From Inquest:
Coming home from prison is jarring. After years of dreaming of release, when the day finally comes, few people are truly prepared to reenter a world that has gone on for years without them. Prison is an inhuman environment—one of gray concrete walls, ultra-processed food, and constant surveillance—to which incarcerated people adapt, as much as we can. Then we are suddenly inserted back into a fast-paced environment, where we experience more choices and freedoms in a single day than in the entire past month. On release day, we walk out beyond the barbed-wire gates and enter a world of unimaginable opportunities and dreams, to say nothing of obstacles and dangers. Ask any formerly incarcerated person: the newly released are given almost no assistance in preparing for or making this transition. We are expected to simply figure it out. It is a miracle that so many of us do so successfully, but it shouldn’t have to be so difficult.
When I was nineteen, I was sentenced as a first-time offender to a state prison term. My punishment wasn’t nearly as long as other people in the system. Yet I’ll never forget my first day out, two-and-a-half years later. I walked outside, to the street, and froze at the intersection. For a moment, I actually forgot how to cross the street. I stood on the sidewalk looking one way—then the other—thinking: “How fast do cars move? Can I even cross here? Are there street signs that indicate where you’re supposed to walk?” It sounds trivial now, but that’s just one example of the small things that anyone could forget while incarcerated. I can only imagine how confusing it must be for someone who is released after ten or twenty years.
For just about everyone leaving prison, the challenging experiences that follow far surpass merely crossing the street. Relearning social norms, finding a job with a criminal record, and navigating the parole system are but a few of the hurdles. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people are expected to overcome obstacles like these. We go through reentry largely unaided, except for the goodwill of friends and family (for those who have them)—and certainly without any meaningful help from the carceral system itself. Continue reading >>>
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