Those released from prison are, as

Those released from prison are, as a group, little studied, partly because maintaining contact with them is so difficult. The men tend to be “very loosely attached to families and jobs,” Western explains. Prison time strains relationships with partners and children, and the men often live separately after their release. They may move frequently, sleeping on the couches of friends and relatives or even becoming homeless as difficulty in finding employment begets financial trouble.

Tracking this group, though complicated, is essential to Western’s goal of understanding what challenges prisoners encounter in reintegrating into communities. With funding from the National Institutes of Health, he is tracking a sample of inmates released from the Massachusetts prison system who return to Boston-area addresses during the course of a year. The researchers collect friends’ and relatives’ information (to maintain contact when, for example, a subject’s phone is disconnected for nonpayment) and work with community street-workers and the Boston police, who may have information on the former prisoners’ whereabouts. Ultimately, Western hopes to learn what services might most effectively help the formerly incarcerated lead productive lives and what alternatives to prison might better improve public safety.

Results (English) 3:

从监狱释放的人，作为一个群体，很少学习，部分原因是因为保持与他们接触是如此困难。西方解释说，这些人往往是“非常松散地依附于家庭和工作中”。监狱时间与伴侣和孩子之间的关系，男人通常在他们的释放后分开生活。他们可能经常搬家，睡在亲戚朋友或就业带来金融困难甚至成为无家可归的沙发。

跟踪这组，虽然复杂，是西方的目标理解的挑战，重新融入社区遇到的囚犯。来自国家卫生研究院的资助，他正在跟踪一个在一年内返回波士顿地区地址的马萨诸塞州监狱系统囚犯的样本。研究人员收集的朋友和亲戚的信息（保持接触时，例如，一个对象的电话是拖欠断开）和社区街道工作人员和波士顿的警察，谁可能有关于前囚犯去向的信息。最终，西方希望了解什么服务可能最有效地帮助原嵌顿导致生产生活和监狱有什么办法可以更好地改善公共安全。