract themes that explore the barriers that reentry clients encounter when returning back to the community and to gain an understanding of what resources are needed for this specific population. These thematic findings overlap with the relevant literature and theoretical frameworks presented in this project, which demonstrates why services are inaccessible for this population and how stigmatization negatively impacts the reentry process for previously justice-involved individuals. Future implications explore how altering modern policies could limit the impact of reentry barriers and how conducting additional studies could provide more solutions for overcoming reentry barriers.