It’s a muggy May New Orleans day, and you are packing toiletries
into a second-hand backpack with one broken zipper. You forget it’s broken and
everything inside (including your toothbrush) falls out. You sigh and sit down
on the bed that’s no longer yours to repack. It’s supposed to rain cats and
dogs later, and you’ve just been kicked out of your brother’s house for the
second time in two months. The health-care center for the homeless that you’ve
been staying in when you can’t stay with your brother has reached capacity, as
has the local overcrowded transitional shelter filled with ex-cons like
yourself who can’t find jobs. Your only option is going back to the nonprofit Breakthrough
Ministries, which is helping you search for a permanent place to live.
“Sorry, bro,” your brother says as you walk out the front
door into the humidity, “Hopefully you can find a job and a place of your own,
soon.” Your nephew races happily into the room you just vacated, jumping on the
bed jubilantly. You walk to the bus stop, glancing up at the threatening clouds.
Imagine this is your life; you were down
and out on your luck, and thought that selling a few stolen IPods would save
you. Now factor in your past criminal history including a few ill-advised car
burglaries, and your age – sixty-two. You’ve done your time and been released,
but haven’t been able to find a job because of your criminal history. You can’t
find a place to live (public housing is off-limits to recently released
convicts), and now you’re stuck. Your family has their own issues to deal with.
What are you supposed to do? How can you succeed in life legitimately with no
job and no place to live? It seems like the system WANTS you to be in jail and
make a living as a criminal. What would you do if this was your uncle’s
situation? Your father’s? Your grandfather’s? Or, god forbid, your son’s? How
many families are dealing with the same problem? A recent article on ex-convicts prevented from
residing in public housing was published in the May 13th
edition of the Wall Street Journal
this year. Willie Davis Jr. is an example of the high rates of U.S.
unemployment, homelessness and recidivism in our country today (Peters, 2013).
If you’ve paid for your crime, why can’t you become a contributing member of
the community? In New York City, 22 percent of inmates paroled from state
prisons are homeless, and two-thirds of prisoners released in 30 states were
arrested for a new crime within three years (2013). With numbers like these,
it’s no wonder these ex-cons want to return to prison, where they have three
square meals a day and roof over their heads. City governments in Chicago, New York City, and Los Angeles are seeking to allow certain
inmates to move into public housing, and in New Orleans criminal background
will not automatically result in rejection on a public housing application
(2013). Are these changes enough to place ex-convicts in housing and help them
obtain jobs that they can survive with? Will sufficient housing make them
productive members of society and keep recidivism low?
Housing is one of Maslow’s
requirements for human survival, and while these new laws are a step in
the right direction, fears of community safety due to ex-convict populations in
public housing spaces is legitimate, as well. The true test of successful
ex-convict parole and release programs is whether ex-cons are able to obtain
jobs. Without jobs they cannot feed themselves, get promotions, obtain
education, or join the larger community. Job skills should be taught to
prisoners who may soon be released, and at any point during their incarceration
if they are to be productive members of society one day. Moving ex-cons into
public housing does not elevate them to productive members of society, although
it is a step in the right direction.
Contribute
to the conversation on ex-convicts after parole and release here.
I really enjoyed the first person point of view feel that your first paragraph provides for your readers. It is important to maintain empathy for offenders when considering societal barriers to reentry, despite personal beliefs and views. You also have an excellent use of word choice and it made me more interested in the topic. The use of external links was phenomenal and encouraged me to do reading and research even after I had finished with your blog post. I am surprised, but pleased at the fact that many major cities are taking steps to allow certain offenders the ability to apply for public housing.
ReplyDeleteAppreciate all the kind words Kevin - Thank you!!
DeleteLike Kevin said, I like the personal feel of the post. It helps to provide a basis for readers to feel empathetic for the struggle ex-cons experience when they are supposed to simply re-enter society. It certainly seems like in the US convicts are exceedingly likely to commit crimes again once they are released. Do you think this has to do with the actual structure of our prison system as well as the issues with employment post-incarceration? Many people argue that our system is far too punishment-based when it should really be focused on rehabilitation like many successful European prison systems. Would one without the other be enough to reduce recidivism or would both changes have to be made together?
ReplyDeleteYou've raised an important point Lou and yes I do believe both changes have to be made together in order to reduce recidivism. For example, If you have only one conviction (meaning one felony or one misdemeanor), it takes five years after your conviction or release from prison, for your record to be expunged. Some will argue that's too long of a punishment and 5 years should be reduced to at least 3. The sooner it stops showing on the background check, the better their chances of starting over.
DeleteI completely agree with you that housing is a step in the right direction but that without employment, housing is not enough. I also support teaching job skills/educating offenders while in prison. I think it should be required in order for inmates to get out. I also feel that an extension of that should be a federal incentive to hire ex-convicts to work for business so that businesses are encouraged to hire them. Many are hesitant to hire ex-cons, even with education and job training. If a tax break was offered for companies that hired ex-cons, I think a much higher percentage would receive employment and thus avoid recidivism.
ReplyDeleteTax break is another excellent idea Amanda - I like how you think; talk about taking giant steps further in the right direction :-)
DeleteProviding housing for ex-convicts is definitely a step in the right direction. To have a home can help ex-convicts feel a sense of normalcy, especially after spending x-amount of time in prison. It’s a way to integrate them back into society. I feel to not help convicts find a place to live we will only encourage them to commit crimes in order to survive. Why put them in that situation if we can prevent it?
ReplyDeleteI think it’s also important for society to change the negative stigma we have regarding convicts. We need to understand that a lot of the convicts in prison made a mistake and tend to regret the decisions they made. When convicts finish their time and want a chance to make their lives better, so we should help then in any way that we can.
I completely agree with you Cristina, we are all human beings and we makes mistakes. These people are fathers, sisters, brothers, sons and of course, we would love others to forgive our own, look past what they've done and look more into how they're trying to be better members of the society.
DeleteI completely agree and understand what you are saying. For one of my projects, I focused on recidivism and one of the themes in it was that most offenders do not ever have the ability to make a smooth transition back into society. In one case that I read about, offenders that were put on parole had to pay for the services of the parole and probation officers. Many of the offenders did not have the ability to pay the fees that come with the program and when they cannot do this, some resorted to stealing and other criminal ways to come up with the money.
ReplyDelete...seems like the system is just waiting for them to fail, isn't it Brandon?! Life behind bars for these people sound so much better and who can blame them.
DeleteIn last recession, unemployment was high and many people were out of work. That wasn’t the case to the prisoners who were and are the many US prison cells. Unemployment rate among prison inmates was low. Big corporations don’t mind hiring convicted inmates sine they pay them only dollar or two per hour. This seems there is no other reasons except the availability of other workforce for not hiring people with criminal history. As you put it clearly, those people have no much chance of leading their life without securing some type job to earn and pay their bills, and it seems everything as against them and live doing the same thing over and over.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty sad when the life in prison is far better than the life they are coming out to.
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