The association between residential relocation and re-incarceration among drug-dependent former prisoners

Aims: To assess whether residential relocation to a different geographic area by drug-dependent former prisoners reduced their likelihood of re-incarceration.

Design: Non-randomized observational study using Hurricane Katrina as a natural experiment to determine whether residential relocation induced by the hurricane affected the likelihood of re-incarceration among drug-dependent former prisoners. The study used data provided by the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections.

Setting: New Orleans metropolitan area, Louisiana, USA.

Cases: The pre-Katrina cohort comprised individuals released from Louisiana prisons from September 2003 to February 2004 with a history of drug misuse, as determined by the Louisiana Risk/Needs Assessment (n = 796). The post-Katrina cohort comprised prisoners released from a Louisiana prison immediately after the hurricane, from September 2005 to February 2006 (n = 677).

Measurements: Re-incarceration, the dependent variable, was operationalized as a return to a Louisiana prison for a new criminal conviction or a parole violation within 1 year of prison release. Residential relocation was operationalized as a change in parish of residence from the location immediately prior to imprisonment to the location immediately upon release from prison.

Findings: Instrumental variables probit analysis revealed that the probability of re-incarceration was 0.10 lower for individuals who relocated to a new parish upon their exit from prison relative to individuals who returned to their home parish, with a 95% confidence interval ranging from -0.192 to -0.011. An estimated 10% of parolees who moved were re-incarcerated within 1 year of their release from prison versus 20% of the stayers.

Conclusions: Residential relocation of drug-dependent former prisoners in Louisiana as a result of Hurricane Katrina was associated with reduced likelihood of re-incarceration.