Getting On After Getting Out
Andrew Oh Willeke has this post up at Colorado Confidential (Freed To Fail) that he posted last Saturday after our CLE. Excellent reporting Andrew! Thank you!!
Being in prison isn't easy, but leaving it can be even harder. The stereotypes aren't far from the truth. You walk out of prison after years of having everything you need provided at state expense with $100, a bus ticket, and a parole officer to call. You also have an expensive parole regime to comply with at your own expense, and have to find a place to live and a job, despite your status as a recently released ex-felon. The state also imposes its own Catch-22 requirements upon you.Read the Entire Article at Colorado ConfidentialSeveral specific bureaucratic hurdles facing released inmates, that make leaving a life of crime much harder, but would be inexpensive to fix, were discussed by Governor Ritter's new division of criminal justice director at a public forum on Friday....
Given all this, is it any wonder that a large percentage of inmates released on parole end up violating their conditions of parole, either technically or by returning to a life of crime?
Even the officials charged with running the system know that the process of transitioning inmates to the community is broken.
At the federal level, re-entry legislation has bipartisan support. Similar bipartisan efforts look likely to come out of Terrance Carroll's HB 1358 commission in the near future.
But, until then, parolees, their families and their friends might be best advised to turn to another source. Christie Donner, who heads the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition and previously authored the book Parenting From Prison, has a new title coming out in the next month. It is titled Getting On After Getting Out. It can't solve the Catch-22 problems that are currently part of the system by design, but it can, at least, provide some guidance to those who would like the navigate a path to freedom that doesn't fail.
1 comment:
this system is worse then broken ,it is a complete and disrespectful way to treat a human being,felony or not these people are human and deserve humane treatment,our officals at the d.o.c. have known these problems for along time and as you leave cell house 5 in canon they laugh at you and say we will be seeing you soon,youll be back .....this as we know happens over and over ,with none of our state officals seriously trying to help ,its funny to hear about this new commission thats going to fix everything when they decline to ask the ex-cons who have succeded in becoming citizens again ,there needs to be input from real convicts ,not lawmakers who dont know a thing about getting out of prison .ex-cons who have made it out are a rare breed who have a lot of good ideas these lawmakers should seriuosly take a look at ,we are asking to help but we recieve no replys....charles tayl
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