Life sentences without parole make the odds of leaving prison healthy and fit unlikely, with many prisoners dying within prison walls.
Reuben Jonathan Miller from the University of Chicago talks with us about what he describes as the afterlife of mass incarceration. Additionally, he’s author of Halfway Home.
- Getting Acquainted with Your New Life
Many incarcerated individuals have long histories of risk factors and childhood trauma that compound within prison life, creating harsh, abnormal, and dehumanizing environments that exacerbate such risks and traumas.
Inmates typically have plenty of free time. Some make use of it by participating in productive activities such as college correspondence courses and teaching; others find meaning in writing or exercise.
However, positive pursuits may be undone by prison politics or an individual’s ambitions for advancement in prison life. Acclimatizing to prison life takes time – for some it takes longer – yet adapting is reversible.
- Getting a Job
Finding employment can be one of the greatest hurdles to reentering society after prison, yet research shows that people with jobs are less likely to return to criminal behavior; vocational education programs have even shown to reduce recidivism rates by over 30 percent.
Many incarcerated individuals want to work, and are keen to take advantage of positive programming and rehabilitative opportunities such as education, self-help and work assignments that earn credits toward their sentences.
Prison and jail inmates released from incarceration must first pass civil service exams and background checks before being eligible to work, which often takes months or years – during this process jobless formerly-incarcerated individuals incur exorbitant fees for phone calls and electronic messaging services.
- Getting a Family
Reuben Miller of the University of Chicago calls them members of what he terms the “afterlife” of mass incarceration. As professor at Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice, Miller discusses how our prison system continues to impact individuals long after they’ve left its confines.
Prisons provide limited opportunities for education and economic success for incarcerated individuals, often leaving them without income, child support debt and the means to afford commissary items or communicate with loved ones. This situation leaves prisoners struggling financially as well as personally.
- Getting a Driver’s License
Waleisah Wilson assists individuals returning from life sentences in Atlanta in the process of acquiring driver’s licenses as Client Services Advocate at legal advocacy organization.
People convicted of serious crimes such as murder, rape or armed robbery may be sentenced to life imprisonment with or without the possibility of parole. As revealed by PRI’s policy briefing on life sentences(link is external), indefinite prison terms undermine one of the main purposes of imprisonment – rehabilitation – while violating human rights. While certain countries provide formal mechanisms that allow release after a certain time has elapsed while others use informal or de facto life sentences.
- Getting a Social Life
Prison sentences can be an arduous journey that leaves its mark on all aspects of a person’s life.
Prisons have increasingly become difficult places for their residents due to multiple trends such as increasing sentence lengths and decreased emphasis on rehabilitation as a goal for prisons.
Reintegrating into society after being released can be extremely challenging for prisoners. They face the difficulties associated with reconnecting with family and finding employment while facing stigma that could have lasting repercussions for their mental wellbeing. This may have serious ramifications on psychological wellbeing in later years.
- Getting a Higher Education
Education gives disenfranchised people hope and self-worth again, while opening up a fresh chapter in their lives. Stand Together works tirelessly to break down barriers to higher education for justice-involved individuals, providing increased access to quality college programs.
Studies have demonstrated that inmates without high school diplomas are more prone to criminal behavior and incarceration. Prisoners who achieve a college degree tend to relapse less quickly into criminality or return to jail.
Colorado legislators are encouraging prisoners with high recidivism rates to pursue higher education by shortening their sentences for every semester they complete while in prison. Becoming a student often proves difficult when faced with being labeled “bad”, yet legislators in Colorado are providing prisoners an incentive to become students through shorter prison sentences for each semester of college they complete while behind bars.
Learn more about a life sentence in Canada by exploring the opportunities provided by Standing Together to help those who have justice-related issues.
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