Preparation for Release

Articles describing restorative justice programmes whose objective is to prepare prisoners (and sometimes their families, victims and/or communities) for release.

Editor. Released Sex offenders: Circles of support or a drive out of town?

Near the top of any list of concerns for citizens is the return to the community of sex offenders whose warrants of committal have expired and who can no longer be legally held in prison. Many have been literally driven out of the communities in which they have tried to settle. Here we reprint from the CBC ideas series, "Prison and Its Alternatives", a discussion on a circle of support for one such offender in Toronto. Rev. Hugh Kirkrgaard is a Correctional Service of Canada community chaplain and CCJC member. Rev. Sally Boyles is a Toronto pastor and chair of the Inter-Faith Committee on Chaplaincy. (excerpt)

Walker, Lorenn. Modified restorative circles: a reintegration group planning process that promotes desistance .

This article describes the Modified Circle process and its potential for increasing criminal desistance with the aim of influencing corrections programs to use the process. A Modified Restorative Circle is a group process for an incarcerated individual to plan for meeting his or her needs for a successful reintegration back into the community. The process is similar to the Restorative Circle process except no loved ones participate during the Modified Circle, which other incarcerated people attend instead. The process is solution-focused and promotes desistance from crime for both the individual having the Modified Circle and the participating incarcerated people. Qualitative evidence shows the process successfully assists incarcerated people in rescripting their life stories; assists them in developing plans for reconciling with loved ones and the community; and helps them find ways to meet their other needs for a positive life and successful reintegration. (excerpt)

Hook, Melissa And Seymour, Anne. Offender reentry requires attention to victim safety

In this article Hook and Seymour address issues concerning the rights and safety of victims when offenders leave prison and reenter societ

Healing and "Collateral Damage": Prison is above all about loss

from the entry on Prison Culture: About three weeks ago, I was privileged to keep a circle for the family of a young man who is serving a recently-imposed sentence of 7 years in prison. I am friendly with the young man’s sister and she was the one who asked me to organize a healing circle for the family. I was really blessed that a friend of mine who is a wonderful circle keeper partnered with me. The key to keeping a good circle is preparation and it took us almost a month to set this one up. We had to talk to everyone who was going to participate before we could actually keep the circle. After speaking to everyone involved, it became clear to us that the main emotions that folks wanted to process were grief and anger. I want to talk a bit about both.

Jailbrake weekend

from their website: Jailbrake is a competition to find and support great ideas that could break the cycle of youth offending using simple web and mobile tools. Whether that’s about helping more young people access services and support, or giving them a way of staying safe. We’re looking for people who have an idea about how to slow down and stop the cycle of youth offending – whether you’re part of a youth offending team, a service user, police officer or a member of a local community – with people who can make their ideas idea a reality. ....From January to March 2010, we ran a call for ideas to find great new ideas to slow down and stop the cycle of youth offending using simple web and mobile tools. A grand total of 50 very early stage ideas were submitted to Jailbrake and we chose just six that we saw the greatest potential to build at the Jailbrake weekend, 26th-28th March 2010. So here are our six ideas:

Huikahi Restorative Circles: A public health approach for reentry planning

from the article by Lorenn Walker and Rebecca Greening in Federal Probation: ....The Huikahi Restorative Circle is a group process for reentry planning that involves the incarcerated individual, his or her family and friends, and at least one prison representative. The process was developed in 2005 in collaboration with two community-based organizations—the Hawai’i Friends of Civic &Law Related Education and the Community Alliance on Prisons—and the Waiawa Correctional Facility located on the island of O’ahu.

. Restorative practices in Hungary: An ex-prisoner is reintegrated into the community.

As the representative of Community Service Foundation of Hungary, the Hungarian affiliate of the International Institute for Restorative Practices (IIRP), I participated in a group session of the Hungarian Crime Prevention and Prison Mission Foundation in summer 2009 (Sycamore Tree Project — www.pfi.org/cjr/stp/introduction — or Zacchaeus Program in Hungary). There I met the governor of Balassagyarmat prison, where inmates were working in groups on issues related to their crimes and exploring ways to repair relationships they had damaged. Some inmates began accepting responsibility for what they had done and were motivated to make things right and earn forgiveness of victims and their families. Prisoners made symbolic reparation in the form of community service within the prison, but there was still a lot to do to create opportunities for offenders to make contact with victims and shed the stigma of their offense by means of direct reparation. Also, prison management believed it important to support processes,acceptable to victimized families and communities, to help prisoners regain control of their lives and prevent reoffending.(excerpt)

Hurley, Martha Henderson. Restorative practices in institutional settings and at release: victim wrap around programs.

