Groundbreaking experiments with guaranteed income for formerly incarcerated individuals show promising results

Research from the Center for Guaranteed Income Research (CGIR) at Penn’s School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2) reveals the profound potential of guaranteed income (GI) for individuals reentering communities after incarceration.  

Findings from the Just Income guaranteed income program in Gainesville, Florida, and the Excel guaranteed income program in Durham, North Carolina, show connections between the receipt of unconditional cash and various indicators of well-being for formerly incarcerated people. 

Part of a series of CGIR publications collectively named The American Guaranteed Income Studies, the reports present “the first opportunity to understand how cash may alter the shadow of carceral citizenship,” write researchers Dr. Lucius Couloute of Trinity College and Nidhi Tandon, Dr. Stacia West (The University of Tennessee), Sydney Blocker, Henisha Patel, and Dr. Amy Castro of CGIR.

Trusted with the ability to make their own financial decisions, the pilot participants receiving GI reported developing a greater sense of dignity and agency and made substantial improvements in navigating material hardships. During both pilots, recipients benefitted from GI in several ways, including:

• Improved ability to cover emergency expenses;
• Increased savings;
• Strengthened ability to help others, especially financially;
• Enhanced housing stability and independence;
• Increased food security; and
• Improvements in mental health.

Given the significant connections between poverty and involvement in the criminal-legal system, GI programs like those conducted in Gainesville and Durham have the potential to facilitate economic stability for formerly incarcerated people and disrupt cycles of recidivism. “As a population that is largely—and legally—excluded from a range of opportunities and resources, our premise began with the idea that GI may work to smooth income volatility, improve individuals’ ability to reintegrate, and provide a foundation for socioeconomic mobility,” the authors write.

Led by Community Spring, an economic justice organization in Gainesville, Just Income focused on Alachua County residents with felony convictions who had been released from incarceration within the past six months.

The Excel program was launched in partnership with StepUp Durham and spearheaded by then-Durham Mayor Steve Schewel and Mayors for a Guaranteed Income. Durham residents were eligible to participate in Excel if they had been released from incarceration within the past five years and had an income at or below 60 percent of the Durham-Chapel Hill area median income. 

Aiming to address the unique challenges faced by this population, each program provided monthly cash payments to about 100 eligible formerly incarcerated individuals for one year. Just Income provided participants with $1000 in the first month and $600 each month for the remainder of the program. In Durham, participants received $600 monthly payments for 12 months.

People leaving incarceration face substantial barriers to success, safety, and stability, including housing discrimination, limited job prospects, social stigma, trauma, and financial stressors such as fines and fees that follow after release. These circumstances can also lead to mental and physical health complications that prevent formerly incarcerated individuals from connecting with their families or engaging in community. A stable income could promote economic mobility and help individuals avoid recidivism.

One participant from Gainesville stated,“This program has changed my life, it’s helped me and my family and our situation. It definitely makes a difference in the way a person thinks… And it makes a person want to do what’s right when there is someone on their side trying to push them forward. And if you aren’t being pushed forward, well you’re falling back in the hole.”

In addition to the outcomes listed above, findings from the Gainesville study show a reduction in recidivism rates following the receipt of GI. “The cash assistance smoothed the economic volatility inherent in navigating life with a criminal record,” the researchers say, adding that these results suggest GI is a “promising avenue for enhancing public safety and reducing criminal justice system costs.”

In Durham, while both the participant and control groups reported low rates of recidivism, these did not differ in a statistically significant way. Still, the GI recipients reported outcomes that suggest unconditional cash can play a crucial role in reducing crime and re-incarceration. For example, recipients reported less difficulty in providing food for themselves, staying drug and alcohol-free, staying away from criminal activity, and avoiding probation or parole violations.

An Excel participant adds that supports like the GI program are “an absolute necessity for ex-offenders, because there’s such scrutiny… being back in society. There are no programs for reentry. You don’t have housing set up, you don’t have… guaranteed employment. It’s nothing, nothing for the ex-offender. So, it is an absolute essential.” 

According to the researchers, the reports on the Gainesville and Durham GI programs demonstrate the “potential of GI to improve the lives of formerly incarcerated people, which is to say that it holds potential for us all. Ensuring the well-being of our most vulnerable neighbors promotes public safety, reduces healthcare and criminal justice costs, and directly contributes to a more equitable society.”

About the Center for Guaranteed Income Research

The Center for Guaranteed Income Research (CGIR) is an applied research center specializing in cash-transfer research, evaluation, pilot design, and narrative change. CGIR provides mixed-methods expertise in designing and executing empirical guaranteed income studies that work alongside the existing safety net. Headed by its founding directors, Drs. Amy Castro and Stacia West, CGIR is housed at the School of Social Policy & Practice at the University of Pennsylvania.

About Penn’s School of Social Policy & Practice

Founded in 1908, the School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2) is known for its commitment to the passionate pursuit of social innovation, impact, and justice. SP2 prepares changemakers to work tirelessly for more effective, efficient, and humane human services through education, research, and civic engagement. Ranked #8 nationally among Schools for Social Work, SP2 develops transdisciplinary research and offers five highly respected degree programs — Master of Social Work, Master of Science in Social Policy, Master of Science in Nonprofit Leadership, Doctorate in Clinical Social Work, andDoctor of Philosophy in Social Welfare — along with a range of certificate programs and dual degrees.