The decision to release a person from incarceration should be informed in part by a survey of resources in the community to which he or she will return. The availability of resources that an individual needs upon release can greatly impact his or her likelihood of adhering to a transition plan and, ultimately, his or her chances of making a successful re-entry. If a person intends to return to a community that cannot provide needed services, such as mental health or substance abuse treatment, then the risk that he or she poses to that community may increase.

Although a person should not be kept in prison or jail simply because needed services are not available in his or her community, this information can be important to a releasing authority. Ideally, collaboration between corrections and community-based providers, and corrections practices that support community-based efforts, will result in expanded capacity in communities. Keeping a person in prison or jail because of a lack of services, by contrast, and then releasing him or her after he or she has "maxed out" (completed his or her full sentence in prison) does not negate the problem of lack of capacity°ÿ"it only delays the need to provide those services and adds the usually greater expense of more days of incarceration.