Articles & News

January 18, 2009

Reentry - some key points for the new administration

by David H. Kerr, http://www.nj.com/newark/index.ssf/2009/01/reentry_some_key_points.html

Any reentry design attempting to change habits and helplessness exacerbated by long prison confinement, require the same type of long term positive collaborative lifestyle-changing approaches. Individual focus on specific ingredients of reentry without a systematic and collaborative approach are doomed to failure.

"I believe we must create a pathway for people coming out of jail to get the jobs, skills, and education they need to leave a life of crime. That means supporting effective training and mentoring programs to help people transition into jobs. That means reevaluating the laws against hiring people with a criminal record so that we don't foreclose effective ways to bring people out of poverty and deter them from committing new crimes. That also means giving former prisoners parenting skills so they can give their children the sense of hope and opportunity that so many of them were denied." A statement by President elect Obama from 'the Second chance Act Prisoner Reentry Transition Memo written by the National Reentry Working Group.' This reentry working group goes on to encourage the new administration to fund the Second Chance Act and to form an interagency reentry task force of key officials from Justice, Health and Human Services, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, education, and energy to work collaboratively together on the challenging task of reentry.

President Obama's new 'pathway for people coming out of jail must focus on the following details:

Key understanding required: The majority of inmates in prison are addicts and/or dealers and that if these people are untreated during and after incarceration, most if not all reentry efforts will likely fail. Inmates have a well developed lifestyle and won't be dissuaded from this with quick job and short term help programs once they get out. Even with good intentions upon release, without strong support and a close mentor and a key positive group of close friends, the old lifestyle and habits will inevitably creep back. Our national reentry data shows this: "Out of the 95% of all state prisoners who will eventually be released and return home, research indicates that two out of three will be rearrested within three years. The fiscal and public safety implications of these high failure rates are enormous."

In-prison help:
1. Strong and family and community connected collaborating efforts must be identified for inmates while they are in prison. We need a system of care established for each inmate - "it takes a village." Regular inmate to 'village' video conferencing is recommended for all inmates every two weeks at a minimum for the last year of time served.
2. The reentry plan must be created in the first 30 days of prison that has sufficient detail including: the name of the inmate's community mentor, the inmate's community support group and agencies, the legal and health issues of the inmate and how they will be managed upon release, drug and or mental health treatment while in prison and upon leaving, financial considerations including temporary welfare support for the inmate while job searching.
3. For addicts, I would suggest that we broaden the Drug Court program to include those sent to prison. In this case where Drug Court is denied, the pre-sentence investigation would broaden to include key elements of drug treatment and mentoring, video conferencing and community support while an inmate addict is in prison. In short the treatment and recovery plan would be designed by the drug court team and the judge upon sentencing, following the addict inmate throughout the prison term and through the reentry process.

Out of prison help - general prescription: All addicts need to be enrolled in treatment coupled with close parole or community supervision and support immediately upon release. The majority of reentry people, by definition have to be acquainted or reacquainted with the 'work ethic' even before a stable work effort can be expected. Given the difficulty of finding a job in today's market, those with past felony convictions and addiction are meeting substantial roadblocks. Finally all reentry people need continued mentoring, support and follow up for years after prison release in order to best prevent recidivism. In addition, a good job, positive housing, drug and mental health treatment, positive friends and follow-up support are key ingredients.

However, the reentry process is delicate and very much people oriented and my experience as a parole officer in the 60's and working with criminal justice referred addicts since then, says that we won't succeed without some fine tuning and detailed planning and follow up for each inmate.

Three key elements that are sometimes missing from reentry planning are the following:
1. Drug treatment for all released addicts must start on day one of reentry and will often run concurrent will all other reentry efforts over the next several years.
2. Work Adjustment or Transitional and supervised employment is the first stage of reentry for those ready for work. Federal funding for these programs is essential using unskilled jobs to teach reentry people how to get to work on time, how to get along with coworkers, how to work for 8 hours and not be on the cell phone, etc.
3. Community Collaboration and support and long term Mentoring inside and out of prison.