The day when a person is released from jail or prison is frequently one of great happiness for them. However, there are some problems ex-inmates face when they seek to rebuild their lives. This is mainly true of parolees that served a really long prison sentence. Well, at this time, we are going to share some of the problems prisoners face after being released from prison.
Some of the Problems Prisoners Face After Being Released
Here are some of the problems prisoners face after being released:
1. Not Knowing Where to Begin
There are lots of moving parts to prisoner reentry; reconnecting with family and friends, discovering a place to live, and discovering work. It will be an overwhelming process to navigate. This is mainly true of ex-inmates who went to prison in their youth. Adult inmates at least have several measures of life experience on which to rely. However, parolees that have spent their own entire adult lives in prison or jail might discover themselves totally lost as an adult in the real world.
Regardless of age, ex-inmates do not know where to begin to rebuild their life. It is a significant challenge for them. The key to solving this problem is to provide parolees with the resources they require to be successful. This includes reentry training and education while incarcerated, supervision after release, and giving resources to discover housing and employment. These are called institutional and community anchors by Valera, Wilson, Brotzman, and Reid, and have been identified as a significant component of successful reentry programs.
In lots of jurisdictions, these types of support systems are already in place. The key is to educate the inmates about these programs and the process of reentry so that they are going to know what to expect and who to ask for assistance.
2. Family Strain
As Naser and Visher note, lots of parolees rely on their family for support and assistance when they transition back to free life. Generally, family members take a big way to assist make that transition as smooth as possible. As Naser and Visher discuss, that support comes at a cost.
Financial strain is called as one of the main difficulties for families when they seek to support their recently released loved one. However, finances are only the start. Frequently, members of a family struggle to understand the rules their loved one must live under. Likewise, they are able to experience higher levels of stress if their loved one has trouble discovering a job, struggles with her/his addiction, or has mental health issues. These factors are able to lead to stress in the family relationship, which can cause relationships to fracture over time.
To solve this case, states are able to improve the communication with family members so that they are going to know what to expect when their loved one comes home. This includes meeting with the parole board to get a better understanding of what is expected of them and their loved one. Also, having access to support programs; contact information for the local workforce office, for instance, can alleviate several of the feelings of being in this on their own, and give members of family resources to assist their loved one transition back to normal life as easily as possible.
3. Hard to Find Job
One of the big problems ex-inmates face is discovering employment. Though getting a job is frequently a requirement for parolees, it is not as simple as walking into an establishment and applying. Instead, ex-inmates have to explain the gap in their work experience by delving into why they were incarcerated. Hiring someone with a criminal record will be able to cause several employers to pause. Also, an additional challenge in discovering employment is a lack of social capital.
As Ray, Grommon, and Rydberg note, lots of parolees have lost connections in the community, if they had any to begin with. Because about half of job-seekers discover a job thanks to someone they know, it describes a difficult picture for recently-released inmates who have few connections.
This makes it more crucial that parolees leave prison or jail with employment resources. Whether this takes the form of education or training while in prison, arranged employment via supervised release, employment assistance via Wyoming Workforce, or several combinations thereof, the key to abolishing this issue is to plan ahead and help ex-inmates make connections with people in the employment community.
4. Mental Health Issues
The process of prisoner reentry is hard enough. For ex-inmates with mental health issues, it will be a far greater challenge. As Reardon says, several ex-inmates do not get the mental health treatment they require while incarcerated. For those that do, occasionally the underlying issues which caused their mental health difficulties were not adequately addressed during their stay in prison or jail.
Here are some of the most common mental health issues faced by recently released prisoners:
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Post-incarceration syndrome
- Substance abuse
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Mania
When an ex-inmate is suffering from depression, psychosis, anxiety, drug addiction, or other mental health issues, discovering a safe place to live, a stable job, and otherwise reintegrating into society will feel like an impossible task. Thus, as Wolff (2005) notes, there is a critical need for responding to the mental health needs of the inmates before they are released, as well as having support in place to continue monitoring and treating their own mental health needs after they have re-entered society.
Conclusion
We are able to conclude that there are some of the problems prisoners face after being released from prison or jail such as not knowing where to begin, family strain, hard to find job, and mental health issues. Some of the most common mental health issues faced by recently released prisoners are post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Post-incarceration syndrome, substance abuse, anxiety, depression and mania. In the end, each problem discussed here is not insurmountable, however, it needs a broad-based approach, which starts well before release and includes many modes of support for ex-inmates upon their release.
A bookworm and researcher especially related to law and citizenship education. I spend time every day in front of the internet and the campus library.
