The Sentencing Project, a Washington, D.C -based nonprofit that deals with ending extreme sentences, expanding voting rights and promoting youth justice, has published a newly released report that examines the experience of those reentering society after long-term incarceration.
To prepare the report, Learning Life All Over Again: Reentry After Long-Term Imprisonment, a group of researchers interviewed 33 people who had been formerly incarcerated and were now living in California, Colorado, Louisiana, Nevada, New York, Oregon and Washington, DC. They were 40 to 67 years old and had served between 20 and 43 years. Collectively the interviewees had been incarcerated for 931 years.
Some had been out as little as three months at the time they were interviewed, while others had been released as long as 42 months previously. Five of them were women, who had been sentenced to a period of 60 years up to life without parole. The interviews lasted between one and 1-1/2 hours and those interviewed were asked 49 very detailed and, in some cases, thought provoking questions. And those questions are included at the end of the 47-page report. Each participant received a $100 gift card.
Levels of reported well-being
The report emphasizes that, “As the sentencing reform movement scales back extreme sentences, it is critical to understand the obstacles to returning home after decades of imprisonment.” And it is even more difficult for those who have been incarcerated for 20 years or more, have been away from their family and community and then thrust into a world that has changed dramatically during their absence.
Despite these challenges, participants reported varying levels of well-being:
- 45% were “thriving”
- 33% “surviving”
- and 21% “suffering
What the researchers discovered was that reentry success after long-term imprisonment depends more by how prisons prepare – or fail to prepare – people to reenter society than by individual choices. And for the most part they didn’t prepare them very well.
Challenges faced during reentry after long-term imprisonment
Respondents faced a variety of difficulties before and after release that kept them from successfully adjusting to their life in reentry. These are some of the major ones:
- Limited access to programing. Because of their long sentences, 81% of those interviewed said that they were put on long waiting lists or denied programming for such things as learning life skills, how to deal with trauma, education (GED and college courses) and learning a trade.
- Inadequate reentry planning. Little was done to help them plan their life after release. The prisons neither helped with gathering things like state IDs and birth certificates nor offered connections to critical services, including housing, healthcare and employment.
- Insufficient financial resources upon release. Only 18 respondents received gate money, ranging from $32 to $200. Some people did have a prison account balance, however, and this varied from just a few dollars to up to $5,000.
- Travel restrictions. Travel restrictions placed on those on probation or parole make it difficult to reconnect with family members, pursue some employment opportunities and perform certain jobs.
- Technology barriers. The most frequently cited obstacle was adapting to modern technology. After decades of incarceration, many participants had little experience using smartphones, computers, credit cards, online applications and/or digital services that are now essential to daily life.
- Employment challenges. They found a lack of information on how to find a job and explain the huge gap in their employment history. Prison vocational programs were also said to be very outdated and the certificates they earned useless on the outside.
Personal stories highlight the challenges
Learning Life All Over Again: Reentry After Long-Term Imprisonment offers insight into the reentry experience by telling the stories of some of the respondents.
One of these stories is about a Jamaican-born New Yorker who was offered early release if he chose to be deported to his country of birth. He did but then was sorry later, since he received no support and was not prepared for the difficulties he would face there.
Other stories tell what it was like for people to be out no matter where they were released to. And some of them describe how important their support networks – people and nonprofits – were to their success. Or the lack of it. One 64-year-old man confined to a wheelchair was released to the streets of New York without a place to live. After days of struggle, and thanks to help from a variety of nonprofits, he finally found a wheelchair accessible room, but it was far from ideal.
Recommendations for reentry improvement
Based on the knowledge gained through the work of its staff members and the interviews conducted for this report, The Sentencing Project has issued a series of recommendations in support of people returning home after long-term incarceration.
These include:
- Offering reentry programs that cater to those who have been incarcerated for a decade or longer, including dedicated programs for women, who may have different needs than men.
- Eliminating prison requirements to access rehabilitative programming based on the length of a person’s sentence, and expand educational, vocational and rehabilitative opportunities.
- Following the lead of Missouri and Virginia by creating embedded reentry services within departments of correction. These would include help obtaining necessary documents, job search preparation, securing housing and signing up for services like Medicaid.
- Providing annually updated resource guides listing organizations, programs and services available to support successful reentry.
- Allowing access to nonprofit organizations and community partners that want to offer rehabilitative programs in prisons. Those incarcerated should also be encouraged to become peer mentors and volunteers.
- Paying non-exploitative prison wages – at least the state’s minimum wage – and gate money that covers, at the minimum, two weeks’ worth of expenses.
- Making it easier to obtain travel passes for those on probation or parole so that they can perform job duties and re-establish family relationships.
- Providing enough funding from Federal, state and local governments for both in-prison and community-based rehabilitation and reentry programs.
Conclusion
The report concludes that people returning to society after decades of incarceration face challenges that differ significantly from those experienced by individuals serving shorter sentences. Effective preparation, meaningful support and targeted reentry services can dramatically improve outcomes.
After serving their sentences, these individuals seek the opportunity to rebuild their lives, reconnect with their communities and contribute positively to society. The report argues that they deserve a reentry system better equipped to help them succeed.
