Programs That Help Convicts Return Of The Community

Many offenders who are released from prison encounter many obstacles which hinder their progress towards community re-entry. On their own, many fail to secure employment, housing, or complete education or training programs. Without guidance or assistance many offenders return to crime to support themselves. Fortunately there are number of organizations that see the need for services to assist offenders on their path back into the community. One such organization that has proven to be successful is the Safer Foundation.

Another report from the National Institute of Justice claimed that illiteracy was the primary cause of crime. And it’s no wonder; if one cannot learn, where can he or she turn in order to survive? A recent study of juvenile offenders placed them, on average, at a third grade reading level. Jobs were simply not an option; they simply did not have, and could not learn, the necessary skills. And thus they were absorbed into the gangs, and the attendant drugs and crime. Higher education in penitentiaries used to be ordinary, but in 1994 Congress eliminated federal funding for inmates to go to college and many programs were abolished. The reasons were: why should the government give free college educations to inmates when there are so many unconvicted students who cannot afford it? One of the best ways to rehabilitate criminals is through educating them while they are in prison, but most people do not want to pay for prisoners to go to college when even they have trouble coming up with money for their own kid’s education. We’re hung up on solving problems by “Getting Tough” and place too little value on “Getting Smart.” Not only must we educate the prisoners, we must also take the time to educate the police officers. We must begin this educational rehabilitation process by rating the prisons the same way we rate our schools: By their success rate.

Education has played a prominent role in our correctional institutions over time. Unfortunately, there are many prisons which have failing programs with high drop-out rates, poor participation, and weak or non-existent postrelease support. In addition, funding cuts in all levels of government have forced many to reduce their offerings or close programs altogether. It has become apparent that there are

The article "The Impact of Career and Technical Education Programs on Adult Offenders: Learning Behind Bars" by Howard Gordon and Bracie Weldon (2003) studies of how prisoners receiving educations in prison reduces the recidivism rate. Gordon and Weldon studied the inmates who were participating in the educational programs at the Huttonsville Correctional Center in West Virginia and claimed that inmates who participated in the educational programs were less likely to recidivate once released back into the population as compared to inmates who did not participate in these programs (Gordon & Weldon, 2003). This study provides valuable information as to the effectiveness of educational programs in prison and how they affect prisoner's lives

There are numerous programs available for inmates who are incarcerated, and the individuals who capitalize on these programs show subsequent improvement after being released. However, these programs only help those prisoners who are willing to change. While incarcerated in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, or BOP, there are numerous programs inmates can take advantage of that will help them in a variety of fields such as, “Education and Vocational Training, English-as-a-Second Language Program, Drug Abuse Education, Sex Offender Treatment Programs – Nonresidential, Skills Programs,” and more (Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2015). On the educational side, the BOP offers a program called the Bureau Literacy Program (Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2015).

Society has often struggled with how to help prisoners once they are released back into civilization. The number of prisoners in the American prison population has grown considerably in the last couple of decades. For many prisoners the process of arrest, incarceration and release is a continuous cycle, there is very little hope of them living in civilization for a long period of time. There is also a high a retention rate of the returning offenders. A large portion of these prisoners are minorities of African Americans and Hispanics face more time in jail or prison is extremely high. The success rate of offenders is measured by how long one can avoid being incarcerated and not by being reintegrated into civilization. These issues have become a national crisis in Joan Petersilia book titled “When Prisoners come home: Parole and prisoner reentry,” she address these issues head on. The main purpose of this book focuses on how to help prisoners once they have been released out of prison. Petersilia gives efforts for future reform to alter the in prison experience, change prison release, revocation practices, revise post prison services and supervision as well as a working with the community to enhance informal social control. These are efforts that represent a better policy towards reform of prisoners and re-entry in the system. The book goes into great detail about the suggestions Petersilia makes and why it is necessary for change.

