Employment Reentry Preparation: Explicit Recommendations for Girls With Disabilities

Overrepresentation of Incarcerated Youth With Disabilities

Although Sickmund et al. (2021) found that the rate of incarceration among youth in the United States declined from 104,219 in 2001 to 36,479 in 2019, the problem of youth with disabilities being overrepresented in juvenile justice persists (Annamma, 2014; Ochoa et al., 2021). House et al. (2018) reported that 80% of incarcerated youth had a disability. More than two thirds of incarcerated youth had a diagnosable mental health disorder and at least one third had a substance misuse disorder (Dierkhising et al., 2019). Cavendish (2013) reported that 20% to 90% of incarcerated youth had an emotional, learning, or behavioral disability. Sedlak and McPherson (2010) pointed out that 30% of incarcerated youth reported having a learning disability (LD) diagnosis, while Ochoa (2016) noted that emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) and LD were the most prominent diagnoses among incarcerated youth. Mizrahi et al. (2016) reported that students with LD represented 36% of the incarcerated youth population, while Zhang et al. (2011) reported that 40% of incarcerated youth met criteria for a diagnosis of an emotional or psychiatric disorder.

Enns et al. (2008) found that many incarcerated girls had symptoms of disabilities, such as intellectual disabilities, and some had specific neuropsychological deficits in planning and self-regulation of behavior. Conduct problems at an early age and a history of criminal activity were common among incarcerated girls (Enns et al., 2008). In addition to a history of conduct problems at an early age (Enns et al., 2008), other studies showed that girls with learning or developmental disabilities, or who have academic skills below grade level, are disproportionately represented in the juvenile justice system (Kim et al., 2020). The high percentages of students with LD (36%) and EBD (40%) among the incarcerated population involved with juvenile justice warrants an examination of the factors that lead girls with disabilities to delinquency.

Incarcerated Girls and Reentry Barriers

In contrast to the overall decline of delinquency among youth in the United States, Parrish (2020) pointed out that the relative rate of delinquency among girls has increased by 50%, compared with the 5% increase among boys. Examination of the types of offenses committed by incarcerated girls showed that girls were incarcerated for minor offenses like truancy, running away from home, vandalism, and drug use (Dierkhising & Branson, 2016). These low-index crimes, according to Dierkhising and Branson (2016), were likely mechanisms girls employed to protect themselves from sexual or physical abuse in their immediate environment.

Reentry after correctional confinement is fraught with challenges. At least 95% of incarcerated youth are released from prison and return to their communities (Sickmund et al., 2021). These youth face multiple challenges and have complex needs that influence their reentry success (Sickmund et al., 2021). Reentry support for girls with disabilities, in particular, is a critical unmet need (Parrish, 2020). When girls with disabilities are not provided the necessary support services upon reentry, they are likely to have greater difficulties with the reentry process and are likely to recidivate and return to incarceration (Clark et al., 2011).

U.S. Federal Laws

In this section, the discussion focuses on ways the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA; 2004) and the Second Chance Act (SCA; 2008) can be used to respond to the unique needs of incarcerated girls with disabilities, and how employment-readiness programs might prepare girls with disabilities leaving imprisonment with the tools and support to find and maintain employment. The federal special education law (i.e., IDEIA) used the term “emotional disturbance” (ED), not the preferred term “emotional and behavioral disorder” (EBD), which is used in the field of special education, but both terms refer to the same population of students with disabilities. In IDEIA, an ED was defined as a condition in which one or more of the following characteristics are exhibited over a long period of time, to a marked degree, and have an adverse impact on educational performance: deficits in learning not explained by intellectual sensory, or health factors; an inability to maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers, teachers, and parents; inappropriate responses to external events; a general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; and a tendency to develop physical symptoms under normal circumstances (IDEIA, 2004, Section 300.8 (c) (4)).

