Leaving prison is hard enough without added challenges
It’s hard to imagine what it’s like for someone who’s been in prison, but you’d think it would be easier for a prisoner once they’ve been released.
But reacclimating to society is full of pitfalls.
Many people find themselves in prison following an act of desperation. A run of hard luck sinks someone to what they think is rock bottom, only to find there’s a trap door that lands them in prison.
They do their time, get out on good behavior, and have every intention of turning their life around.
But here come the pitfalls, as detailed in an Eagle report by staff writer Steve Ferris in the Thursday edition.
Butler County Prison warden Beau Sneddon arranged the free reentry simulation training, which was conducted by a group of volunteers from the state Department of Corrections and the state Board of Probation and Parole, which were combined into one department 2021. The daylong training session was held at St. Michael the Archangel Roman Catholic Church — All Saints Parish in Butler.
Sneddon said he learned a lot when he attended a reentry training program last year, and wanted to bring the program to the county.
Aaron Lopez, Northwestern parole manager, told the county trainees some people released from prison are not treated well by the offices and agencies they go to for help to get their lives back on track.
This, of course, only makes a bad situation worse.
People in those jobs should consider making an extra phone call or taking an extra step to help former inmates reenter society without feeling they have no choice but to revert to crime, said Lopez, who led the training exercise.
According to a report from the Harvard Political Review, the U.S. has among the highest recidivism rates in the world, at 76%.
While it’s difficult to pinpoint any one reason for such a statistic, the civil servants responsible for helping those recently released could be a key to improving the statistic. People who feel discarded from society are not likely to feel worse when they are treated with dignity and respect, especially from the people the government tells them to rely on.
— RJ
