Living as an inmate incarcerated in jail or prison is bad enough, but becoming homeless after this can sometimes be even worse. Those who end up living on the streets with a criminal record can have an even more difficult time getting back on their feet than those with no record and no incarceration history. Adding to this problem is the fact that many homeless people are already at higher risk of getting arrested.

As a result, felons and those who have already been to prison face greater odds of returning to prison when they’re homeless than if they were simply able to have a home upon being released from prison the first time. So if you’ve recently become homeless after doing a stint in prison or if you know someone who is about to become homeless while incarcerated, the following is a quick rundown on what is to be expected and what the current studies say about ex-inmates who become homeless.

What Happens to Inmates Who Become Homeless?
When someone who is in prison or jail becomes homeless after being released, where they end up or how homeless they become all depends on their personal situation and the conditions of their release. For those who are paroled, if they have nobody they can stay with and are at risk of becoming transients, then parole officers will often want to keep them in a specific area where they can be somewhat supervised. In these cases, they may be released to a halfway house or even a shelter where staff can report to parole officers if the parolee suddenly goes missing.

Because many homeless shelters in the United States and elsewhere cost money after an initial free period, many of these ex-inmates end up sleeping on the streets within close proximity to the shelter so that they can check in each day with whoever is in charge of the shelter that manages these types of things.

Depending on the crime and the type of parole that the ex-inmate is on, an ankle bracelet or other tracking/monitoring device may be attached to the person’s body so that their location can be on file if any crimes occur in locations where they’ve been at. Some inmates are released and put into halfway houses, and many decide to abscond or otherwise flee their designated premises in an effort to run away and live without the conditions of their parole.

Because these types of offenders often become fugitives, without any type of social support system to help them (friends, family, etc.), they often end up becoming homeless because they either don’t have money or resources, can’t find a job, or they simply don’t want to risk renting a place as it would normally involve providing their identity to someone who may turn them in.

How Common is Homelessness After Prison?
A study conducted by researchers associated with a Veteran’s Affairs hospital in Connecticut surveyed over 17,000 current inmates. They found that 9% of inmates had stated that they were homeless within the last year before they were arrested. Only 1.5% to 2.25% of people in the general US population reported homelessness within the past year. The researchers felt that being in jail or prison before becoming homeless, having mental illnesses, coming from poorer backgrounds or environments, or having drug or alcohol problems were all major factors that contributed to this statistic.¹⁾Greenberg GA, Rosenheck RA. Homelessness in the state and federal prison population. Crim Behav Ment Health. 2008;18(2):88-103. doi:10.1002/cbm.685

A second study associated with this same hospital (but a different research group) looked only at male veterans who were imprisoned and found that around 30% of them had experienced some form of homelessness in their lives (not just within the past year as was the case with the previous study). This compared to just 6% of the average males in the regular population (not just incarcerated veterans and not a mix of men and women, as was the case in other studies discussed here).²⁾Tsai J, Rosenheck RA, Kasprow WJ, McGuire JF. Homelessness in a national sample of incarcerated veterans in state and federal prisons. Adm Policy Ment Health. 2014;41(3):360-367. doi:10.1007/s10488-013-0483-7

Another study, conducted by the same researchers involved in the first study, but conducted from the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University, found that when over 6,000 jail inmates (not prison) were surveyed, at least 7.5% of them and as much as 11.3% of them had reported a recent stint of being homeless before they ended up in jail. Once again, the researchers felt that the same factors (mental illness, drug/alcohol abuse, weaker economic conditions) all contributed to the high percentage.³⁾Greenberg GA, Rosenheck RA. Jail incarceration, homelessness, and mental health: a national study. Psychiatr Serv. 2008;59(2):170-177. doi:10.1176/ps.2008.59.2.170

In a women’s prison in Canada, another group of researchers surveyed 71 women who were incarcerated multiple times and found that 39 of them (56%) reported that the reason they committed crimes was because of their homeless situations. While the study may be viewed as being subjective due to the fact that people tend to sometimes make up excuses for why they commit crimes, it’s still somewhat likely that a large percentage of these women were in fact homeless, whether it contributed to their behavior or not.⁴⁾Martin RE, Hanson D, Hemingway C, et al. Homelessness as viewed by incarcerated women: participatory research. Int J Prison Health. 2012;8(3-4):108-116. doi:10.1108/17449201211284987