Short attention span, impulsiveness, aggression, self-injurious behavior, acting out, anxiety, poor coping skills, and below average academic performance in school were commonly shared characteristics among girls with EBD (Mizrahi et al., 2016). Because of these characteristics, the research of Mizrahi et al. (2016) suggested that incarcerated girls with EBD may not benefit from commonly employed behavioral programs, because these girls have executive function limitations (e.g., cognitive, behavioral, and/or emotional difficulties) that are commonly associated with previous trauma (Morani et al., 2011). Common behavioral programs prioritize current problems and trauma in a girl’s life, yet they fail to address unresolved trauma and abuse that might be contributing to their condition. Furthermore, the lack of access to necessities upon release, such as clothing, shelter, and transportation, may leave formerly incarcerated girls no option other than to return to illegal activities to meet their survival needs (Morani et al., 2011). Incarcerated girls with disabilities faced the same reentry challenges experienced by other youth without disabilities who exited confinement without support (Clark et al., 2011).

Transition Provision in Special Education Law

Transition planning for girls with disabilities was a specific provision within IDEIA that extended to juvenile correctional facilities in the United States (Ochoa et al., 2021). Because the protections of IDEIA extends to juvenile justice settings, parents/guardians can advocate for their incarcerated daughters at two levels. First, parents/guardians can request an evaluation when their daughter is incarcerated if they suspect the possibility of an undiagnosed disability. The child find provision of IDEIA requires juvenile correctional facility staff to conduct a psychosocial evaluation to determine if the incarcerated girl has a disability, (e.g., an LD or an EBD). Parents/guardians can also advocate for their incarcerated daughters at another level if a diagnosis of a disability under IDEIA exists. When a diagnosis exists, parents/guardians can request the transition specialist in the correctional facility to develop specific transition goals for their daughter with a disability (Ochoa, 2016).

The IDEIA specifies that no later than the age of 16 for a student, schools must deliberately focus on identifying the needs of students with disabilities to prepare them to transition from high school to higher education or to the workforce (Eckes & Ochoa, 2005). This legislation mandated that students diagnosed with a qualifying disability must have an Individualized Education Program (IEP) to meet the student’s learning needs. The IEP serves to monitor progress in their education (Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, United States Department of Education, 2020). An IEP is written by school administrators and staff, with input from the student’s parent/guardian, with the goal of preparing students with disabilities to transition to secondary education or employment (Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, United States Department of Education, 2020). Educators in correctional facilities for youth, as well as educators in community schools, must jointly assume the responsibility of communicating when students with disabilities enter or exit juvenile correctional confinement to minimize transition difficulties (Ochoa, 2016; Ochoa et al., 2021).

Second Chance Act

In 2008, the SCA was passed by Congress to provide a broad spectrum of support services to fund reentry programs, reduce recidivism, increase public safety, and assist states and communities in addressing the growing population of incarcerated people returning to their communities (Holman, 2020). In 2020, the SCA provided approximately US$90 million in funding to address the following areas of need: (a) employment assistance and job-skills training, (b) substance misuse and mental health treatment, (c) family-based support, (d) housing assistance, and (e) individual and group mentoring activities (Holman, 2020). Collaboration between state agencies, local government, and community- and faith-based organizations was a major component of the SCA. This multi-level collaboration is intended to diminish the risk of recidivism because the agencies collaborate to maximize service and support gaps for youth reentering the community after confinement (Holman, 2020).

Employment Reduces Recidivism

Employment is a protective factor against the likelihood of being re-incarcerated (Lockwood & Nally, 2017). Employment provides girls with numerous positive outcomes, including development of a new social conscience, a more positive self-identity, enhanced sense of self-esteem, new opportunities for social support and mentoring, less idle time for delinquent behaviors, and access to financial resources to meet basic needs (Lipsey, 2009; Steinberg, 2007). Preparing incarcerated girls to be hirable can be challenging because securing a job requires training and education, which are opportunities often lacking in many correctional facilities for youth (Pager, 2003). Pager (2003) asserted that many incarcerated youths leave the correctional facility under-skilled, under-employed, and marked with the stigma of having a criminal history. Reentry programs that focus on developing job-readiness skills aimed at serving the needs of all youth, and especially girls with disabilities, may contribute to higher rates of successful reentry (Ochoa, 2016)

Mentoring Program

Research conducted by Ochoa et al. (2020) showed that youth in confinement aspire for change and for being better people when they return home. However, despite having these aspirations for a better life after incarceration, they lacked concrete strategies for achieving their goals (Ochoa et al., 2020). Incarcerated youth in general, and girls with disabilities specifically, need opportunities to practice the skills they need to make positive changes after they are released from incarceration. For purposes of this article, an existing mentoring program called Helping Offenders Prosper Through Employment (HOPE) is described to show how employment-readiness activities and community resources can serve incarcerated girls, and how HOPE can be adapted specifically for incarcerated girls with disabilities (Ochoa et al., 2019).

