10 Tips To Help a Family Member Reintegrate After Prison Release

Building healthy relationships after incarceration can be challenging. As a returning citizen, job opportunities are pretty limited. Most business employers are hesitant to hire employees with a criminal record. Some states impose employment restrictions on offenders whether convicted of a crime or not.

A 2003 survey conducted by the Urban Institute noticed that only 40 percent of employers were willing to hire a formerly apprehended individual. In addition, those who spend time in prison may have limited education or employment history. Therefore, competing for a job becomes more difficult.

These issues often result in released convicts finding employment in low-skilled waged jobs. Some of these ex-prisoners are required to pay for specific penalties after their release, like parole fees. Altogether, this can make it extremely difficult to support their families and themselves. This will lead to increased recidivism.

However, there are tips to help former prisoners reintegrate into society. The tips also help reduce recidivism rates:

Addressing Reentry Needs

After release, the offender is likely to face survival challenges of basic needs. Here are some of the necessities that you should consider in the context of the release planning process:

Basic Needs

Transportation – for those without family members to meet them at the prison gates or DOC drops off point.
Provide clothing, food, and financial resources – to support them during their first few days of freedom.
Proper identification and documentation – for inmates may not have had them when they first entered the prison.

Housing: Establish temporary or transitional housing to spend the very first night they are released from prison. Most ex-prisoners cannot afford an apartment of their own.

Employment and Education: Employment is the most significant barrier an ex-prisoner experiences when reintegrating into society. Correctional facilities should ensure to pass appropriate referrals and assessments on former inmate’s literacy and vocational skill levels to facilitate the process of getting and maintaining a job.

Health Care: Substance abuse programs should be established to attend to returning prisoners’ immediate medical needs. You should put support systems in place to ensure a positive lifestyle and behavior.

Future Reentry Release Plans

All federal and private based correctional facilities should establish clear plans during incarceration that gives prisoners time to settle into life outside prison. Here are some of the critical things to consider during release planning:

Planning to help ex-convicts make realistic plans for the first several weeks outside prison.
Identify and locate resources to ex-convicts from governments agencies, NGOs, churches, and so forth. Educate them through application procedures, location of offices, hours of operation, and qualification requirements.
Ex-prisoners always encounter problems when they return to society. To stay out of trouble, they should collaborate with the surrounding circumstances likely to draw them into trouble. This holds the promise for facilitating the successful delivery of post-release services.
Find help as some problems require special attention, such as mental or physical illnesses, substance and drug addictions, and other technical issues they encounter.

Establishing Constructive Relationships

Building constructive relationships is very important to many prisoners that have broken relationships. They could have caused harm to their friends and loved ones, and that led to their imprisonment.

Here are some of the things that can help ex-prisoners to gain trust in their society:

Develop Community Programs

Communities should develop programs that can support and sustain ex-prisoners during their reintegration into society. Prison Fellowship Ministries can make these programs work well. They can serve ex-offenders and encourage them to gain the trust of their community by being given a second chance.

Reunite With Family and Loved Ones

Trying to re-establish the relationship to the norm could be challenging. Since communication is vital, loved ones should send letters, make telephone calls, and pay visits during prisoner transition. This might increase the chances of ex-offenders returning to destructive and anti-social relationships.

Find and Recruit Mentors

Based on the belief that mentors can make a difference in the re-entry of the ex-prisoners back into society, hiring them sounds worth it. The advantage that comes with mentors is that they have a confidential policy that protects ex-prisoners from challenges to re-enter their communities successfully.

Studies show that mentorship from a well-trained mentor accounts for successful reentry of ex-prisoners to the community and reduces recidivism.

Benefits of Re-entry Mentoring Over In-Prison Mentoring:

You can meet with your mentor at any time and place of convenience.
There is no feeling of being vulnerable and overwhelmed as what happens in In-prison mentorship.
Prisoner’s privacy is guaranteed.

Focus on Socializing With Loved Ones

Here are some of the ways you can establish a positive social experience with a former prisoner to help them adjust to life outside prison:

You should facilitate the social reintegration of offenders within the society rather than subjecting them to unnecessary de-socializing.
Establish treatment for substance and drug addicts.
Refer them to an educational, working, or personal development center.
Oblige ex-offenders to undertake unpaid and voluntary work beneficial to the community.
Acknowledge and repay the damage ex-prisoners caused to the community that sent them to jail.