To counter the previous studies mentioned, one research study found that total homelessness (meaning having to sleep outside) among former inmates was low, but having unstable housing (meaning to have to stay in shelters, sleep on friends’ couches, etc.) was extremely high in this group. It’s important to note that these researchers may have simply defined “homelessness” differently than those who carried out other studies with different results. In this study, they found that one of the largest reasons for the high rate of unstable housing was the fact that many inmates do not return to their previous neighborhoods as they often have to move to lower-income areas when being released. This is often either due to having less economic stability or simply because these are the areas where they must live in halfway houses or supervised housing as a condition of being paroled from prison. The researchers pointed out that living in lower-income areas can easily contribute to problems with housing because there’s less opportunity in terms of finding good jobs in these areas.⁵⁾Herbert CW, Morenoff JD, Harding DJ. Homelessness and Housing Insecurity Among Former Prisoners. RSF. 2015;1(2):44-79. doi:10.7758/rsf.2015.1.2.04

Being Homeless Increases Chances of Arrest
While being recently released from prison may increase a person’s chances of becoming homeless, the same can be said about the opposite scenario; People who are homeless are at an increased chance of becoming incarcerated as well. Many everyday behaviors that would not get most people in trouble, such as urinating, sleeping, or walking can all become criminal offenses for homeless people who have nowhere else to do these things other than outside.

As an example scenario, a homeless person who does not have access to a toilet may have to relieve themselves behind bushes in a park. They could then be arrested for two different crimes; public urination and trespassing (if it’s during hours when the park is closed). The same could be said if they decide to sleep somewhere in public or outside, even if it’s under a bench where they assume nobody can see them.

Simply walking in certain areas during specific hours can be illegal if it’s considered loitering (i.e. a homeless person who is walking all night in a downtown area with no intended destination, because they are waiting for public parks to open during the day so they can finally sleep).⁶⁾Lee BA, Tyler KA, Wright JD. The New Homelessness Revisited. Annu Rev Sociol. 2010;36:501-521. doi:10.1146/annurev-soc-070308-115940

What Assistance is Available to Homeless Ex-Cons?
For those who are or were incarcerated and who become homeless when released, the same services available to regular homeless people are just as much available to this subgroup in most cases. Social welfare programs or benefits are available in a number of different countries for the homeless. In the United States, the programs can widely vary between states and counties.

However, in most places, there are SNAP/EBT/food stamps available to purchase food with, homeless shelters to sleep at, medical care for low-income individuals, and sometimes there are also cash benefits such as general relief and assistance with getting into affordable housing as well. This all depends on where a person is located and their particular circumstances. The best way to find out about these types of services is simply by contacting the local Social Services Department. Although it can sometimes be a lengthy or difficult process, waiting hours on end at some locations just to speak to someone, a case worker will normally be able to assist those who are homeless with getting them any assistance they might qualify for.

In addition to this, there’s also specialized programs specifically designed to help inmates/ex-inmates who are at risk of becoming homeless or who already are living on the streets. One such program is a program out of Houston, Texas known as the Jail Inreach Project. This program assists inmates who are at risk of becoming homeless once they’re released. It works by connecting them with the physical or mental healthcare services they may need upon release, so that the transition between prison and living on their own in the general public is a much easier one. While this is just one program in one state, it’s simply an example of the types of specialized services often available to inmates in particular prisons or locations in the United States and elsewhere.⁷⁾Buck DS, Brown CA, Hickey JS. The Jail Inreach Project: linking homeless inmates who have mental illness with community health services. Psychiatr Serv. 2011;62(2):120-122. doi:10.1176/ps.62.2.pss6202_0120

However, it can sometimes be difficult for inmates to become enrolled in these types of programs because they are often pilot programs, which means that they are not official programs, but more so a type of trial program that will become more official if it’s determined to be beneficial after the trial run. Current inmates should speak to administrators at their prison/jail location if possible, or should otherwise speak to their case workers at their local Social Services Department to see if there are any specialized programs like this once they’re released.