The HOPE mentoring program was developed for incarcerated girls attending school in a correctional facility in a Midwestern state. The original group of participants included 10 girls who were 17 and 18 years of age, were close to completing their criminal sentences, and wanted to enroll in college after completing their time being incarcerated. The girls were experiencing difficulties filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form. After the initial academic support activities, other needs (e.g., asking for help, understanding the importance of saying please when making a request, and how to dress) surfaced through a needs assessment process conducted by Ochoa (2016). The most important result from the study was the identification of the need for reentry support because, while the girls could carry out activities with the support of university volunteers of a similar age, there were apparent gaps in their ability to use knowledge and skills learned in the activities independently (Ochoa, 2016). In response to these employment knowledge and skills gaps, the HOPE mentoring program created activities and delivered them in the form of workshops to prepare girls for when they stepped back into the community (Ochoa et al., 2019).

Stepping Out Workshops

Obtaining employment is an integral part of the transition from incarceration to community (Black & van den Broek, 2014), especially for the 30% to 70% of youth at risk for recidivism (Clinkinbeard & Zohra, 2012). Best practice guidelines, according to Ochoa (2016), indicated that preparations for the youth to reenter their home and community should begin as early as possible during the time of correctional confinement. The Career and College Fair and the Dress Your Best fashion show are Stepping Out workshops provided by the HOPE mentoring program to incarcerated youth in collaboration with juvenile correctional facility personnel (Ochoa et al., 2019).

At the core of the HOPE mentoring program is the principle of collaboration, which considers the different educators and service providers (e.g., transition specialists, treatment counselor, security personnel, art teachers) who interact with incarcerated girls. In addition, multidisciplinary decision-making processes were an important requirement within the IDEIA when meeting the needs of incarcerated students with disabilities (IDEIA, 2004). The Stepping Out workshops provided by the HOPE mentoring program to incarcerated youth are designed to help youth prepare for a successful transition from confinement to the community through fun, interactive, and employment-based activities (Ochoa et al., 2019).

The Career and College Fair involved a group of varied representatives from the community who set up stations in the juvenile correctional facility to give information to all youth about employment and educational options available upon release. For example, there were representatives from a welding program, a university, a beauty college, and a military recruiter. Youth went from station to station to learn about job and educational options. Each job representative provided the incarcerated youth a brochure with printed information about the company, organization, or college. In addition, incarcerated youth received a business card from each job or college representative with contact information.

After the event, correctional facility staff collected information about youth preferences and could follow up with community programs before youth exited correctional confinement. All information was stored in a portfolio which the youth and staff could return to as desired. Research conducted by Hosp et al. (2001) has indicated that incarcerated youth benefit from knowing what is in their transition planning materials. The HOPE mentoring program uses a canvas portfolio to store all information and the youth take their portfolio with them upon release to ensure access to critical information (Ochoa et al., 2020).

The Dress Your Best fashion show is another activity facilitated by the HOPE mentoring program in collaboration with correctional staff. Attire is a critical factor to employment success, particularly for formerly incarcerated people (Black & van den Broek, 2014). The fashion show provided incarcerated youth an opportunity to learn about the importance of maximizing the likelihood of gaining employment by paying attention to the choices they make about the outfit they wear for a job interview (further details follow this overview). Thus, the objective of the fashion show was to provide a concrete opportunity for the youth to see themselves differently, and to feel differently in their interview clothes. In response to the positive reception and demand for the Dress Your Best workshop, HOPE established a wardrobe for incarcerated girls and a haberdashery for incarcerated boys through donations from individuals and community not-for-profit organizations. The Department of Correction in the state where the mentoring program was developed agreed to provide the physical space for the wardrobe and haberdashery. For the girls’ wardrobe, HOPE personnel painted and decorated the physical space with the goal of making the girls feel like they were shopping at a boutique. The intention was to communicate to the girls that the clothing were not hand downs.

