By Pat Nolan|Published Date: June 25, 2009
What we Should do With Ex-Prisoners
"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."-President Bush, State of the Union 2004.
Over 600,000 inmates will be released from America's prisons this year, having finished their sentences. That is more than 1,600 offenders per day returning to neighborhoods across the country. These men and women are coming out, like it or not.
What kind of neighbors will these returning inmates be? What has been done to prepare them to live healthy, productive, law-abiding lives? Each of us has a stake in seeing that these men and women make a safe and successful return to their communities. Yet, today very little is being done to help them make that transition successfully.
Closing the Revolving Door
Most offenders will be returning from years in overcrowded prisons where they were exposed to the horrors of violence, homosexual rape, isolation from family and friends, and despair. Most are idle in prison; warehoused with little preparation to make better choices when they return to the free world. Just one-third of all released prisoners will have received vocational or educational training before they are released.
The number of prisoners released is now four times what it was twenty years ago, yet fewer than ever are being prepared to return to their communities. While approximately three of every four inmates released from prison have a substance abuse problem, only one in five has received drug treatment.
Further, little is done to change the moral perspective of offenders. Most inmates do not leave prison transformed into law-abiding citizens; in fact, the very skills inmates develop to survive inside prison make them anti-social when they are released. Most are given a bus ticket to their hometown, gate money of between $20 and $200, and infrequently a new set of clothes. Upon leaving prison they will have great difficulty finding employment.
If we do not prepare these inmates for their return to the community, the odds are great that their first incarceration will not be their last. The statistics tell the story. A recent study by the Department of Justice Bureau of Statistics found that two out of three released inmates were rearrested within three years, victimizing more innocents in the process. Over the last thirty years, the rate of rearrest has hovered stubbornly around 67 percent.
As the number of people released from prison and jail increases steadily, we cannot afford to continue to send them home with so little preparation. The current policies have harmed too many victims, destroyed too many families, overwhelmed too many communities, and wasted too many lives as they repeat the cycle of arrest, incarceration, and release. The toll this system takes is not measured merely in human lives, either. The strain on taxpayers has been tremendous. As jail and prison populations have soared, so have corrections budgets, creating fiscal crises in virtually every state, squeezing money for schools, health care, and roads from state budgets.
It does not have to be this way. Fortunately, there are proven ways to increase the likelihood that inmates will return safely to our communities. There are many things that the community, and particularly churches, can do to help offenders make the transition from prison life to freedom successfully.
Relationships Are Key
One of the most important ways to help is to mentor a returning prisoner. These men and women need relationships with loving, moral people far more than they need any program. Government programs can't love them; only people can do that. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said, "To change someone, you must first love them and they must know that you love them."
A significant way to show your love for returning inmates is to "meet them at the bus," to walk with them as they take those first difficult steps in freedom. In the very structured environment of prison, they had virtually no control over any aspect of their lives. Thus, their return to the community presents them with a myriad of options and temptations. Such basic decisions as where to sleep, where to seek employment, and with whom to associate confront them the minute they hit the street. As offenders make the transition back into the community, they need someone to provide love, advice, and encouragement and hold them accountable for their actions.
Obviously a good job is essential if these men and women are to transition from prison back to the community successfully. Work is important for more than just the paycheck, although the fact that someone values an offender's talents enough to pay them for their labor is a great morale boost. In addition, work puts them into daily contact with the mainstream of the community, forming positive relationships with "everyday" people.
On the other hand, being unemployed with time on their hands can often lead inmates into trouble. Our mothers wisely taught us that idle hands are the devil's playground. Nowhere is this more true than for returning inmates. Watching TV or hanging out with others in the neighborhood is a recipe for a return to the wrong lifestyle.
When returning offenders secure jobs, their needs continue. They need help thinking through employment options and learning what is expected of them on the job. Many offenders have never had someone in their lives who has held a steady job. They have no model for being a good employee. A mentor can teach them that they need to get up on time, go to work each day, and call their supervisor if they must be late or absent. The offender may find it difficult to take direction or may lack skills to cope with a difficult boss or fellow employees. A mentor can help them with these and other everyday difficulties of the workplace and teach them the importance of punctuality, politeness, and diplomacy on the job.
