Rehabilitation And Correction

The difficulty of implementing a successful reentry strategy is not only a dilemma for the state of Hawaii but also a national dilemma. Every year it estimated that 650 offenders are released from state and federal prisons nationally and more than a million are released from local jails (BOJS, 2009). At present in the State of Hawaii, there are over 19,000 offenders on probation. On any given day, thousands of these probationers are facing possible revocation and re-sentencing to jail and/or prison terms. If only 5% of the probation population were re-sentenced to jail and/or prison, that would equate to an increase of at least 950 offenders being sent to Hawaii jails and prisons (PSD). Additionally, there are over 1,900 convicted felons on parole statewide. On any given day, the Hawaii Paroling Authority has an average of 180 to 220 outstanding active warrants to retake parolees that poses an undue risk to the public's safety (HPA). More than 50% of those released will be incarcerated again for parole violations

Upon release contact will be made with the former inmates periodically over a five-year time period. Ideally contact will be made once every year, five times in total. When one on one interviews are possible with former inmates they will be asked if they believe that the re-entry services have helped them substantially in becoming a productive member in society. If they did not

To support my assumption there is an immediate need for the implementation of a reentry plan; I have reviewed the opinions of other criminologist such as Reginald A. Wilkinson (2008). Wilkinson (2008) has written several articles on the need for incarcerated offender reentry plans. In one of his articles entitled "Incarceration and Beyond: A Personal Perspective” (2008), Wilkinson states, “the overarching idea is that prison reentry programming should commence upon each offender’s admission to the reception center” Wilkinson goes on to say that those released without a reentry plan will affect the percentage of those returning to incarceration and have a negative effect on a communities budget and security”. Consequently, I can assume that if a reentry plan is implemented immediately, the department will save and better spend its budget dollars and stop what I call “the swinging door effect”. I define the “swinging door effect” as the repeated return of offenders into incarceration within a short period of time such. Based on personal interviews along with release document reviews, I can assume a reentry plan was not implemented and likely created the “swinging door effect”. Consequently, I have found the repeated return of offenders into incarceration within a short period of time is a problem that keeps tax dollars from being spent wisely and will affect a community’s economy and security.

The organizational functions that would be integral to the positive development of a new reentry program start with sitting down with community leaders to determine what needs are being met, and where shortfalls in the system lie. Once needs are locked in, set up funding, through local, state, or federal means, determine how many employees will be needed and gather a list of potential candidates. Taking the candidates aside at the initial interview/selection, determine assets that can be applied to the program, along with educational and experience. Sometimes needs can be met by individuals that have experience in the reality that is life in prison, these candidates can be brought in and trained to handle responsibilities and build knowledge with time. Creating an outlet for improvement begins with building trust, contacts, and employers willing to work with the system and create

According to Jones, the most challenging aspect of ODRC’s goal of reducing recidivism is employment of individuals once they are released from their institution back into the community. This relates back to the views of the community in that, much of society does not want to associate with ex-offenders. This includes within employment. Individuals who have been incarcerated have a much harder time finding employment than do most others due to their record. However, according to Jones, ODRC is combating this by creating connections with area employers who are willing to employ ex-offenders. Connections such as these, along with other connections with churches and reentry coalitions, are extremely useful for ODRC and a crucial contributor to its efforts. They assist in providing support and care for individuals reentering the community.

Reentry is defined as those offenders who have served their time and are transitioning from incarceration to the community. The reentry involves the rehabilitation of ex-offenders by implementing programs that can effectively assist ex-offenders with their release into society. The reentry programs are important because they affect not only the ex-offenders, but their families, the community, and the criminal justice system. Research has shown that when ex-offenders are released from prison or jail, their main support is from their families who are highly invested in their success and that is why it is important to have the resources in place to help the ex-offenders with their transition. (Michigan Department of Corrections, 2017)