Toward that vision, considerable discussion occurred in naming the physical space. Given the importance of language, HOPE personnel determined to refer to the space as a wardrobe, rather than using the term closet. The word “closet” was immediately discarded as inadequate because it could convey a place where things are shoved and stored away, while wardrobe conveyed style, luxury, and pride. The HOPE provides a complete suit, free of charge, to each girl upon release which they can wear to their job interview. Together, these two workshops stress the importance of supporting girls’ transition from incarceration by helping them explore employment options and providing them an outfit to wear when interviewing for a job—ultimately increasing the likelihood of success (Black & van den Broek, 2014).

Dress Your Best Fashion Show

Because attire is a critical factor in employment (Black & van den Broek, 2014), the Dress Your Best event provided incarcerated girls with employment-readiness workshops that included information about the importance of clothing during a job interview as well as an opportunity to dress in a professional outfit. The goal of the Dress Your Best event was to bolster youths’ confidence and employment-readiness skills as a way to begin to offer them opportunities to develop concrete strategies to pursue their goals (Ochoa et al., 2020). Two main components of this event were the job-readiness workshops and the fashion show.

Résumé writing, interviewing instruction, and goal setting support were some of the workshops provided to incarcerated girls with guidance from the Division of Youth Services personnel who are most familiar with incarcerated girls. This kind of instruction during incarceration has shown to improve transition (Hosp et al., 2001), particularly in goal setting. In addition, there was a professional dressing experience where HOPE mentors provided tips and suggestions for dressing and wearing facial make-up in a professional manner, a way of emphasizing the importance of dressing up for success (Black & van den Broek, 2014). The grand finale of the Dress Your Best event was a fashion show where participating girls modeled their professional attire and shared with their peers the skills and knowledge they had gained. For many incarcerated girls, seeing their peers participate in the fashion show, hearing about their experiences, and witnessing their enhanced self-confidence and sense of autonomy served as a tool to model appropriate social skills (Waintrup & Unruh, 2008). Upon completion of the event, certificates recognizing the contribution of the participants were presented to the girls, signed by the program directors and the correctional facility warden.

The Career and College Fair and Dress Your Best events exemplify examples of collaborative activities between the HOPE mentoring program and state agencies, local government, and community agencies working toward increasing employment-readiness for incarcerated girls—a major component of the SCA (Holman, 2020). Furthermore, these events provided girls with disabilities an opportunity to participate in events that will help them move toward their transition planning (Ochoa et al., 2020).

Discussion

There are two related benefits of the Career and College Fair and Dress Your Best events. The fair offered youth an opportunity to connect with a potential employer whom they could reach out to upon their release. Girls with disabilities will benefit particularly by these contacts because the initial meeting will have occurred in a controlled environment, with employers who are sensitive to their delinquency status. Most importantly, all youth will feel more empowered to reach out to these employers because they showed impartiality to their criminal past. In addition to the employer contacts made during the 1-day event, facility staff also became their allies. During the fashion show, juvenile facility staff had an opportunity to see youth differently once they saw them out of their prison uniform. They could see them not as prisoners under their custodial care but as youth with employment, vocational, and educational aspirations. In addition, the fashion show gave students an opportunity to see more possibilities for themselves once they had dressed in a new suit and could feel ready for success.

The SCA (Holman, 2020) promoted multi-level collaboration among state agencies, local governments, and community organizations to maximize service and support gaps that recently incarcerated youth face upon reentry. This collaboration was built on a shared goal to reduce recidivism rates through collaborative reentry programs (Ochoa, 2016). The benefits of these programs can only exist in states and agencies where reentry programs are a prominent component of the rehabilitation process of incarcerated youth. The HOPE mentoring program is one example of collaborative programming for incarcerated girls that offers inclusive one-on-one mentoring and facility-wide events aimed at promoting personal growth, employment-readiness, and educational progress—all necessary components for successful transition after incarceration (Hosp et al., 2001).