Assessing the Strengths and Weaknesses

To effectively plan and prepare for the reentry of your ex-prisoner requires an honest evaluation of their strengths and weaknesses. We can create an inventory framework to help inmates prepare reasonable plans before returning to society.

State agencies should partner and integrate these strengths-based approaches. This reduces offender-relapse rates back to prison so that they can enjoy a real second life chance. Returning them to jail due to minor infractions does not help but adds a burden on their upkeep at the prisons.

Evidence-Based Practices

For the United States probation officers, responsibilities are significant since there’s a lot at stake. The Administrative Office of the United States Courts developed the Post Conviction Risk Assessment (PCRA) tool that helps to improve the effectiveness of post-conviction supervision on offenders.

PCRA enables probationary officers to pinpoint which inmates to target for corrective interventions. It determines features that will mitigate future criminal behavior and how best they can deliver supervision to offenders. The tool is an Evidence-Based Practices (EBP) that primarily guides you to decide about what level of risk the offender can pose. You can then determine what interventions to introduce to reduce recidivism rates.

There are many risk assessment tools available, but none of them has comparable offender data like PCRA. Studies show that these data-driven tools provide more accurate, empirical, value-neutral, and consistent data for decision-making rather than relying solely on probation officers’ stereotypes and intuition.

The use of risk assessment tools does not throw out the experience of probationary officers. Studies show that effective interventions in community corrections adhere to three principles:

Risk principle – the higher the risk of recidivism, the more the supervision. The lower risk of recidivism, the less need for supervision.
Need principle – the targets for criminogenic needs should be factors related to offending.
Responsivity principle – interventions should involve treatment capable of changing the offender’s rate of recidivism.

Residential Substance Abuse Treatment

The U.S criminal justice system is expanding its ability to address substance use and addictions rather than simply convicting individuals. When inmates are out of prison, they have a chance to confront drug abuse for a new start. Some other life actions that landed them in custody might continue to hamper them as free individuals. The assistance would be better if started during incarceration.

We should establish a vast array of jobs in the treatment and recovery realm. It will help treat those in prisons with substance-use disorders before sending them to incarceration. Peer mentorship also plays a significant role in the treatment process. Ex-prisoners attend appointments with helping counselors who provide practical ideas to curb and reduce addiction rates. Mentors often establish a deeper level of connection with clients. They can relate their emotions and the challenges they might be facing.

The primary role of the Peer Mentorship Program is to have an opportunity to turn negative experiences positive. It gives addicts a chance for a better future.

Provides In-Prison Educational and Vocational Training

In-prison education and vocational training enable inmates to garner skills required for seeking employment in society. Providing inmates with job opportunities and education during incarceration not only prepares them for release but rejoin society as law-abiding, productive citizens.

Prison programming, as it is called, should start from the first intake day of the prisoner. Inmates who do not have a high school diploma are required to attend classes up to eighth-grade equivalency. Most are encouraged to work towards their GED certification.

Transitional Housing to Give Ex-Prisoners Structured Living Environments as They Reenter Society

Limited finances make it difficult to afford a home. Housing policies can ban ex-prisoners from renting apartments. In many instances, ex-prisoners end up homeless. A 2018 report done by the Federal Prison Policy Initiative found that ex-prisoners were almost ten times more likely to be homeless than the general population. Studies show that housing insecurity is a significant reason ex-prisoners return to prison.

The first month after ex-prisoners are out of prison is critical for inmates with no families trying to adapt to life after prison. You can support your loved ones in getting out of jail by providing them with temporary or transitional housing.

Conclusion

Prisoners released from jails have had challenges trying to help themselves reintegrate into society in decades. The rate of recidivism is higher, and prison needs are more significant than ever. Things might not go smoothly but always be realistic through the transition of your loved one.

When your loved one is released, you should be available to know they have support when reentering the community. Plan everything to enable a positive reintegration. If you want to get assistance, you should know where to help follow up with transitioning requirements.