Combatting Recidivism
The choice of when to eat, when to sleep, even when to use the bathroom, are privileges few of us think about in our everyday lives. But in prison, these seemingly small freedoms are taken away. When you’re released from prison, with nowhere to go and no money, you are dropped off at the closest train or bus station. From there, you try to return to normalcy and often fail. Peter ended up in a Walmart paralyzed and panicked by the sheer number of options of a wall full of cereal flavors.
Today Peter resides in Dismas House, a program that provides “an important platform for healthy reentry from prison to those most in need of recovery, decent work, and housing” (more information about this incredible organization on their website). Peter’s journey through the criminal justice system started at a young age and has been exacerbated by inadequate reintegration resources and programming while in jail. Peter attributed “getting in trouble lately” to his drug use starting at age 12, and being surrounded by the wrong people. Or, as Peter explained, “I don’t call it booze or drugs or weed, I call it more. Because that’s what it is—you just want more.” Furthermore, Peter said that “more” can come at a high price. “You get hooked on that lifestyle. Everyone wanted to be with me. Not because some of them liked me, but because of what I had..a scholarship for basketball...money, cars, friends, relationships, [and] my family.” Afterwards, Peter said that all he had was “jail, death, and prison for a long time.”
Peter reflected on the lack of resources in jail and the failures of the system to prepare inmates for living outside the controlled routine within its walls. In light of this reality, he describes, “If you put something before your recovery, it’s not going to happen. Put all your eggs in yourself.” Peter elucidated some of the failures of reintegration in jails:
“I’ve been to three jails...They’re not teaching the right stuff...They need to focus more on people who are getting in trouble for drugs and drug offenses, and help them for when they go home. Because they say it to us everyday when I was up there...a high 70-something percentage of people who go to state prison will be back within the next 2 years, you know what I mean. So what the f are you guys gonna do about it?...You are locked behind a friggin wall taller than this house, fights, stabbings, you wouldn’t even believe some of the stuff that happens up there every day. And then one day they’re gonna say you’re going home. And they open the doors and say get out. You have nowhere to go, they don’t care how you get there, if you can’t get off their property they drive you to the closest train or bus station and drop you off, and then, you have no money, nowhere to go. Like the reentry program, they’re just not doing enough, you know, finding you housing, or making sure you have somewhere to go. Cause if I had nowhere to go, what the hell do you think I’m going to do? To try and eat, to try to frickin survive. What do you want someone like that to do who’s been in prison for ten years. They have no options.”
Through Dismas House, Peter has been able to find housing, a supportive community, and a full-time job. Peter explained the impact Dismas has had on his reintegration and recovery:--“This is my home. I consider it my home. Good people here, they take care of you. You gotta follow the rules but it’s not hard. Come home from work, there’s dinner here. Just like momma and papa used to make.” Peter worries about “living a normal life” and re-adjusting to society, but his reflections on where he’s been, and where he wants to go, are evident. “But that’s life now. You gotta work to pay the bills to live your life.”
The five-year recidivism rate for state prisons is 76.6%, according to a Bureau of Justice Statistics study. In 2015, Massachusetts spent over $594 million on prisons, and state and local governments spent $181 billion on police and corrections. In combination with these striking statistics, Peter’s narrative illuminates the huge fractures in our criminal justice system and the possibilities that present themselves if we take Peter’s story -- and so many others like his -- as urgent calls for a necessary reallocation of resources. If we focus more on reintegration programming and planning for inmates while they are incarcerated, we would not only save money but also save people like Peter from an unfathomable amount of pain, suffering, and loss. By restructuring the criminal justice system and implementing reintegration programs in jail, perhaps, we can get to a point where reintegration is seamless and recidivism is nonexistent.