Recidivism is the return to crime of a previously incarcerated individual. The primary recidivism measure of the PA DOC is the first instance of either rearrest or reincarceration after inmates are released from state prison divided by the total number of inmates released in a certain timeframe.

When the prison population declines as a result of the justice reinvestment legislation, PA DOC calculates the monetary savings. Per Act 196 of 2012, a certain proportion of these savings is to be reinvested to various other parts of the criminal justice system in order to support effective practices that will ensure further reductions in the priso [..]