Safe Return: Working Toward Preventing Domestic Violence When Men Return from Prison

This article is excerpted from Mike Bobbitt, Robin Campbell, and Gloria L. Tate's longer report of the same name published by the Vera Institute of Justice in 2006. Only a very few state and federal institutions offer services that address domestic violence among inmates during incarceration, and a smaller number provide prevention services to those reentering or their families that could reduce the risk of intimate partner violence upon release. Furthermore, only a small portion of domestic violence perpetrators may be identified as needing related in-prison programming. In 2005, the Safe Return Initiative designed a series of roundtable discussions to highlight these important issues and develop appropriate responses. The resulting report stressed that attention must be paid to conducting interventions in a culturally competent manner both before and after release and building on existing family strengths while also offering support to protect families from safety risks.