While earlier efforts to increase victim involvement emphasized changes within early stages of the criminal justice system, recent efforts have emphasized the need for greater involvement of victims within institutional settings and during the reentry process. The most recent avenue of exploration for policy changes within institutional environments that include victims’ perspectives has been the desire to implement restorative justice practices within institutional settings for adult offenders (see information available from The Pennsylvania Prison Society at http://www. prisonsociety.org/progs/rj.shtml). In addition to the push for implementation of restorative practices behind prison walls, several state correctional systems have incorporated victim wrap around services within the parole process. The next section discusses the literature and reviews some of the programs that have been developed as part of restorative justice practices behind prison walls and victim wrap around services incorporated into the reentry process for inmates. (excerpt)

Huikahi Restorative Circles: Group process for self-directed reentry planning and family healing

from Lorenn Walker's article in European Journal of Probation: ....The Huikahi Circle is a facilitated reentry planning group process for individual incarcerated people, their invited supporters, and at least one prison representative. The incarcerated person determines what they want and the group helps her determine how best to achieve her goals. It can result in better outcomes for people leaving prison or drug treatment programs than case planning and case management where professionals make decisions for others.

. Enhancing the career development of individuals who have criminal records.

Large numbers of individuals are involved in the criminal justice system. Upon release, most have difficulty finding employment and stabilizing economic resources, which contribute to recidivism. To date, the role of work in the lives of ex-offenders has virtually been ignored in the vocational literature. The purpose of this article is to increase awareness of this group by highlighting vocational implications of having a criminal record; reviewing existing interventions demonstrated to be beneficial (e.g., teaching skills prior to release, restorative justice interventions); and providing suggestions to more readily include this group in future practice, research, and policy. (Author's abstract)

Parole Camp

from the entry by Maanda Ntsandeni on Aljazeera: ....My journey to making Parole Camp began four years ago when a friend, Andrew May, invited me to South Africa's Pollsmoor Prison. Andrew, an American studying for his Masters of Law degree, was running a class on the Restorative Justice System for inmates approaching their release. Like many South Africans frustrated by the country's soaring crime rates, I was deeply prejudiced towards anybody who had served time in prison - choosing to focus on my belief that they deserved punishment while overlooking the fact that they had served their dues behind bars.

Saulis, Malcolm and Howse, Yvonne and Fiddler, Sid and Saulis, Malcolm. Release Potential of Federally-Sentenced Aboriginal Inmates to Communities.

Specific study objectives were to identify community-based correctional initiatives; to examine perceptions, attitudes, and values of First Nation community people toward offenders and their release; to evaluate the possibility of using community-based initiatives to monitor, facilitate, and sustain release; to identify healing initiatives within correctional institutions and community-based restorative justice initiatives for Aboriginals; and to analyze the return of Federal offenders in the community context. Interviews were conducted with 62 persons from the five communities using individual household questionnaires; 69 percent of respondents were between 30 and 50 years of age, and 77 percent were females. Needs identified for offenders who had been released from prisons were elder counseling, traditional cultural guidance and healing circles, and structural transition programs for both offenders and the community. Most respondents also mentioned emotional support as an important need. Programs and services that were coordinated, integrative, and holistic were identified by many respondents. Interviews with 34 key informants indicated offenders who had been released from prison faced barriers and competition for employment, education, and training in their communities. Interviews with 15 elders showed elders saw their role as providing services for Aboriginal offenders who were released from prison and wanted to reintegrate into the community. Participants in community circles and focus groups supported offender reintegration efforts and initiatives to restore balance in the community, with the exception of violent and dangerous sex offenders. Released offenders said the transitional phase of release was the most difficult, and most offenders currently in prison recommended various support systems to keep Aboriginal people out of prison. Abstract courtesy of National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.org

Holmes, Joan. Another Breach in the Wall

Joan Holmes has served Nottingham Prison (England) for many years as a teacher and a member of the chaplaincy team. Here she reflects on the Community Prison Chaplaincy Scheme in Canada and the prospect of its transposition to England. The Community Prison Chaplaincy Scheme began in Canada at the initiative of the Reverend Doctor Pierre Allard. The purpose is to provide continuing chaplaincy services for those released from prison. Holmes sketches the nature of the scheme, with particular emphasis on the importance of building relationships, first between the chaplain and the ex-prisoner, and second between the chaplain and the community where the ex-prisoner is expected to reintegrate into society.

What's next for Minnesota's ex-cons?

from Rubén Rosario's article on TwinCities.com: What does it really take to keep a person from going back to prison? Let's see. Resources that work, perhaps faith and prayers, a change in peers or environment, and, most important of all, the willingness and commitment of the offender to do what it takes to make that change. ....Given that up to 95 percent of offenders eventually return to society, we need to do better. According to one major study, two-thirds of offenders are arrested again within three years of their release. In Minnesota, up to 36 percent of offenders are sent back to prison for a felony within three years of release, pretty much mirroring the national situation. ....Minnesota's Comprehensive Offender Reentry Plan (MCORP) was devised five years ago and funded three years ago to help cut the recidivism rate.