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Fall 2007

As California grapples with the challenge of severe prison overcrowding, the issues surrounding prisoners’ re-entry into society have received new attention as public policy priorities. But with 173,000 Californians currently incarcerated, our current re-entry efforts are insufficient in the uphill battle against recidivism. We need more money and more political will on the issue, but the re-entry movement must also adopt a new path. Let’s retire the language of “re-entry” and begin an era of “reintegration.”

Re-entry efforts typically focus on developing skills and changing behavior of former prisoners. While rehabilitation and job training are essential, these create an image of one person being released from prison, re-establishing his own life in isolation. In reality, re-entry is not just about the prisoner, but also about the web of community that will surround him when he returns. This person must again interact with family, neighbors, churches and community groups after an extended disconnection. The formerly incarcerated individual must be ready to restore those connections, but the community must also accept him and support healthy choices in relationships and behaviors.

Even a model ex-offender has to find someone to hire him, rebuild a possibly damaged family life, and fight the stigma that’s likely to follow him. So he will not merely need to “re-enter” the community, as if it is a vacuous space through which people move seamlessly in and out. He must “reintegrate”—with other people and into the cultural and social norms from which he has been absent.

This is a relatively new concept in the realm of re-entry issues, but consistent with the conclusions of The Endowment and other social change organizations: individual behavior is often shaped by social and physical environments, not the other way around.

We face tremendous challenges in achieving successful reintegration in communities with high rates of crime and violence—and, accordingly, high rates of re-entry. Their social networks are already in disrepair and resources are scarce because of other social and economic disparities. But just as there is a social cost when a person is incarcerated, there can be a social gain when he returns. Regardless of the barriers or what led an individual to incarceration, successful reintegration benefits us all.

In the future, I hope these concepts will be at the forefront of this debate, and that all stakeholders can identify their roles and responsibilities. Until then, I challenge those of us working on this issue to embrace reintegration and see returning prisoners not as lone wolves to be rehabilitated and thrust outside, but as an integral part of our own social fabric and assets in building healthier communities.

Steven Eldred is a program officer for The California Endowment. He has worked on prison and re-entry issues for nearly 30 years.

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RETHINKING RE-ENTRY
Community Connection Key to Returning Prisoner's Success