Minnesota’s Affordable Homes Program: Evaluating the Effects of a Prison Work Program on Recidivism, Employment and Cost Avoidance
Abstract
The Affordable Homes Program (AHP) is a prison work crew program managed by the Minnesota Department of Corrections (MNDOC). To examine whether AHP has increased postrelease employment, lowered recidivism, and reduced costs to the State of Minnesota, this study uses a retrospective, quasi-experimental design in which propensity score matching was used to control for observable selection bias. The results show that during the 1998-2008 period, AHP (a) built 285 affordable homes, (b) significantly increased offenders’ odds of obtaining postrelease employment in the construction field, and (c) produced US$13.1 million in costs avoided. It did not, however, significantly reduce recidivism.
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Common themes in unsuccessful employment and social support interventions included not considering the participants' strengths or interests, starting in the community (as opposed to during incarceration), or offering employment opportunities limited to only low-skill, minimum wage work.
“Common themes in unsuccessful employment and social support interventions included not considering the participants’ strengths or interests, starting in the community (as opposed to during incarceration) or offering employment opportunities limited to only low-skill, minimum wage work.48,50,52,54”
From Community investment interventions as a means for decarceration: A scoping review (2022) · cites this paper as [52]
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- Authors
- Northcutt Bohmert, M., & Duwe, G.
- Affiliations
- Minnesota Department of Corrections, St. Paul, MN, USA
- Minnesota Department of Corrections (US)
- ORCID
- Duwe, Grant
- Venue
- Criminal Justice Policy Review
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2011-07-06
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 327-351
- ISSN
- 0887-4034 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-3586
- OpenAlex
- W2037317973
- Cited by
- 26
- References
- 13
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 2 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 2
- FWCI
- 4.28
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Criminal Justice Policy Review (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis
- Social Sciences › Law › Criminal Justice and Penology
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Crime Patterns and Interventions
- Keywords
- recidivism, construction works, cost reduction, offender rehabilitation, prison labor
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