For many inmates, the prospect of freedom is simultaneously drooled over and a trigger for anxiety-induced retching. This is because while these inmates have paid their debts to society, they have not been given the tools necessary to survive in the real world. In this sense, they are a lock for recidivistic behavior, such as crime. They don’t have jobs, nor experience to get jobs, and so they are forced into crime. But if the United States is truly serious about reducing our massive prison population, then the criminal justice system needs to show more compassion, as well as more intelligence — we need more re-entry programs for ex-inmates.
Your average ex-con
The average rehabilitated criminal, recently released from prison, has practically nothing. Maybe $10 to $100 dollars on them, or to their name, plus the clothes on their back. They might, if they’re lucky, have a bus ticket that will take them to the state line; but they certainly have no job, and, if they have been in prison for a long time, they might have nowhere to even stay while they try and figure things out. So they become homeless. Either they stay homeless for the rest of their lives, or they resort to crime simply to stay alive. They are caught up in a vicious often inescapable cycle, and thus the recidivism wheel keeps a-turnin’. It isn’t justice. It is a perversion of justice, and a case of criminal gross neglect on the part of the criminal justice system.
“Even the most commonplace kind of transactions can be anxiety-provoking,” Ann Jacobs, director of the Prisoner Reentry Institute at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told The Huffington Post while discussing post-incarceration life. She cites commonplace instances of ex-inmates not knowing how to legally board a bus, or to access the subways through the turnstiles. A myriad of other ostensibly simple tasks only seem so simple when one has been emerged in that life for a long, long time (usually from birth!). To an ex-inmate, on the inside for 30-plus years maybe, this modern age is more like the future out of a sci-fi movie.
Re-entry programs are critical
Although ex-inmates aren’t your traditional idea of a victim, it is a fact that they have legally paid their debt to society — that is the justice system’s own vernacular, by the way: paid their debt to society. Following this line of logic, it is wrong for them to be set up in such a manner as to practically guarantee their failure, and their subsequent re-imprisonment. And it is fair to say that the United States just might be catching on to this fringe, and underrepresented, case of injustice. Although not all states have re-entry programs available to inmates, many of them now do.
These programs tend to begin immediately. As in, right when the inmate is initiated into the prison system. Their “training” follows them out to their release date, and onward into the months following this release date.
Examples of successful re-entry programs
Louisiana – Throughout the state
Louisiana has a flourishing re-entry initiative that is active not only on the state level, but also regionally. Not only does their re-entry program ensure a stable, world-ready adult who knows how to work a smartphone, an ATM, and the turnstiles in the subway system, they also make sure that their younger inmates learn a trade. Things like plumbing, welding and culinary arts are some examples. Additionally, classes are held that address common problems amongst the incarcerated populace nationwide, such as anger management and effective and non-combative communication techniques. Louisiana’s program does not only exist on the state level, either. They have initiated these programs in many local prisons throughout the region.
Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate in the U.S., which likely spurred their progressive attitude in this sphere. Although lower recidivism rates can, of course, be tied to a myriad of law changes, individual politicians, social circumstances and programs (and thus it is hard to say what actions are responsible), officials are still hopeful that these programs are making a big difference.
San Quentin Prison
One of the largest prisons in the country — San Quentin — is offering college-level courses to their inmates through the Prison University Project. A 2013 study showed that prisons where the Prison University Project were in effect had measurably lowered recidivism rates. Rehabilitated criminals stayed crime-free far longer in these prisons, compared to prisoners who did not receive access to this project. Opponents of the project, and others like it, say that it is not worth the taxpayers’ hard-earned money (however, a stigma may very well play a part in this attitude). For the inmates, studies have shown such programs may very well be transformative for their lives outside of prison.
A 2014 report from the National Growth Council detailed the difficulties that prisoners face upon re-entry — lower earnings, denial of jobs or work licenses, an inability to vote, ineligibility for public housing, student loans, food stamps and much much more. Once released, the ex-offender is in dire need of support and encouragement. These programs may provide it.
Washington State Prison
Washington State Prison makes available to its former inmates the resources of a company called Pioneer Human Services. With PHS, former inmates who are enrolled in the program can pick and choose from a whole catalog of skill-based programs. PHS outreach touches the lives of thousands of former inmates every year and increases their chance to live a happy, and healthy, post-penal existence — and never to return to jail.
Additionally, PHS provides help for substance-use disorders, finds housing situations and provides intensive job training as well as job interview training. They also offer apprenticeships, employment and help with driving-practices, as well as receiving one’s driver’s license — even gaining back voting rights, where possible.
Big things are big, but little things are big, too
Sometimes just little acts of kindness, when an ex-inmate is first released, can go a long way. Think of how important a first impression is on a date, and how often it informs the way we behave for the rest of the evening. Studies say that most people judge another person within the first 10 seconds of seeing them, and this is the idea that the Anti-Recidivism Coalition in California is working with. They have developed a thriving program, known as “The Ride Home Program,” which enlists former inmates to pick up newly post-incarcerated individuals to be a sort of mentor to them for the whole day. Picking them up is a nice feature that will start the individual off on the right optimistic footing. Then they go from there. Together. The guide and the guided.
These former inmates acclimate their mentees to the world. They help get their wifi set up, or maybe get a haircut, or learn how to work a smartphone — anything and everything that the individual might want or, more importantly, need. Nothing is off limits when it comes to their real-world education.‘‘The first day is everything,’’ Carlos Cervantes, one of the ex-offenders who picks up newly released inmates, said about those sometimes frightening and overwhelming first 24 hours. Jacobs, the prison re-entry institute director, agrees.
“Ex-offenders frequently just need more compassion and understanding from the criminal justice system,” Jacobs said.
Takeaway
As things are, 25 percent of the world’s prison population is in American prisons. Something needs to change, and re-entry programs could possibly be the answer. Although it has not definitively been proven that such programs as the ones mentioned above are instrumental in the lowering of recidivism rates — or even helping — the trends and studies definitely point to their efficacy more often than to their ineffectuality. Therefore, establishing more programs nationwide, showing more compassion to our post-incarcerated population, and investing monetarily in these endeavors, should be a desire for anyone who wants to purge a faulty penal system of its prejudicial behavior.
Have something to add to this story? Comment below or join the discussion on Facebook.
Header image: ShutterStock
