Some Texas prison rehabilitation programs “demonstrably make people worse,” says this state report quoted by the Grits for Breakfast blog. Which ones? Four of nine programs showed participants’ recidivism increased after two years out of prison, although after three years only two programs, the Sex Offender Treatment Program and the Pre-Release Substance Abuse Program, yielded higher recidivism rates.
The two programs with worse outcomes after two years that came out slightly better after three were the Sex Offender Education Program and the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative. The last program had the best results and was the only one to make a double-digit difference.