Myth Vs. Reality: Understanding Re-entry For Ex-Offenders

Leaving a life lived behind metal bars, in a six-by-eight-foot space, mostly surrounded by strangers with negative attitudes and unknown intentions and returning to a "normal" life presents significant issues for many ex-offenders. The U.S. Department of Justice reports that over 650,000 offenders finish their incarceration and are released from jail or prison every year. That number sounds staggeringly high, but it takes into account that two-thirds of those released are likely rearrested within three years. Ex-offenders return to criminal activity for a variety of reasons, but chief among them is the inability to adjust to life outside incarceration.

Anyone without the incarceration experience cannot comprehend the difficulty of societal re-entry for former inmates. Keys to successful integration into the community include the ability to find work, housing, education and training, but also acceptance into the community.

Falsehoods and facts: seven things ex-offenders wish you knew about re-entry

Not everyone gets arrested again

The National Bureau of Justice Statistics cites a recidivism rate of about 67% within three years of prison release, and 75% within five years of release. The numbers are high and the odds considerable, but doesn't speak to every ex-offender.

It (literally) pays to hire an ex-offender

Several states and national organizations offer incentives to hire and keep ex-offenders on the payroll, and the federal Work Opportunity Tax Credit provides a federal tax credit to private sector employers who provide jobs to nine target groups, including former inmates.

Basic needs for a simple reason

To stay out of jail, ex-offenders need work, food and a place to live. Releasing them onto the streets with some clothes and no assistance almost guarantees a return to crime as a means of financial support. Certain social services, such as housing assistance and food stamps, are often denied to those with criminal records. Having a criminal record doesn't mean a productive and promising individual isn't standing before you, asking for that job or hoping for a "yes" on that apartment lease.

Limited education and work experience is a plus

An ex-offender without job training or extensive education is a blank slate; as an employer, this is your opportunity to train a new hire exactly the way you want, with no previous "this is how we've always done it" influences getting in the way.

Criminal activity or substance abuse on the job

Criminal offenses committed in the workplace are instances of opportunity; anyone with time, need and knowledge has the capacity to commit such acts. Ex-offenders face a greater threat of punishment for doing so, and are less likely to be involved in such activity, knowing it not only violates an employer's trust, but it sends them back to jail for a longer sentence.

It's difficult to do this alone

Family and community support contribute to a lower recidivism rate; an ex-offender is less likely to return to criminal activity when family step in to help and the community offers programs to maintain a positive post-prison life. Family often provides financial support and housing for several months or even years as the ex-offender rebuilds their former life and forges new ties.

Expectations and temptations

The incarceration experience isn't easily forgotten once out of the physical prison. Old contacts from street life or the prison yard contact ex-offenders, looking for drugs, money, revenge or one final criminal act for old times' sake. An ex-offender faces the unrealistic expectation of completely walking away from all their old acquaintances, addictions and activity. Without the counseling needed to support new habits, the old ones return with tragic consequences.

Dr. Karen Gedney of DRG Consulting has 30 years' experience dealing with the tough conditions inside prisons. As a prison physician, she worked with people on both sides of the bars to change attitudes, redirect negative thinking and reform society's views of incarceration, inmates and what happens when offenders re-enter society. Her work is invaluable to anyone working in a difficult or stressful environment. Contact DRG for more information about upcoming speaking engagements, books, media and personalized presentations.