Work Release: Recidivism and Corrections Costs in Washington State

This Research in Brief discusses two NIJ-sponsored evaluations of Washington State's work release program, conducted between 1991 and 1994. The first study analyzed a cohort of 2,452 males released from Washington prisons in 1990, nearly 40 percent of whom spent a part of their sentences on work release, to describe how work release operates and how successfully inmates perform in the program. The second compared the recidivism of 218 offenders; approximately half participated in work release and half completed their sentences in prison. The results of the evaluation were mostly positive: Nearly a quarter of all prisoners released in Washington made a successful transition to the community through work release. Less than 5 percent of the work releasees committed new crimes while on work release, 99 percent of which were less serious property offenses, such as forgery or theft.