From inside prison to a prison outside: Resocialisation during the corona-crisis

Dit project heeft in 2020 een ODISSEI Microdata Access Grant (MAG) ontvangen.

Projectaanvrager: Elanie Rodermond (NSCR/VU Amsterdam).

Project abstract

In the midst of the corona crisis, prisoners are faced with several measures that are meant to avoid a corona-outbreak in prison, such as the suspension of visits and re-integration activities. After release from prison, ex-prisoners have to deal with ‘the new normal’ in our society; they are faced with social distancing, the task to stay at home as much as possible, and institutions that can only be reached by phone or e-mail. In the longer-term, ex-prisoners might be affected disproportionally by the societal consequences of the corona-virus, such as high levels of unemployment.

There are reasons to believe that the corona-crisis has a negative impact on the prisoners’ ability to reintegrate back into society and to refrain from further offending. This study aims to examine post-release outcomes and recidivism of individuals who have been released from prison during the corona-crisis. To do so, the project  uses data from the Custodial Institutions Agency, complemented with data from Statistics Netherlands. Moreover, a subsample of prisoners will be followed during their transition into society. Together, findings will shed light on how former prisoners fared during the corona-crisis and inform policymakers and practitioners tasked with providing pre- and post-release programs for and support to (ex)prisoners.


Conducting research with CBS microdata

Statistics Netherlands (CBS) collects a wide range of data for its statistical tasks, many of them microdata at the level of individual persons or organisations. Protection of the confidentiality of the data has the highest priority for CBS. Within strict safety conditions however, universities and other authorized research institutes can get Remote Access to such data to perform statistical analyses for their own scientific or statistical purposes. The microdata themselves remain strictly within a secure environment within CBS. Under applicable conditions researcher can also bring in additional dataset to be linked with CBS microdata. Before aggregate statistical results are exported from the secured environment, CBS will check whether these results do not contain any risk for disclosure of information on individual persons or organisations.

Read more about using microdata within the CBS Remote Access Environment.


Afbeelding van Gerd Altmann via Pixabay