A big figure of the people who are released from prison are incarcerated once more within a short period of clip. Ex-prisoners confront many jobs in the attempt to be reintegrated into society. These jobs include a deficiency of societal support, inability to derive entree to critical resources and services, the opposition of the community, deficiency of instruction, and deficiency of equal occupation readying. These factors make it hard for ex-prisoners to set to life in the community and thereby increase the hazard that they will return to a life of offense. There are certain things that prison curates can make to assist captives make a successful passage to life on the exterior. Prison curates can be involved in plans that help fix captives through instruction and preparation. Curates can supply captives with support during the reentry procedure. In add-on, they can construct relationships in the community that serve as “ Bridgess ” for captives when they make the alteration from life in prison to life in the general population. Prison curates can besides assist captives reintegrate by be givening to their religious demands.
Prison provides a topographic point for wrongdoers to pay their debt to society by being punished for the offenses they have committed. Ideally, prison will rehabilitate wrongdoers so they can be reintegrated into society after being released. The alternate to reintegration is for captives to return to a life of offense. Ex-prisoners face many challenges in the attempt to accomplish successful reentry into society. Some of these challenges are related to the material things that people need in order to last. Released captives frequently find it hard to obtain occupations, lodging and the other necessities of life. Other challenges are related to a deficiency of societal support. In order to be efficaciously reintegrated into society, ex-prisoners need positive signifiers of support and encouragement from household members, friends or others in the community. This paper will analyze the possible jobs that might happen during reintegration after prison. The paper will stress the position of the prison curate. There are several things that prison curates can make to assist captives make the passage to community life after their release.
The Problems Associated with Reintegration
In the United States, about 700,000 people are released from prison each twelvemonth ( Hesse, 2009 ) . It has been estimated that every bit many as 75 per centum of these people will be incarcerated once more within four old ages after their release ( Rabey, 1999 ) . This is a job known as recidivism. One ground for the high rate of recidivism is because many ex-prisoners lack societal support. For illustration, during long prison footings, wrongdoers frequently lose contact with household members. This is debatable because “ contact with household members is believed to ease reintegration into the community ” ( Lynch & A ; Sabol, 2001, p. 2 ) . If ex-prisoners do non hold the caring support of household members, they need to be able to acquire societal support from a different beginning, such as friends, a community-based support group, or a church family. A deficiency of support frequently leads to ex-prisoners tie ining with their former friends in the condemnable universe. In the words of Hesse ( 2009 ) , “ because many released inmates will non hold solid fond regards to household or community, they will most likely return to old vicinities where their really presence may endanger to interrupt their success ” ( p. 64 ) .
Further troubles are raised by feelings of fright and favoritism among the members of the community. Communities are frequently immune to the presence of ex-prisoners because of their concerns for public safety ( Lynch & A ; Sabol, 2001 ) . When ex-prisoners arrive in the community, they do so “ with condemnable labels that limit their ability to procure lodging, intervention services, and employment ” ( Pogorzelski, et al. , 2005, p. 1718 ) . Clearly, ex-prisoners will non be able to reintegrate into society unless they are able to obtain occupations that provide them with adequate income to back up themselves. In add-on to the trouble of obtaining a occupation because of the “ condemnable label, ” “ there may be competition between returning captives and public assistance departers for occupations ” ( Lynch & A ; Sabol, 2001, p. 19 ) . Furthermore, ex-prisoners are frequently forced to take low-paying, low-skill occupations. As noted by Lynch & A ; Sabol ( 2001 ) , “ the low wage of these occupations enhances the possibility that engagement in bastard, income-producing activities will increase ” ( p. 19 ) .
