Prison Reintegration: Looking Ahead
Introduction:
The topic that I chose to research represents the state institution field. Prison reintegration stands as a statewide, social issue throughout our country. Prison reintegration can be defined as the permission and assistance from the state granted to offenders to be released from prison. Inmates preparing to reenter the outside world after serving their sentence are highly stigmatized by society in social environments such as the workplace. Incarcerated individuals have broken social and cultural norms, but most harmful; a law that was set in place. Consequently, many believe the state should intervene as well as proceed with caution when pondering if reintegration into civilization is the appropriate choice. This presents the question; what factors impede the reintegration process and how can it negatively impact mental stability?
As most know, there are several barriers that hinder former convicted felons from re-entering our society. Finding a stable job, having the access to safe, affordable housing, or battling the racially biased judicial decisions and opinions shared by law enforcement force a majority of the prison population to find difficulty in thrivining in the real world. In addition, former inmates should be granted with the opportunity of attending
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The comparison of discipline and violence used against people of color to white people displays that institutional racism is still prominent within a number of places. Law enforcement ensures that minorities face oppression when being institutionalized. The officers working in these facilities use patriarchal, white privilege to their advantage while engaging in racially motivated violence. In addition, black men face the obstacle of social anxiety in the prison, in fear of getting mistreated or becoming victim of a racially biased hate
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, there are currently over 2.2 million individuals serving time in federal and state prison, with 95 percent of those individuals being released and returning to their perspective communities across the nation. Majority of those individuals returning have needs that was either unaddressed while incarcerated or during the reentry process, which will negatively impact their ability to live a crime free productive life while in the community. Once released from prison, inmates are faced with a myriad of challenges such as finding stable housing, maintaining employment, combating substance abuse, and addressing physical and mental health problems. However, with the help of community support, offenders would less likely return back to prison and are
With such traumatic experiences or undiagnosed mental illnesses, inmates who are released from prison have an extremely hard time readjusting to society and often lash out and commit crimes as a result of their untreated problems. It is for this particular reason that Davis says we must focus on rehabilitation and provide services for inmates while incarcerated and before they are released. Solutions she proposes are shorter sentences, education and job training programs, humane prison conditions, and better medical facilities and service. With adequate care and conditions, released inmates will able to find jobs, start families, and become functioning members of society rather then returning to
La Greta, I really enjoyed reading your post as I have been a part of such programs since I began my career as a police officer 18 years ago. I started by conducting parole checks on violent offenders and quickly learned how little they were prepared to return to society. You are very correct in that an offender’s re-entry starts the minute they begin their sentence. This is going to require the cooperation and collaboration of the prison system, probation and parole, law enforcement, prosecutors, social services and public housing. The money is out there in the form of federal grants and it just takes a little work to find them on the internet.
My Year in A Women's Prison, a true story written by Piper Kerman, further verifies the true nature of incarceration and the nervousness that surrounds re-entry. As of 1980, the United States' state and federal prison population has propelled itself from 300,000 to 1.6 million (CITE 7). How could
The article “Prisoner Reentry in a Small Metropolitan Community: Obstacles and Policy Recommendations” by Brett Garland, Eric J. Wodahl, and Julie Mayfield explains how the study proves that rehabilitation services provided during imprisonment for inmates that are going to reentry society are beneficial. In the study 43 male offenders were asked to identify which programs help them or that can help them to reentry society. It is mention in the article that the main obstacles male offenders face after reentering includes employment and reconnection with their
Cody henry English 121 Professor Karle 22 October 2015 American prisons and Rehabilitation A prison is a place where people are held legally for punishment of a crime that they have been sentenced for. One of the goals of prisons should be the rehabilitation of prisoners. The United States is currently facing an overcrowding problem in there prison system (Rader). The American prison system has a poor approach to the rehabilitation of prisoners.
A finding from a study done by the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that 67.8 percent of ex-convicts were rearrested. Two-thirds of them spent their time in prison waiting for the release, only to go back into that dirty old cell again. Why don’t they try to get a real job, earn their own living and cherish the second chance we grant them. Let’s step down from the moral high ground for a second. Often released prisoners lack the skills and knowledge to keep up with the pace of society.
Currently, sixty six percent of prisoners return to prison within three years, often with a more serious offense (Gilligan). Prisoners are also still in our communities with more than ninety percent of inmates returning to communities within just a few years (Gilligan). If a rehabilitation program would be put in place that could reduce the rate of returning prisoners, then this would consequently help reduce the rate of overcrowding which will lead to better treatment of prisoners as there could be more funding per person. This would then lead to even better rehabilitation with more individual attention. Over time, the program would just keep getting more personalized and better and it would also improve the returning members of society.
When one examines the racial inequality in the American correctional system you must first understand the historical event of slavery. Many Criminologist has ignored the idea that American history of slavery has any effect on the reason why African Americans make a big portion of the correctional system. The ideal of institutional racism seems foreign and almost seems as a myth to those in corrections or the legal system. That fact remains that institutional racism effect minorities because they are targeted and incarcerated more than their white counterparts. The institutional racism theory believes that racism occurs whenever there are laws, regulations, and bias that have an intentional and unequal impact on racial minorities (Whisner, 2015).
An institutional racism still faced both past and present can be found in incarceration and racial profiling. Our prison populations have skyrocketed since the 80 's and there is a disproportionate amount of black and Latino individuals who are incarcerated. Between New York’s stop and frisk policies and the insurmountable amounts of unarmed black and Latino men who are shot by police the discrimination by the police and law enforcement is clearly evident. Although black and Latino drivers are less likely than white to be carrying drug and other contraband the majority of car pulled over are the cars of black and Latino divers. The racial profiling is just one reason for the disproportionate black and Latino prison population.
Life after incarceration, here today gone tomorrow. 95% of adults sentenced to prison will return to our communities, and reentry will be their first step back into society. Imagine have a thousand questions flooding one’s mind all at once. Where will I live, how will I survive, and contribute to the family, while maintaining to the stipulations of one’s parole/ probation, without risking freedom. The number one goal for those newly released back into society by way of the reentry program is to never return to the inside of a prison cell.
The United States prison system has seen a significant rise in prisoners over the past few decades. Currently, the rate of incarceration outweighs the rate of new cells being built. Because of this, prisons become more crowded every day. Crowded prisons fester with hate and pent-up aggression. Those who step out of line are met with swift discipline usually in the form of solitary confinement.
The term prison reentry has been used to describe the process of offenders returning home after a prison or jail confinement. The problem posed by offenders being released from a penal institution and struggling to successfully transition back into society is complicated. As a result, significant changes are needed in regards to offenders reentering back into the community. The task of addressing the issue at hand is what level the current problem is dominant and how to eliminate this tug of war. Furthermore, the challenge concerned by communities of offender reentry is how to make this transition from custody to the community as safe as possible.
By describing his feeling in jail, Raemisch represents that the condition in isolated prisons gradually but severely erodes and damages inmates’ mind. He cites Terry Kupers’ research and research from the 1980s to emphasize and validate his claim
Specific Purpose Statement: To invite my audience to see the different viewpoints involved with life after prison in the U.S. Thesis: Those who were once in incarceration live with the title of being a former convict the rest of their life. I wish to explore their lives after incarceration and I hope to find the differing opinions some of you may have on those that have re-joined our community. Pattern of Organization: Multiple Perspective Pattern Introduction [Attention-Getter] How would you feel knowing you were standing behind a convict in line at a grocery store?