Crime & Law
Chicago’s Director of Reentry on the Importance of Mental Health and Creating Support for Women
Joseph Mapp has been the director of Chicago’s Office of Reentry for a little more than a year. The office is tasked with investing in formerly incarcerated people and providing access to services — including housing, mental health support and job training.
Before Mapp joined the office, it had been without a leader since 2022. The office recently released a one-year report highlighting what has been done to shape policy and programming.
Mapp joined “Chicago Tonight” to reflect on challenges, success and what comes next.
On challenges during his first year in the role:
“One of the challenges was making sure we heard from the people who are greatest impacted. So we had to deliberately and intentionally meet 30 community-based organizations, meet with Illinois Department of Corrections, to talk to not only the staff but those who are in preparation for returning home, with juvenile detention centers and also Cook County Jail.”
On women-focused reentry:
“What we found is 75% of the women who are incarcerated are mothers to children under 18. We recognize that mothers, when they return home, they’re not only trying to stabilize themselves, but they’re trying to stabilize their family. So that, in itself, is very important. Being a son of a single mother, I recognize the struggles that women face without being incarcerated, so the incarceration compounds that.”
On the importance of mental health:
“Mental health support is normally stigmatized, and people who’ve been engaged in institutions tend to try to separate from those structures. We want to create the space where people can heal in community, where we can introduce different modalities for that type of support.”
On the needs people have when returning to communities:
“One of the most important things you can offer is tangible supports. Housing is thoroughly needed. You can offer workforce development and transitional jobs and even permanent placement. But when we think about emotional intelligence, when we think about family reunification, when we think about how to enter interpersonal skills, to engage with people in ways that can help us be successful, even when people are not being treating us the most kindly. So these are important because that supports job retention, that supports family reunification and that supports community building. That was a significant effort on our part.”
On people returning to Chicago:
“At least 44% of (the Illinois Department of Corrections) population returns to Chicago. That’s a large number. When IDOC has released 16,000 individuals in one year, the organizations, the 111 organizations that are striving tirelessly to do this work, need support, and when you have a collaborative effort, when you have an ecosystem, now supportive systems do not go underutilized. That’s why my office worked with CTA to do public awareness campaigns so we can make sure those returning to Chicago are aware of what services are available.”
On implementing feedback:
“One of the first things my office has done was convened the steering committee that’s a mixture of system-impacted individuals and those that have been doing this work. We recognize that the funds of knowledge rest throughout the city of Chicago. It’s not one particular place that holds all the wisdom. So we lean into these supports so we can make sure that informs the work in the direction that this office moves in.”
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