Second Chance Act Programs: Eligibility, How to Find One, and Intake

Second Chance Act programs are local reentry services — job training, housing help, treatment, mentoring, case management — run by county governments, state agencies, tribal governments, and nonprofits using federal grant money. You don’t apply to the Act. You apply to a specific program in your community that receives the funding. The fastest way in is through your parole or probation officer, your institutional case manager, your state department of corrections reentry unit, a 2-1-1 referral, or an American Job Center.¹

Who Qualifies

Eligibility is built around justice-system involvement. Most programs serve adults and youth who are currently incarcerated and approaching release, or who have recently returned to the community from prison, jail, or juvenile detention.² Beyond that, the specifics vary program by program.

Three factors do most of the sorting:

Risk level. Many programs require participants to score medium-to-high on a validated recidivism risk assessment. If you’ve been assessed as low-risk, some programs won’t accept you because they are designed for people with greater needs.³
Enrollment timing. Some programs require you to enroll while still inside. Others take people who are already back in the community. Ask which one applies before assuming you’re too early or too late.
Age. Adult programs generally require you to be 18 or older and convicted as an adult. Youth programs are funded separately through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Violent and Sex Offenses

A common assumption is that a violent conviction disqualifies you. It usually doesn’t. Some federal grant solicitations actually give priority to programs targeting people with violent offense histories, because those participants face higher recidivism risk.³

Sex offenses are different, and the answer depends on the funding source. Employment grants administered through the Department of Labor limit eligibility to people who have “never been convicted of a violent or sex-related offense.” Other programs, including the federal prisoner reentry initiative, direct that priority go to high-risk populations that include people with sex offenses.⁴ The exclusion is tied to a specific grant, not to reentry services as a whole. Ask the program.

Emergency Services Are Broader

Some reentry services don’t apply the same screens. Emergency assistance — immediate shelter, transportation to a release destination, basic clothing — is generally available to anyone in crisis whose needs can’t be met through free community resources. Short-term case management to bridge the gap between incarceration and stable community living is also broadly available to people under federal supervision.

How to Find a Program Near You

There is no single national portal where you enter your zip code and see every reentry program you qualify for. The landscape is fragmented, and grant cycles come and go. The National Reentry Resource Center previously maintained a searchable directory of Second Chance Act grantees, but that directory has been discontinued. Use these channels instead.

Your Supervision Officer or Case Manager

If you’re on parole, probation, or supervised release, your officer is the shortest route to a funded program. Officers know which local organizations currently hold grants and can refer you directly. If you’re still incarcerated, your institutional case manager or reentry coordinator plays the same role. In the federal system, the Bureau of Prisons treats release preparation as a process that begins on the first day of incarceration and intensifies at least 18 months before release.⁵ Don’t wait until you’re weeks out to ask.

Your State Department of Corrections

Every state corrections agency has some reentry infrastructure, whether an Office of Reentry Services, a reentry unit, or designated coordinators. These offices track which organizations in the state receive Second Chance Act grants and can point you to programs that match your needs and location. Many state DOC websites list reentry resources by county or region.

2-1-1 and American Job Centers

Dial 2-1-1 to reach a trained specialist who can refer you to local reentry services, including housing, food assistance, and treatment programs. The service is free and confidential. For employment help, there are roughly 2,400 American Job Centers across the country, and they provide specialized services for justice-involved individuals — job search assistance, resume help, and skills training.⁶ Find your nearest center through the Department of Labor’s website or call 1-877-US2-JOBS. You don’t need to be enrolled in a Second Chance Act program to walk in.

BJA’s Grant Award Information

The Bureau of Justice Assistance publishes information about current grant awards. The site is designed more for grantee organizations than for individual participants, but you can search it to identify which organizations in your state received Second Chance Act funding, then contact them directly.¹

If You’re Still Incarcerated, Start Now

Many Second Chance Act programs are built to begin pre-release, enrolling participants months before their release date so they walk out with a service plan, community connections, and appointments already scheduled. Federal grant solicitations routinely require programs to start work with participants while they’re still inside.

