Fostering family ties inside prison walls is important, and the Second Chance Act even allowed for much longer stays in halfway houses for federal inmates. The limitation now is up to one year. However, my observation is that the BOP has made no attempt to change their behaviors, only their stated policies. Just because they “can” grant more time in a halfway house, which means more time with family and more chances to truly re-enter society, does mean they “must”.

What better way to prevent recidivism than to give inmates more time of their sentence to spend back in the community and close to home? Why is the BOP so intent on keeping inmates behind the walls? Money, and the machine which keeps the budged bloated, is the only reason I can think of. Less inmates means smaller budgets and less employees of the BOP.

I can take a while and delve into the Correctional Officer’s Unions, their lobby, and influence over the BOP, etc. but I don’t feel this is the forum. The simple fact is that, even when Congress has made LAWS to make a change, the BOP is too autonomous to care or respect the law of the country that created it.

Keep up the good work, Michael.

This is one of the, if not the, leading cause of recidivism in the US. Drug use is a symptom – not cause. When an individual becomes permanently disenfranchised from our society they will inevitably look outside the normal confines of that society for relief. Strong social support networks that begin in the home – and are productively participating in society – are vital, but only a first step. Without some method for assisting an offender in earning themselves a tenable position in society then that offender will never really be free from incarceration.

Our society cannot continue to bar individuals from obtaining and education and making a positive contribution and then wondering why they couldn’t make it in society. An ex offender cannot work at Walmart – and if they did they would not be able to pay a mortgage, tuition, homeowner’s insurance, health insurance, and all the myriad costs associated with raising a family in our country. However, obtaining and education, raising a family, putting down permanent roots in a community and participating fully and productively in that community is the ideal that most involved express a desire to achieve.

There are direct methods to achieving education and/or retraining for large portions of the inmate populations in America. Until a concerted effort is made to stop discrimination against that segment once their sentences are fully satisfied – and they are allowed to work in their new professions – then even the best of educations/training will not allow ex-offenders to participate.

I myself was labeled as a habitual offender with an arrest record dating back to 1988, and was given “the” intervention plan. None. How was I to be committed to prison for 1 1/2 to 7 years, expecting to be rehabilitated without a design for treatment. With Delaware prison systems managing about 8,000 inmates in 12 prisons and facilities, Community Corrections supervising about 17,000 probationers and 535 parolees and a budget of about $200 million dollars a year, you have to ask yourself if what they are doing is working. Better yet, what are they doing? The crime rate in Delaware is 8% above the national average and violent crimes are about 32% higher than other state. The rate of adults under correctional supervision, including prisons, jails, probation, and parole is about 40% higher than the national rate. I believe these statistics are the catalyst for a different approach.

I’ve asked quite a few about their perspective of criminals, their behavior and the idea of prison as punishment and reform, and what many fail to realize is that the overcrowding prison system itself serves as fuel to the cycle it is created to cease. It is merely a holding place with little hope of being effective standing alone. The life typically hardens inmates who often leave worse than they were when they were first committed. The prison population forces long waiting lists and inapt programs with a quick fix approach to deep rooted problems. There is little focus on core criminal behavior which resides in the criminal mind, no focus on real life skills or the tools to cope with life after confinement. “Three hots and a cot” is the term for prison which suggests a lax environment, a place to sleep and three hot meals a day. Although confined, prisoners have little responsibility, they don’t wash their own clothes, cook their own meals and they take directions on what to do and when to do it. , it is easier to live inside four prison walls than out in the community as a responsible citizen. It is training ground for dependence upon the system, while inside and upon release, that is why so many return. A prisoner released is no different at the end of the sentence without effective solutions during incarceration, pre-release, and post release.

What is needed is a comprehensive approach with more effective methods. The focus should be to put the $200 million where it counts, habilitating the offender. If rehabilitation means to restore formally to former capacity, standing, rank, rights or privileges, than habilitaion is what is needed. Most offenders have never lived a life desired to be restored. Habilitate-to equip, impart an ability, to qualify or entitle. They need vocational training, with job placement. They need employers to forgive them after their time has been served. I’m not sure that “Inmate at Cambridge Springs Correctional Institution” would impress an HR recruiter for any of the “Best Places To Work In America.” In other words, they need to be empowered.