Mentors can also help the offenders learn decision-making skills and teach them how to keep track of bills and pay them on time. In prison inmates do not have to deal with any of this, and on the street such details may quickly overwhelm them. In short, offenders need to be taught how to make good choices, handle responsibility, and be accountable-to make the right choice even when no one is looking.
The Church as Philemon
Of course, for a mentor to make a difference, the offender's attitudes must be changed. Crime is at its root a moral as well as a legal problem. Inmates are in prison as a result of bad moral choices, and their hearts must be transformed if they are to lead crime-free lives.
The world has largely given up on changing the behavior of offenders. The Church, on the other hand, believes in redemption. The Church reaches out in love, embracing the offender while asking him to repent of his sin. The Church also knows that it is important to hold offenders accountable for the harm they have done and that they must attempt to make things right with their victims and, most importantly, to turn their lives over to God.
Paul's entire letter to Philemon is a request for help for a prisoner returning home. Written from inside a prison in Rome, Paul's letter asks his friend Philemon to welcome Philemon's former slave, Onesimus, who apparently stole from him and then escaped. "Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while," wrote Paul, "was that you might have him back for good-no longer as a slave, but better than a slave as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a man and as a brother in the Lord. So if you consider me partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me" (Philemon 1:15-18).
Paul asked Philemon to welcome Onesimus as a brother in Christ-not as a criminal.
Onesimus had become a Christian as a result of Paul's ministry, and he wanted to make sure that Onesimus got a fair chance at a new life. Can we do any less for returning brothers and sisters?
Fear of rejection by their hometown church is one the greatest fears many Christian inmates experience as their sentence comes to a close and they prepare for their return home. Sadly, this is not an irrational fear. The stories are legion of inmates who returned home with a vibrant faith, but also a criminal record, some missing teeth and perhaps a tattoo or two, being asked not to come back to church.
A welcoming church is a crucial element for returning prisoners who have become Christians in prison. Their new life in Christ means avoiding many of their old friends and sometimes even shunning family members with alcohol or drug dependence. Where will these newly minted Christians turn for companionship and positive activities if they have been rejected by their local church? The greater the density of loving, moral people we can pack around returning prisoners, the greater the chance that they will become healthy, productive, law-abiding members of the community.
You, your church, and your community can help these returning prisoners. I encourage you to think of the role you can play in assisting offenders as they make the difficult transition back to free society. It could be as mentor, employer, Bible teacher, or volunteer at a halfway house. You could drive the offender to a doctor's appointment, invite him out for a meal, or provide a bus pass so he can get to work. You can be the arms of the body of Christ, reaching out to embrace His returning sons and daughters.
I am often asked what America's communities would look like if biblical principles of justice were implemented. Such a "vision statement" was written by God long ago in Isaiah 32:18: "My people will live in peaceful communities, in secure homes, and in tranquil places of rest." This is God's plan for us. You, your community, and your church have important roles to play in making your neighborhood peaceful, secure, and tranquil. One of the most important areas in which you can make a difference is in the lives of returning offenders.
As President Bush said, "America is the land of the second chance-and when the gates of the prison open, the path ahead should lead to a better life."
Resources on Prisoner Reentry
The Office of Justice Programs Reentry website has many useful resources.
Koinonia House is a family-home-based ministry of biblical discipleship for Christians coming out of prison. Contact them at: P.O. Box 1415, Wheaton, IL, 60189-1415; 630-221-9930. The Koinonia House website is a wonderful source of information about operating Christian halfway houses.
Transition of Prisoners, Inc. (TOP) works to encourage, train, and support local churches in building their capacity to minister to prisoners, ex-prisoners in transition, and their families more effectively. Contact them at: P.O. Box 02938 , Detroit, MI 48202; 313-875-3883.
The Urban Institute has launched a new initiative , the Reentry Mapping Network, to strengthen community strategies for prisoners returning to society. To learn more, contact Karen McKenzie at 202-261-5709.
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