What keeps Offenders from a successful reentry to society?

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   Penny Gposted 9 years ago

   What keeps Offenders from a successful reentry to society?
   
   Have you ever thought what Offenders returning to our communities face that become stumbling blocks causing them to return to Prison. What do you think we as a part of their communities  can do to  help make them successful?
   
   

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2. 80

   dashingscorpioposted 9 years ago

   You can't help anyone who does not want to help them self.
   A lot of offenders don't (believe) they can do better. Therefore they don't make any attempts to do better.
   Upon release from prison most offenders return to "home" which is usually not some upscale suburban neighborhood filled with law abiding citizens. 
   Loyalty to friends in their circle also is a factor. It takes courage to drop all of your friends to pursue a new course in life even if all their friends are felons. People go where they feel welcomed.
   Getting a "second chance" or "third chance" is also more challenging especially if the past crimes were of a violent nature. Truth be told most of society has no interest in the "rehabilitation" of criminals. In fact if it were up to most people they'd rather not have anyone with a criminal history living in their neighborhood!
   Much like the old saying; "Once a cheater always a cheater" people tend to subscribe to the mentality of "Once a criminal always a criminal". Both statements are used as self-defense mechanism for individuals to avoid taking risks that come with offering anyone a "second chance".
   I can't imagine a large percentage of society being willing to offer a clean slate to known offenders. In their minds there are way too many people having a hard time who have not broken any laws that need help. Generally speaking people who ruin their own lives making bad decisions don't receive much sympathy or help.

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   1. 59

      Penny Gposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I work in corrections, 97% of them ARE coming back to your  communities and with that mind set, failure is high. They have served their time.Prison is expensive.Jobs, aftercare, is what it takes to keep them out of prison.

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      dashingscorpioposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Along with a real desire by (the individual) to become a law abiding citizen. Committing crimes like most things in life are a choice a person makes.

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   3. 59

      Penny Gposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      They have to live somewhere so people need to make the best of it, and do what they can to help their re-entry go as good as possible.

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   Daveadamposted 9 years ago

   Their mind is their stumbling block, or rather their identification as their minds thoughts/ego..Their surrounded by other people who are identified with their minds thoughts/ego, & it's the same when they "get out"..Their friends over the years & the way they view society/reality themselves, & what they think about will become their identity as their minds thoughts..The only way to get through to a person like that is to try to activate their logical thinking mind, & that's only if they actually want help..I reckon most people do want the help, but have to be "tricked" into it somehow..You could try to explain to them that their "not" "real" people their building a fake character with no real identification, because their identification of themselves are only being built by their repetitive negative thoughts that over the years they've identified with..Their actually weak people that are losing their chance to build a "real" character of substance, & as such have no real identity apart from their "past" identity as a criminal..Explain to them that their living & are stuck in the past, but it's not their fault it's their "pasts" fault..Their missing out on something truly great, & if they realise through the training they won't re-offend they will want to live a real life..You could take any repeat offender out there & be guaranteed it was their past problems, that brought on unwanted thoughts emotions & feelings, that they didn't at the time no how to deal with, which made them do what ever they did way back then, which then led them down the path their heading down now..They'l carry on down that path until they realise their identified with their minds thoughts/ego, & the only way they can realise that is to do the training over a good few months..I'd say prison is a great place to try a bit of emotions & feelings control practice, & a great place to learn & try mindful distraction/meditation.

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      Daveadamposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEc5-hVZ1CA
      Just to give you the gist of what I'm on about, if you haven't already seen this stuff..It would be good to show it to your "customers". :-)

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      Penny Gposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      You have the right idea. I have worked in a treatment based Prison for16 +yrs. I also worked where there was no treatment just Prison. We have a 6 month and 1 year program. 1 years is good, however research shows 2 years is the best.

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   3. 0

      Daveadamposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Once a person got the gist of mindful meditation/distraction to combat their negative thoughts+emotions & feelings control practice to learn how to use their emotions/feelings properly, they should be left in a permanent state of practice/treatme

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