Former inmates face these sorts of challenges despite the transition of the federal jurisprudence known as the Second Chance Act of 2005. The intent of this statute law is to guarantee that ex-prisoners receive the services that they need when they reenter society. Harmonizing to the findings in a survey by Pogorzelski, et Al. ( 2005 ) , the Second Chance Act has done small to relieve the challenges faced by former captives in the attempt to derive entree to lodging, public aid and other necessary resources. These research workers have found that there are “ unseeable penalties ” built into the policies and plans that are supposed to assist ex-prisoners reintegrate into society. For illustration, local Torahs frequently place restrictions on the ability of former captives to make full out occupation applications, get lodging or receive public aid. As stated by Pogorzelski, et Al. ( 2005 ) , these Torahs “ are, in consequence, exclusionary public policies that regulate reentry experiences and, in kernel, perpetuate penalty after release by delegating particular conditions or prohibitions on people with felony strong beliefs ” ( p. 1718 ) . As claimed by Hesse ( 2009 ) , “ many will return to offense to back up themselves because handiness to societal services and other supports may non be available ” ( p. 64 ) .
Another ground why reintegration attempts frequently fail is because wrongdoers do non have the readying that they need when they are still in prison. Many people in prison have jobs affecting such things as mental unwellness or substance maltreatment ( Pogorzelski, et al. , 2005 ) . The prison system does non supply equal intervention for these sorts of jobs. In add-on, captives do non by and large receive the sort of occupation preparation that they need in order to be able to win in outside life. As noted by Lynch & A ; Sobel ( 2001 ) , a big figure of released captives “ reenter society non holding participated in educational, vocational, or pre-release plans ” ( p. 2 ) . The deficiency of instruction and occupation preparation contributes to the high recidivism rate among ex-prisoners. There is grounds demoing that captives tend to be “ far less educated than the general population ” ( Hesse, 2009, p. 64 ) . For ex-prisoners, a deficiency of instruction and preparation can intend a low-paying occupation or no occupation at all. This, in bend, increases the hazard of released captives neglecting to accomplish reintegration into the community and returning to a life of offense.
Prison Ministry and Reintegration
Prison curates can play an of import function in assisting captives fix for life after their release. For illustration, curates can set up for captives to have occupation preparation or educational services. Curates can besides assist captives make the passage to community life by being supportive and lovingness. However, captives need more than this in order to win in the reintegration procedure. Sing the bounds of prison ministry, McRoberts ( 2002 ) notes that “ spiritualty may assist people survive the adversities and absurdnesss of captivity, but life on the outside poses a radically different experiential challenge ” ( p. 2 ) . Rabey ( 1999 ) agrees that prison curates need to put more accent on “ aftercare ” and the reintegration of captives into communities and churches after their release ( p. 27 ) . A job is created by the fact that many church members are immune to the thought of supplying big sums of aid to former captives ( McRoberts, 2002, p. 7 ) . To turn to this job, prison curates need to work at constructing relationships with community curates and to thereby beef up the “ span ” between prison life and community life.
Prison curates besides have a critical function to play in assisting captives adjust themselves spiritualty to what life will be like after their release. As Rabey ( 1999 ) points out, prison ministries have shifted their attending “ from penalty to salvation, and from retaliatory justness to ‘restorative justness ‘ ” ( p. 27 ) . In order to accomplish successful reintegration, captives need to see a sense of healing and Restoration.
Decision
As discussed in this paper, assorted factors create challenges for ex-prisoners in their attempt to be reintegrated into society. These factors include a deficiency of societal support, community opposition, the inability to acquire a nice occupation, deficiency of entree to necessary services, and a low degree of instruction. The challenges faced by ex-prisoners greatly increase the hazard of recidivism. Prison ministries can play a function in assisting ex-prisoners make a successful passage to community life. Prison curates can assist fix captives for life on the exterior while they are still in prison. They can work with community curates to supply a span to life on the exterior. They can do attempts to be certain that ex-prisoners will have the resources and societal support that they need to last in the community. In add-on, prison curates can lend to the reintegration procedure by be givening to the religious demands of captives as they prepare for their reentry into society.
