“Where the rubber meets the road.”
This will be my last post for the semester. Hope you’ve enjoyed the short stories over the past couple of months.
This week we will focus much of our attention on that point where inmates re-enter society after serving their prison sentences. Known as “re-enty,” this is a vital point in the process for men and women who often have spent considerable amounts of time incarcerated. The following VIDEO offers just a glimpse of some of the challenges people face once they walk out of prison.
Thoughts?
Prisoners go into prison with fresh memories that become frozen over time. This means that acquaintances, friends, and family members move on with their lives while the prisoner remains idle beyond prison walls. These people move, get new jobs, and sadly, may forget about their friend or family in prison.
To me, this is perhaps the hardest thing for newly released prisoners to face after a long sentence. Having a strong, supportive social network is important for anyone for numerous reasons, but prisoners need such a network more than anyone.
It baffles me to think about how I would seek employment without any outside help. How can one prepare for a job interview by not having a place to sleep and eat? These are bare basics for success. It would be incredibly difficult to sleep on the streets and go to an interview the next morning.
I cant imagine how hard it would be to reintegrate into the world after being in prison for so many years. Everyday you are used to the same routine set to you by the prison then suddenly you have time to do stuff and you are free, no longer under the restriction of the guards and prison. I think it is very odd that prisons release prisoners at 1 am, but I can also see them not wanting to pay for another days worth of meals. I thought that the video was interesting and made a good point about newly released prisoners needing a place to stay. If they have no where to go, what is going to stop them from going back to their nice warm prison cell? It seems like when you are in prison they hold your hand every step of the way, mainly because they want to keep an eye on you. However, as soon as you are released your destiny is in your own hands and officials no longer are responsible for your well being. You must find food to eat, a place to sleep, and a job to pay bills. That is a lot of responsibility for someone who was recently behind bars.
This video was extremely interesting. The reentry process is something I feel is overlooked. I can’t imagine being incarcerated for 20 years, then on one day your just kicked out of there and on the streets to fend for yourself. One thing i thought was really interesting was when they talked about the lack of security platforms they have. For people who aren’t incarcerated, they have a retirement plan, a 401K, something to support them when they can no longer work. Well these individuals who were incarcerated are just left to figure all of this out on there own. I personally believe this reentry process should begin within the prison system. If you allow these people, or even make the inmates start planning out where to live, and where they will be working, then i do believe the reentry process will be a little more bearable. As this would keep these individuals busy and off the streets, it may possibly correlate to a decrease in the redidivsm rate as well. That would be interesting stats to look into. Thats my thoughts on the reentry process.
While the re-entry thing is really interesting to me. If some people come from a prison where they were not strict on rehabilitating the individuals and helping them get a education and stuff then it might be extremely hard for them to adapt to society. They will be stigmatized as being a criminal everywhere they go. They cant apply for a lot of things. My dad been incarcerated for 22 years he just got released in July. It was hard for him to find a place or get accepted to live at a family member house once released. It was a lot of restrictions. He had a lot of money that would last until he got on his feet but family members used him for it when they should have helped him. It was challenging and still is challenging for him, he is trying to adapt to this new society because over 20 years a lot has changed. Its like he was born all over again trying to get use to this new society that he was dumped in with no guidance or information/knowledge about. it should start within the prison walls when it comes to reentry they should set these individuals up to be prepared for society and what it has to offer or not offer them. I feel as if inmates are blindsided once they are released; and this is why alot of them end up right back in the system.
The re-entry process is one that is heavily affected by the rehabilitation practices of the prison that an inmate was staying in. If inmates are given the chance to learn new skills while they are in prison, it will make their process of re-entry into society much less difficult. This is somewhat similar to the activity we did in class where Dr. Gregory was portrayed as an inmate who was seeking parole. Many of the questions that we asked revolved around the fact the Dr. Gregory had been learning carpentry and had a job secured when he got out of prison. This was one of the leading factors for my group in why we decided to grant Dr. Gregory parole. The more opportunities that inmates have to learn new skills, the less likely they are to re-offend and end up back in the prison system, and the more easier it will be for them to function once they get out of prison.