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| crime ridden and burdened with unemployment, substance abuse and insufficient housing. To add to this sad state of affairs, family members are directly affected by incarceration on a spiritual, emotional, financial and social level as well. The office of Justice Programs statistics also show that two thirds of those released from prison will be re-arrested within a three year period. In his 2004 ‘State of the Union Address,’ President Bush said, “this year some 600,000 inmates will be released from prison back into society. We know from long experience that if they can’t find work or a home or help, they are much more likely to commit more crimes and return to prison…America is the land of the second chance and when the gates of the prisons are open, the path should lead to a better life.” The President’s Re-Entry Initiative provides $300,000,000 over a four-year period to state governments in order to design and implement community and corrections based offender re-entry programs. These programs provide access to organizational and social support systems in the form of referrals to community based initiatives that facilitate and increase the likelihood of a successful reintegration experience for a former prisoner. Researches agree that the process of re-entry begins at the point of sentencing and admittance to a prison facility. Life skills seminars, drug treatment, educational and vocational training behind bars, all factor into the former offenders’ ability to return to their communities and succeed in their lives outside of the prison walls. Through diagnostic risk assessments, discharge plans and collaboration with community and faith based initiatives, both supervised and unsupervised, former inmates can restructure their thinking, develop a repertoire of coping skills and learn to effectively negotiate the intricate and often times bureaucratic subsystems within their neighborhoods. Access to these services is necessary in order for the ex-offenders to begin to establish and maintain a pro-social lifestyle. In examining the “path to a better life”, I spent a sunny, autumn morning recently with Barry Grant, Director of Work Release and Educational Development at Community Education Centers’ Logan Hall, a private community release program in Newark, New Jersey. We entered the facility through an electronic turnstile, visible from the control room located on the other side of a sliding door. As we passed through the initial checkpoint, I was reminded by a staff member that I must wear my visitors' tag. Continues on page 2 |
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