Rebuilding Lives. Strengthening Communities.

Reforms with Citywide Impact
Support and expand family-focused case management services, and
cultivate family support groups.
Recommendation
Issue
The more often people leaving prison are involved in programs
that expose them to different ways of thinking and
behaving, the less likely it is that these people will end up
back in prison. Unfortunately, formerly incarcerated individuals
may not choose, on their own, to take advantage
of such opportunities. Formerly incarcerated individuals
who have successfully stuck with the rehabilitation
process point repeatedly to family encouragement as their
primary motivation for doing so. 43 One of the most
effective strategies for facilitating prisoners’ transition into
mainstream society, then, is for families to be directly
involved in planning and supporting the reentry process.
But families of former prisoners often face their own set of
challenges and, to fully support their loved one’s return to
society, may need ongoing support themselves.
Although surprisingly little research has been done on the
impact of imprisonment (and reentry) on families of
incarcerated individuals, clearly families experience economic
hardships and emotional stress. 44 Incarceration is
difficult for everyone affected. There is often a fear of
being labeled. The justice system and its procedures are
often confusing and frustrating. The happy and unhappy
feelings and events of day-to-day life may be difficult to
talk about. Over time, disconnectedness can overtake
relationships. There may be both physical and psychological
distancing. And the moment of release and reunion
may be viewed with anticipation, reservation or apprehension,
or it may not be desired at all. In all instances,
coming home triggers a complex, mixed set of feelings and
realities for those with the closest bonds to the former
prisoner.
Families may need to restructure their entire lives to deal
with the absence of a relative, and then again with the
return of that relative, and may find that, at a time when
help is most needed, people withdraw from them. 45
MAYORAL POLICY CAUCUS ON PRISONER REENTRY
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