Barriers to Reentry Success Inventory

The Barriers to Reentry Success Inventory – 3rd Edition helps you achieve a more effective job search and identify those hurdles and obstacles that stand in the way of your job success.

Each year, more than 600,000 individuals are released from state and federal prisons. Another 9 million cycle through local jails. These returning citizens face a myriad of barriers to successfully re-entering society.

The new assessment, the Barriers to Reentry Success Inventory (BRSI), helps returning citizens identify their concerns and potential barriers and develop proactive plans for overcoming them when re-entering their communities.  As a revision of the previous edition, titled the Offender Reintegration Scale, this tool is self-scored, self-interpreted, and measures returning citizens’ concerns within the following scales.

• Basic needs
• Wellness
• Family
• Digital literacy
• Career development
• Job search

Key Features of the BRSI

• Helps individuals in pre-release status develop an individualized re-entry success plan.
• Incorporates empowering, humanizing, and inclusive language.
• Includes a comprehensive administrator’s guide to help counselors, administrators, and corrections personnel use the BRSI effectively.
• Includes a new scale on digital literacy to represent concerns about the increasing use of technology in society.
• Features a new booklet format to make the assessment easier to complete and review.
• Takes an average of 25 minutes to complete the profile.
• Offers flexibility to administer individually or in groups.

What It’s Best Used For

This inventory serves as an essential planning and counseling resource for corrections personnel, reentry administrators, and community rehabilitation counselors working with individuals in pre-release status or those newly returning to their communities.

• Tracking 6 Critical Dimensions: The assessment targets the specific hurdles that impact recidivism and long-term success, mapping concerns across Basic Needs, Wellness, Family, Digital Literacy, Career Development, and the Job Search.
• Addressing Modern Tech Roadblocks: It features a dedicated Digital Literacy scale to specifically evaluate an individual’s readiness and comfort with modern, everyday technology.
• Building a Concrete Action Plan: Rather than just scoring vulnerabilities, the test guides users through structured checklists and a personal Action Plan framework to set clear goals and completion dates for overcoming their barriers.
• Flexible Program Delivery: The paper format provides high flexibility, allowing advisors to seamlessly administer the test to individuals or large groups. It is fully legal for use in Canada.

Step 1: Complete the BRSI

Returning citizens review 12 statements within six different scales to assess their level of concern.

Step 2: Add Your Scores

Returning citizens score their responses in each of the six scales.

Step 3: Profile Your Scores

Returning citizens determine whether they scored high, average, or low within each of the six scales. High scores indicate concern about the related scale.

Step 4: Interpret Your Profile

Returning citizens review checklists that align with the six scales to identify ways to explore and plan their reentry.

Step 5: My Action Plan

Returning citizens list what they will do to successfully re-enter their communities. They will also provide a goal completion date for each action item.