Recidivism, Rehabilitation & Shawshank Redemption
In 1994’s Shawshank Redemption, long-time prisoner Brooks Hatlen (played by veteran actor James Whitmore) is paroled, turned loose into the free world and ends up overwhelmed by society after decades of guidance and structure provided by the penitentiary. A liberated but defeated man, Brooks writes in his suicide note:
“I have trouble sleepin’at night. I have bad dreams like I'm falling. I wake up scared. Sometimes it takes me a while to remember where I am. Maybe I should get me a gun, an, an rob the Foodway so they'd send me home. I could shoot the manager while I was at it, sort of like a bonus. I guess I'm too old for that sort of nonsense anymore. I don't like it here. I'm tired of being afraid all the time. I've decided not to stay. I doubt they'll kick up any fuss. Not for an old crook like me.”
It’s a sad story for a movie, sure, but it’s not just theatrics – here in the real world, one in every 100 American men is imprisoned. Each year, nearly 650,000 men and women are released from prison only to face a myriad of hurdles in reentering their communities; in fact, nearly two-thirds of released prisoners are reincarcerated within three years. Why? Because these men and women often have no one to turn to and no means of reintegrating themselves into their communities. Instead, they return to the lives they know – in prison.
This week, the Senate passed the Second Chance Act, which seeks to reduce recidivism by authorizing funding to prepare prisoners for successful community re-entry and to help former prisoners find housing, employment, education and health care. The House passed the same bill in November, and it’s now headed to the Oval Office, where it awaits the President’s signature.
Second Chance Act sponsor Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) has called the prison door, “more often than not, a revolving door” due to a lack of institutional and community support for struggling ex-prisoners. May this bill be a step in the right direction toward closing the door once and for all on individuals’ lives of crime – and opening new doors for them as successful, rehabilitated members of society.
It’s a sad story for a movie, sure, but it’s not just theatrics – here in the real world, one in every 100 American men is imprisoned. Each year, nearly 650,000 men and women are released from prison only to face a myriad of hurdles in reentering their communities; in fact, nearly two-thirds of released prisoners are reincarcerated within three years. Why? Because these men and women often have no one to turn to and no means of reintegrating themselves into their communities. Instead, they return to the lives they know – in prison.
This week, the Senate passed the Second Chance Act, which seeks to reduce recidivism by authorizing funding to prepare prisoners for successful community re-entry and to help former prisoners find housing, employment, education and health care. The House passed the same bill in November, and it’s now headed to the Oval Office, where it awaits the President’s signature.
Second Chance Act sponsor Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) has called the prison door, “more often than not, a revolving door” due to a lack of institutional and community support for struggling ex-prisoners. May this bill be a step in the right direction toward closing the door once and for all on individuals’ lives of crime – and opening new doors for them as successful, rehabilitated members of society.