Background Community re‐entry from custody programmes facilitate access to community resources, such as cash assistance and food stamps, with the aim of reducing criminal recidivism. Evidence that these programmes achieve is mainly from longer‐term prisoners rather than short‐term jail inmates. Aim The aim of the study is to test the hypothesis that facilitating access to community resources while still in jail would reduce re‐arrest rates among former jail inmates in the USA. Methods Community resources offered to the jail inmates participating in this study included Medicaid, food stamps and cash assistance. Participants who opted to sign up for these social services were matched with non‐applicants based on date of release (n = 101). Each participant's criminal history was coded prior to release from the jail and at three months, six months and one year after release. Results Contrary to our original hypotheses, recidivism was not significantly reduced in the applicant group. People released after facilitated access to community assistance had an increase in drug offence severity at six months after release. Recidivism also differed by age and race. Conclusion The substance offences in the applicant group suggested that cash benefits provided the released offender with the means to sustain their substance misuse. Treatment for substance misuse should be incorporated with other resources in order to reduce recidivism effectively. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.