The Department of Corrections quietly (and gleefully) refers to this as "job security". If they limit a convict's opportunity at success then that 65% recidivism rate stays steady (or continues to rise), the prisons and jails remain overcrowded and the revolving door of the system gladly ushers them back and forth between the shelters, the rehabs and the joint. Stick them in a homeless shelter with no resources, instead of a halfway house with structured programs and increased chance of pro-social adaptation, and we can be sure that the majority of those folks will help contribute to keeping that recidivism rate high. Imagine a world where the taxpayers actually care about how convicts are treated for their mental disorders, drug addictions, lack of education and anti-social skills. Imagine a prison that encourages the learning of trades applicable to the outside world that carry real living wages, rather than equipping them with nothing more than a janitor's skill to create a life outside the walls of the concrete jungle. Imagine incarceration that provides more educational programs on their televisions rather than a steady diet of Jerry Springer and COPS. Until the taxpayers get upset about footing the bills that keep D.O.C. running as ineffectively as they have for so long, homeless shelters will continue to serve as nothing more than a brief visit to the outside world before the majority of these convicts decide prison was easier, and go back. Until citizens get vocal about the need for effective education, mental health and drug programs that actually encourage rehabilitation, rather than silently treat the problem as out-of-sight, out-of-mind, unfortunately, the days of a bus ticket and the shirt on your back (as they pass through the revolving door) will continue to reign.