Steps to take before release:

Request your risk and needs assessment results. Most correctional facilities run a standardized assessment covering education, employment, substance use, mental health, family relationships, and housing. Those results determine which programs you qualify for and what level of services you receive.
Ask your case manager which reentry programs are active. If nobody has approached you within 18 months of your release date, ask directly.
Start gathering documents while institutional staff can still help you.
Request your medical records and a current medication list at least 60 days before release, so there’s no gap in treatment.⁷

Documents to Have Ready

Reentry programs almost always ask for identification and paperwork. Getting these in order before you apply saves weeks:

A state ID card or driver’s license. If yours expired inside, many state DMVs offer reduced-fee or fee-waived IDs for people being released.
A Social Security card. The Social Security Administration has procedures for issuing replacement cards to incarcerated individuals, usually coordinated through your facility’s records office.
A birth certificate, needed for most ID applications. Order from the vital records office of the state where you were born; some reentry organizations will cover the fee.
An official criminal history printout from your state’s criminal records repository, if the program requires one. Self-request fees range from free to roughly $50.
Court documents: sentencing orders, conditions of release, any active protection or no-contact orders.
Proof of address. A letter from a transitional housing program, a family member’s address with a supporting letter, or a shelter intake form may work.

If you don’t have all of these, apply anyway. Helping people obtain identification is itself a common service reentry programs provide.

What Intake Looks Like

Once you connect with a program, expect an intake process rather than a simple yes-or-no decision. Staff will conduct a structured interview covering housing, employment history, education, family, substance use, and mental health. Many programs use a validated risk and needs assessment tool — the same kind of instrument used inside facilities. The federal system uses one called PATTERN.⁸ Local programs may use different tools. The point is the same: target services to your specific risk factors and needs.

After the assessment, the program builds an individualized service plan mapping out which services you’ll receive, how often you’ll meet with your case manager, and what milestones you’re expected to reach. Grant-funded programs commonly aim for at least six months of sustained case management in the community. Be realistic about the commitment. These aren’t one-time appointments; they work because they provide ongoing structured support, and that means showing up consistently.

Get Medicaid Active Before Release Day

Health care is where many people fall through the cracks in the first weeks after release, especially those managing mental health conditions or substance use disorders. Being incarcerated does not make you ineligible for Medicaid. Federal law prohibits using Medicaid funds to pay for your care while you’re incarcerated, but your eligibility can be established or maintained during that time.⁹ Apply before your release date so coverage is active the day you walk out.

Many state corrections departments now partner with state Medicaid agencies to screen incarcerated individuals for eligibility and submit applications pre-release. Ask your case manager or the facility’s social services department whether your state does this. If not, you can apply through your state’s Medicaid office or through HealthCare.gov. Having active coverage on release day lets you fill prescriptions, see a doctor, and access behavioral health treatment without a gap. Gaps in psychiatric medication or addiction treatment during the first weeks after release are when overdose and crisis risk are highest.²

For a substance use or mental health crisis, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration runs a free national helpline at 1-800-662-4357 that refers callers to local treatment facilities and support groups.⁷

If You’re Turned Away

Programs have limited slots and specific criteria, so denials happen. Find out exactly why. The reason tells you what to do next.

If you were denied because your risk score was too low, look for programs serving a broader population rather than the medium-to-high-risk programs that dominate Second Chance Act grants. Community-based organizations, faith-based groups, and workforce development agencies often run reentry services without the same risk-level requirements.

If the program is full, ask to be placed on a waitlist and ask when the next enrollment cycle opens. Grant-funded programs often run in cohorts, so a new group may start within a few months. In the meantime, work the other channels — American Job Centers, 2-1-1, your state DOC reentry unit — rather than waiting idle.

If you were denied because of your offense type, ask whether the restriction applies to that specific program or to every program that organization runs. An agency might exclude certain convictions from its Department of Labor employment grant while accepting the same person into a behavioral health program funded through a separate grant. The restriction is usually tied to the funding source, not to the organization’s own policy.

Formal grievance processes for denials vary. Some programs operated inside correctional systems offer an administrative grievance procedure; community-based programs may not. If you believe a denial rested on something other than legitimate program criteria, your parole or probation officer can sometimes advocate on your behalf or redirect you to an alternative program.

1
Bureau of Justice Assistance. Second Chance Act Programs Overview
2
Bureau of Justice Assistance. Fact Sheet: Second Chance Act Improving Adult and Youth Crisis Stabilization and Community Reentry Program
3
U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance. Second Chance Act Comprehensive Community-based Adult Reentry Program FY 2018 Competitive Grant Solicitation
4
U.S. Government Publishing Office. Public Law 110-199 – Second Chance Act of 2007: Community Safety Through Recidivism Prevention
5
Federal Bureau of Prisons. Reentry Programs
6
U.S. Department of Labor. American Job Centers
7
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Returning to the Community: Health Care After Incarceration – A Guide for Health Care Reentry
8
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General. The First Step Act of 2018: Risk and Needs Assessment System – Update January 2020
9
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Reentry Services for Incarcerated Individuals