The Career and College Fair and Dress Your Best events outlined here exemplify the types of collaborative efforts that state agencies and community organizations need to provide to girls with disabilities as part of the required transition planning in IDEIA (Ochoa et al., 2020). However, these events should also be available to all incarcerated youth as the SCA promoted reentry programs for all incarcerated youth transitioning out of correctional settings (Holman, 2020). While giving incarcerated girls options about the activities they participate in while in custody is important (Hosp et al., 2001), these programs were offered as optional or supplemental opportunities for the youth. Unless they become mandated or required, the girls, particularly girls with disabilities, might leave correctional confinement with insufficient skills to look for and secure employment (Ochoa, 2016).

Most of what is known about youth incarceration comes from the perspective of boys (Parrish, 2020). This is largely because boys represent most of the incarcerated youth population. Because of this, most employment-based reentry programs have been aimed at serving the needs of incarcerated young men. However, girls represent a growing percentage of incarcerated youth, and they have their own unique challenges, needs, and reentry goals (Parrish, 2020). Facilities working with incarcerated girls should utilize state and federal funding programs, like the SCA (Holman, 2020) to develop gender-responsive approaches to reentry programs aimed at employment. For example, incarcerated girls, more than boys, have co-occurring disabilities like substance misuse and/or mental health disorders, putting them at higher risks for recidivism (Parrish, 2020). As such, reentry programs for incarcerated girls should incorporate additional therapeutic mechanisms to address co-occurring disabilities.

The HOPE mentoring program and its reentry supports were tailored to meet the needs of incarcerated youth of all genders, but future collaborations should feature specific opportunities for young girls, especially those with disabilities. The SCA could provide the funding needed to develop these specialized programs (Holman, 2020). For this to happen, it is necessary for programs like HOPE mentoring and facility staff to identify girls with disabilities and their areas of need (e.g., learning difficulties, emotional disorders). It should be noted that the process of meeting the needs of incarcerated girls with disabilities is different from the process of incarcerated girls without disabilities because guidelines for youth with disabilities are guided by the IDEIA (Ochoa et al., 2020).

Recommended Explicit Instruction for Girls With Disabilities

The HOPE Mentoring program is designed for all youth in juvenile correctional confinement (Ochoa et al., 2019). Nonetheless, there are important recommendations for special educators and transition specialists to consider in making the Career and College Fair and Dress Your Best workshops accessible for incarcerated girls with disabilities. To begin, special educators in schools within juvenile facilities can use the transition goal requirement in IDEIA to provide girls with disabilities more practice to acquire employment skills. For example, facility personnel should follow up with the girls with disabilities who participate in the fashion show to reinforce the idea that dressing appropriately for an interview is important for future success once released and not just a fun activity during their incarceration (Black & van den Broek, 2014). While girls without disabilities may reap the benefits of 1-day events without follow-up, girls with disabilities may need to practice more times or they may need additional examples and discussions about what is, and is not, appropriate dress for job interviews, and why one is appropriate, and the other is not.

In addition, the transition provision in IDEIA allows the transition specialist or special education teacher in the juvenile correctional facility to contact the school where the girl with a disability will return (Ochoa et al., 2020). As such, transition coordinators can communicate with the community school special educator which aspects of employment-readiness the girl with a disability has mastered and the areas of interest expressed by the girl with a disability who is returning to school after incarceration (Waintrup & Unruh, 2008). Communication between the transition specialist in the juvenile correctional facility and the receiving special education teacher in the community school may be difficult to achieve, but it is a key feature of successful reentry for youth with disabilities (Ochoa, 2016; Waintrup & Unruh, 2008).

Conclusion

The HOPE mentoring program, through its Stepping Out workshops, provides concrete opportunities in which incarcerated girls, with and without disabilities, can learn about employment options when they exit correctional confinement (Ochoa, 2016; Ochoa et al., 2019). Juvenile correctional facilities that wish to learn more about activities to support girls at reentry can visit www.hopementoring.com. Reentry programming is a critical, and mostly neglected, aspect of rehabilitation efforts in many juvenile correctional facilities (Clark et al., 2011; Waintrup & Unruh, 2008). Without support to gain employment, formerly incarcerated girls with disabilities run a higher risk of returning to criminal activities that will return them to correctional confinement.