Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights.
Halfway houses, officially called Residential Reentry Centers (RRC), have played a significant role in the Federal Bureau of Prisons' (BOP) reentry efforts for decades. Their roots trace back to the early 19th century when charitable groups provided transitional housing for released prisoners. The federal system formally embraced the model in the 1960s, following the Prisoner Rehabilitation Act of 1965, which authorized pre-release placements. By the 1970s, halfway houses had become a standard tool for reintegration, offering supervision, employment support, and counseling. The Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 reshaped sentencing but maintained halfway houses as a bridge between incarceration and society. In 2008, the Second Chance Act extended potential stays from six to twelve months, reinforcing their role in reentry. Today, these facilities, run mainly by private contractors under BOP oversight, continue to serve thousands each year, though they face criticism for inconsistent services, limited capacity, and uneven oversight.
When President George W. Bush signed the Second Chance Act in 2008, he highlighted the need to help people leaving prison rebuild their lives and rejoin their communities. "The bill I'm signing today, the Second Chance Act of 2007," Bush said at the time, "will build on work to help prisoners reclaim their lives. In other words, it basically says, we're standing with you, not against you."
The law gave the Bureau of Prisons authority to use halfway houses for up to twelve months before release, marking a shift from the common six-month limit. Bush described this as a way to support employment, family ties, and stability, recognizing that reentry affects not just former prisoners but also public safety. In practice, most people still spent only a few months in halfway houses because of limited space and resources, but the Act made their role in reentry clearer and more formal. By embedding halfway houses into the federal transition process, Bush underscored his belief that effective reentry programs could reduce recidivism and strengthen families, turning correctional policy toward rehabilitation as much as punishment.
RRCs are designed to help people in federal custody successfully transition back into the community. Their main purpose is to provide a structured, supervised environment that bridges the gap between prison and independent living. By doing so, they promote public safety while also supporting rehabilitation and reducing the chances of reoffending.
The services offered in RRCs typically include job placement assistance, vocational training, and help with résumé preparation or interview skills. They provide counseling for issues such as substance abuse, mental health, and family relationships, as well as life skills training in areas like budgeting, decision-making, and conflict resolution. RRCs also help with securing housing, reconnecting with family, and complying with parole or probation requirements. In addition, they offer strict accountability through curfews, drug testing, and monitoring, ensuring that residents meet expectations while gaining the support needed to reintegrate into society.
Many men and women leaving prison carry deep trauma that shapes their reentry into society. Time behind bars often brings exposure to violence, isolation, and the loss of personal control—experiences that can create lingering fear, anxiety, and symptoms much like post-traumatic stress disorder. Returning home does not erase this strain; instead, it is often compounded by broken family ties and the painful absence from children or loved ones. Once released, many encounter stigma from employers, landlords, and even their communities, which fosters rejection and shame. The stress of finding housing, steady work, and a supportive environment can be overwhelming, especially when paired with the burden of rebuilding trust. These overlapping challenges frequently reinforce one another, leaving returning prisoners vulnerable to depression, substance abuse, or relapse into crime. Without strong support, the trauma of incarceration continues long after release, making reintegration an uphill battle.
Prison is difficult on inmates but it is equally difficult on the families left behind. Reintegrating back into the family and community is not something that happens overnight. While there may be short-term joy of having a loved one back home, families left behind have lived in a certain way for months or years while a loved one is gone. RRCs provide a slower pace of home return that provides an opportunity for people to adjust to this new phase of life where there is no prison, fewer legal matters and a long runway to a new life. In addition to services provided by RRCs, they provide a path toward reunifying families by giving a gradual reunifying process.
Placing inmates directly on home confinement or simply offering them no time in the community puts inmates back into the community but neglects the true support they need. That support can be measured in time in the community to assimilate back into the pace of life.
Recently the BOP has looked at expanding RRC capacity to assist in the growing numbers of inmates who will be returning home sooner because of the First Step Act. The First Step Act allows inmates to cut their sentence by up to a year for participating in programming and productive activities. Each month eligible inmates can earn up to 15 days credit off of their sentence with the first 365 days of those credits going toward reducing the sentence then they accumulate to provide an opportunity to be placed on home confinement.
The issue the BOP has run into as it tries to do this have been funding and capacity. The BOP has over 120 facilities across the country and past funding constraints have meant an inability to properly fund RRCs. Under former BOP Director Colette Peters, she considered RRC capacity to be at a crisis similar to staffing shortages and crumbling infrastructure issues. In fact, the BOP currently has about the same RRC capacity today as it did prior to the First Step Act.
To manage the capacity issues that persist even with new BOP funding, the BOP has adopted a position of only sending inmates to RRC placement if there is a need for housing for the inmate. While that may seem noble, it does not address the broader need for all inmates to have an opportunity to gradually ease back into society. Issues concerning family finances and health are all immediate needs that can be overwhelming to both inmate and family members alike. There is more to an RRC than providing food and shelter.
Inmates earn around $0.15/hour that mostly goes toward their meager commissary needs. In fact, those wages are so low that families must send their own money into prison to help support their loved one. It is both humiliating for the inmate and a burden to families but it becomes a necessity.
Many of those who are First Step Act eligible are minimum or low security inmates who are unlikely to be involved in violence or a return to prison. The BOP has its own measure of these and inmates must meet these requirements in order to receive the credits. While in prison staffing shortages often mean programming that is key component First Step Act gets wait listed; there’s only so many programs an inmate can take over their term without repeating same classes too often! Participation limits also exist vocational programs.
The solution is more capacity in the community to help inmates earn more money pay restitution be with family look opportunities get back their feet. Inmates who can identified RRC should not held back capacity issues meet needs return society.
Combining First Step Act Second Chance Act can put supervised inmates into community setting months years earlier. BOP Director William Marshall has called priority under leadership but BOP has capacity move inmates. BOP recently put out Request Information expand home confinement; demonstration looking solutions place eligible inmates community ease pressure aging institutions staff shortages problem years. That continues keep inmates safely transitioned expensive institutions instead moving RRCs inefficient use funds.
Inmates want community placement over prison but it is still a difficult road. RRCs demand accountability through ankle bracelets; adherence rules similar those anyone prison. It is not a free ride but it is an important step to returning better citizens.