Supporting formerly incarcerated people before and during COVID-19: is socially distanced (re)integration possible?

Kennedy, K.; Martinovic, M.; Sandy, L.

Abstract

Returning to the community after being incarcerated brings many challenges. In Victoria, Australia, a government-funded contract with non-government organisations (NGOs) allocates reintegration workers to assist with the post-release social integration process. In 2020, we interviewed reintegration workers to explore how they performed their roles before and during the COVID-19 restrictions. The key finding was that building rapport to tailor support was the most crucial aspect of practice, which workers could not adequately do without meeting face-to-face. Strengths-based practices, consisting of holistic, trauma-informed interactions, should become enshrined in reintegration job roles and the key performance indicators (KPIs) that measure success of the government contract.

Citation

Kennedy, K., Martinovic, M., & Sandy, L. (2023). Supporting formerly incarcerated people before and during COVID-19: is socially distanced (re)integration possible?. Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 35(3), https://doi.org/10.1080/10345329.2023.2221367

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 18, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Jun 18, 2023
• Publication Date: Jul 3, 2023
• Deposit Date: Jun 29, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 5, 2023
• Journal: Current Issues in Criminal Justice
• Print ISSN: 1034-5329
• Electronic ISSN: 2206-9542
• Publisher: Informa UK Limited
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 35
• Issue: 3
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10345329.2023.2221367
• Keywords: Client-centred practice; COVID-19; holistic case management; reintegration; strengths-based approaches
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/22186684
• Additional Information: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: K. Kennedy, M. Martinovic & L. Sandy (2023): Supporting formerly incarcerated people before and during COVID-19: is socially distanced (re)integration possible?, Current Issues in Criminal Justice, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1080/10345329.2023.2221367