Many criminals are sent to jail on a day to day basis. Once they have completed their sentence they are faced with many problems once they are “free”. These problems can be but are not limited to housing, employment, and substance abuse. The prisoner, once they are released, has a tendency to go back to their old ways and to continue the life of crime they were a part of prior to prison. To avoid this, while a prisoner is in prison, the staff creates a reentry program for the prisoner. The reentry program takes affect once the prisoner leaves prison. These programs are created within the community to help the offender from committing new crimes and to integrate them back into society. These programs are also created to help with

Many correctional education programs focus on prisoner’s way of thinking and ability to make decisions. One of the many reasons criminals keep returning to prison is because they are often times released after many years of being incarcerated and have no assistance while returning to society. Correctional education programs are designed to eliminate such way of thinking so prison re-entry rate will drop. Programs such as Preparing Inmates for Re-Entry through Assistance, Training, and Employment Skills (PIRATES) are developed to reduce offenders’ negative career thoughts and teach essential skills in order to return back to society (Musgrove, Derzis, Shippen, & Brigman, 2012). Additionally, such programs are not only beneficial to

Many prisoners cannot read or write above elementary school levels. The most common crimes committed by these inmates are robbery, burglary, automobile theft, drug trafficking, and shoplifting. Because of their poor educational backgrounds, their employment histories consist of mostly low wage jobs with frequent periods of unemployment. People must make a choice between long-term low income and the prospect of profitable crime. Gaining further education, of course, is another option, but classes can be expensive and time consuming. While education can provide the chance to get a better job, it does not always prevent crimes from being committed.0

Overall, the reintegration of prisoners has been a long standing problem in our justice system that has simply not been properly addressed. This issue poses a problem to the prison system, prisoners, and taxpayers in that the failure to rehabilitate inmate becomes a burden on all three. In order to combat this problem, we need to implement a national prisoner reintegration program that focuses heavily on equipping released prisoners with vocational assistance and support systems that are geared towards each individual’s success in transitioning back into society. From a feasibility standpoint, the costs of such program would be mild in comparison to its overwhelming benefits. For the most part, funding would come from reallocating money from the largely ineffective corrections department and would have little to no cost to the taxpayer and the resources such a labor can for be extended from preexisting programs already in place. Overall this issue influences every member of our society in one way, shape, or form, as citizens and taxpayers we need to advocate for this reintegration program because it ultimately reduces the societal burdens caused by recidivism

The prison population in the United States has been growing steadily for more over 30 years, a great portion of this population are returned offenders. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics reports, each year more than 650,000 offenders are released into communities with at least 5 million of the ex-offenders being under some form of community-based supervision (James, 2010). In an attempt to curtail the rate of recidivism, the Bureau of Prison contracts with Residential Reentry Centers (RRCs) to assist inmates approaching release. RRC’s provide safe, structured, supervised environment, as well as employment counseling, job placement and financial management assistance (Prisons, 2017).

Vivian Nixon’s article “During and After Incarceration, Education Changes Lives” argues higher education should be made available to current and formerly imprisoned individuals. Her main point is that, “Lawmakers should remove the obstacles that prevent convicted individuals from earning degrees during and after their sentences” (Nixon). Throughout the article, she discusses the value of education and how it reduces recidivism. While appealing to legislators who implement the law, the article is relevant to all readers.

Incarceration has been the primary means of punishment for criminals who have been convicted of felony offenses. While prisoners are serving the term of incarceration they face many difficult situations. Some of these situations can include committing new crimes within the system which could lead to prolonging the current sentencing. Those who are able to make parole after meeting the requirements set in place by the court are faced with new difficulties when trying to reintegrate in society. While inmates complete sentences ordered by the court, they have the opportunity to take advantage of Federal Aid including continued education, job skill training, employment opportunities and support programs. These programs are designed to lessen the struggle offenders’ face as they reintegrate into society by offering a positive direction upon their release. The overall goal is to achieve a reduction in the rate of recidivism.

A large number of incarcerated people leave the state and federal prisons every year. It becomes a major concern for federal, local, and state government when they reenter into the community. Most of these individuals do not fit into the community and after a short period of time, some of them would have committed new crimes or have violated terms in which they were released and thus re-incarcerated. This issue brings about many

Of the roughly seven hundred thousand individuals released from prison each year, a large majority are young men with less than a college education (Pager, Western & Sugie, 2009). Of these former