In a previous post, I suggested former offenders be provided an Adult Student Basic Income (ASBI) of $1000/month if they participated in an education or training program at least part-time (minimum nine hours a week, including homework and study time). The ASBI would not be means-tested, so they could still work if they wanted to. An ASBI would provide a steady income while building skills for a better job. And it’s relatively cheap compared to the cost of recidivism, which, according to one study, is over $150,000 per person for each instance. That’s more than twice the maximum life-time ASBI benefit (six years x $12,000/year). [Plus], education and training programs are among the most cost-effective recidivism-reduction tools we have (Aos & Drake, 2013). More former offenders would enroll in these programs if they got paid for it.
What’s not to love? Well, for one thing, few people can live on $1000 a month and former offenders face formidable financial challenges upon release from incarceration, e.g., first and last month rent plus deposit, a means of transportation, and so on. Plus, a lot of employers don’t want to hire former offenders. Getting a job could take awhile.
Why not allow offenders in prison or jail education and training programs get a partial ASBI while still incarcerated and then release the funds when they get out? The money would sure come in handy.
Proposal:
In previous posts, I proposed that adult students under 65 be provided an Adult Student Basic Income (ASBI) of $1000 a month for up to six years total. The ASBI benefit would require participation in an approved education or training program but would not be means-tested. See here, here, here, here, and here for additional details. In this post, I’m proposing that offenders be allowed to accrue $300 a month of their ASBI benefit when participating in education and training programs while incarcerated, with the correction facility receiving the balance of $700/month for program expenses. The offender would then receive their accrued ASBI after they’ve been released and have met with a probation or parole officer. The ASBI payout could be substantial, as follows:
In this way, former offenders would be better prepared to meet the challenges of their new lives post-incarceration: more likely to qualify for well-paying jobs and with enough money to meet living expenses while they looked for work or arranged some other stable (but legal!) source of income.
Reference:
Aos, S. & Drake, E. (2013). Prison, Police and Programs: Evidence-based Options that
Reduce Crime and Save Money (Doc. No. 13-11-1901). Olympia, WA: Washington State Institute for Public Policy. https://www.wsipp.wa.gov/ReportFile/1396/Wsipp_Prison-Police-and-Programs-Evidence-Based-Options-that-Reduce-Crime-and-Save-Money_Full-Report.pdf