Included in the ADOC’s work for the past several years, the division has created the Alaska Prisoner Reentry Initiative (AK-PRI) who represented by the building of a foundation for the five year endeavor that has led to the leading efforts in reducing recidivism. The AK-PRI has a vision that every returning citizen released from incarceration will be supplied with support and the tools needed for achieving success in their communities. The framework of AK-PRI is structured for Alaska, but its foundation is modeled by the advancements in reentry developed by the National Prisoner Reentry Council and the National Institute of Corrections by way of the Transition from Prison to Community (TPC) framework (ADOC, 2015; Gutierrez, 2011; Gutierrez, 2015a). The advancements provide direction for specific justice policies outlined in Alaska as “Targets for Change” in improving the reentry process for all returning citizens (Periman, 2014, ADOC, 2015; ACJC, 2016a). The Targets for Change are outlined in a three phase outline in the TPC framework phases: Phase 1, Getting ready, the institutional phase; Phase 2, Going Home, the pre-release phase; Phase 3, Staying Home, the community supervision and discharge phase; each phase has seven individual primary decision stages that make up the reentry process (Gutierrez, 2011; Periman, 2014; ADOC, 2015). The Framework accommodates a practical outline to provide guidance for Alaska’s plan of meeting the operational goals of the Council; this allows the freedom to state organizations to implement immediate focus on goals outlined for each Target for Change (Periman, 2014; ACJC, 2015; ADOC 2015; Pew Trusts, 2016). There are three important components of the Framework, that need to be in place for best possibility of reforming

Community Based Corrections programs, also known as halfway houses or Residential Reentry facilities, were established as an alternative for prisoners to complete their term of incarceration in a community setting. Residential Reentry facilities provide a structured environment for low, minimum, and high-risk offenders while allowing them to integrate back into society. Specifically, Residential Reentry facilities provide offenders the opportunity to gain employment, establish financial responsibility, and obtain suitable housing. With the overcrowding of prisons, the ability to participate in Community Based Correction programs enables the convicted criminals as well as prison staff to lessen the loads that come with working in a prison as well as improve the lifestyle that comes with incarceration. As with all things in life, there are positive as well as negative outcomes to the participation of these convicted criminals in community-based programs. In viewing the positive and negative outcomes, the end

This project will utilize Option B as a means to relay a policy/strategy implemented based on offender reentry. In 2005, President Bush implemented the Prisoner Reentry Initiative(PRI) to reintegrate ex-offenders into communities of society. The Reentry Initiative intention is to equip ex-offenders with the skill set and abilities to become productive law-abiding citizens of society. The Second Chance Act enacted on April 9, 2008, to expand the current offender reentry program that was currently being utilized

Many criminals are sent to jail on a day to day basis. Once they have completed their sentence they are faced with many problems once they are “free”. These problems can be but are not limited to housing, employment, and substance abuse. The prisoner, once they are released, has a tendency to go back to their old ways and to continue the life of crime they were a part of prior to prison. To avoid this, while a prisoner is in prison, the staff creates a reentry program for the prisoner. The reentry program takes affect once the prisoner leaves prison. These programs are created within the community to help the offender from committing new crimes and to integrate them back into society. These programs are also created to help with

My ultimately goal is to attain a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling, where I can develop an identity as a counselor and demonstrate a readiness to provide counseling services within the moral guidelines of counseling. As a candidate for the rehabilitation counseling program, I seek to gain significant knowledge of the actual counseling process where I can develop a personal approach to counseling with a clear understanding of counselor functions. However, in order to attain such skills, I must attain further education (a master’s degree). Therefore, I seek to gain as much educational training as possible to assure a professional identity, where I can apply my educational experience to the actual counseling process. Moreover, those

Thesis: Release planning for convicted felons is a way to help avoid the various problems that are associated with rehabilitation following the release of convicted felons due to their: basic needs, adequate housing, seeking employment and furthering their education, healthcare and support systems.

The problem with prison reentry has been going on for many years in the United States, as I discussed in assignments one and two. Recidivism issues can often be linked with reentry issues because when offenders are returning to society, they need to be prepared, which is something that our current criminal justice system is not trying to achieve. In order to create some defensible solutions for prison reentry and the recidivism issues linked to prison reentry, the criminal justice system has to realize that there is no one overall solution because every offender have different offenses, different stories, different outcomes, and different prison sentences. Because of this, each offender's return to society will be different, and the reentry

Reintegration’s goal is to use the time criminals spend under correctional supervision as a means to prepare the, to be able to reenter/reintegrate back into free society as well equipped as possible (Stohr, Walsh, & Hemmens, 2013, p.10). It is not too far from rehabilitation, but can be more realistic because it focuses on concrete programs such as job skill training or experience building rather than just changing an offender’s attitude.

Throughout the years, many processes have been created to form the rehabilitation process of criminal justice. This process has reached out to many offenders and their families by allowing them to return to the community as changed individuals. Rehabilitation has many different process, but most, if not all have been proven successful in returning offenders to the community as changed individuals.