Students explore ways community can help inmates reintegrate into society

They've done their time and paid for their crime. But do criminals deserve a second chance?
And when those inmates get released from prison and are ready to rejoin society, is the community willing to accept them with open arms?
Those are just a few questions a group of fourth-year Mount Allison University students have been exploring over the past two months as they've been working on a final project for their social policy research methods class.
"There's a reason they're in prison and that's often where the thought ends," says Kyle Lewis, one of the five students who worked on the project. "People think 'they're in prison, they've offended, they deserve to be there.' But basically there has to be a point where they come back (to the community)."
During the course of the project, the students not only conducted extensive research on restorative justice and how the process works in Canada, but they also had the opportunity to visit St. Luke's Renewal Centre, based at Springhill Institution, where they had a one-on-one interview with one inmate who was in prison for murder and also sat down with six other inmates (whose crimes ranged from theft to fraud to drug-related misdemeanors) during a focus group session.
"We wanted to get their ideas on what they felt was helpful; which (reintegration) programs they thought were working and what was missing," says Lewis.
Lewis admits the visit to St. Luke's was a life-altering experience for the group.
"Just speaking with them has been a mind-blowing experience," he says. "I think the biggest thing we came away with was a complete change in ideology that I think a lot of people would really benefit from."
Carol Smith, facilitator at St. Luke's Renewal Centre, agreed that the students were definitely affected by their visit. She says one of the students remarked afterwards that one inmate who had participated in the focus group was the same age as him and that seemed to hit home, that someone his age had been in correctional facilities for many years.
"The students came to St. Luke's to interview a group of inmates and I think this was an eye-opening experience for them, to hear from the inmates themselves about the challenges of finding employment, facing the stigmatism of being an ex-offender, and support systems in the community being few and far between."
Smith says the students' research brought to light the need for more services needed at the community level.
"What they uncovered is that the community needs to see crime as a community problem, and come up with new and creative ways of enabling offenders to succeed at reintegration, which ends up being win/win for everyone," she says.
Lewis says their project, which they completed just last week, was largely based on these findings.
"We determined there's just an immense need for community programs," he says.
Lewis explains that there not only needs to be reintegration programs for offenders after release, but communities also need to ensure they have enough ongoing community activities and recreational programs to ensure that people stay out of jail in the first place.
He says although the inmates' focus group didn't discuss any specifics of their crimes, they did talk about the circumstances that lead them to the path they were on.
"There's a lot of preliminary stuff that goes on before they get involved in crimes," says Lewis. "These people are in there for a variety of circumstances, a lot of them out of their own control."
One inmate, for example, talked about how many of his crimes were drug-related after he had trouble kicking his habit, a habit introduced to him by his own mother as a youngster.
"These are not all people who are axe murderers; so that's what we tried to focus on was breaking down the stigma, to focus on what makes somebody become a criminal."
Smith says because the students were able to sit down and chat with the inmates so intimately, they were able to realize there's a need for a greater focus on education and awareness as to the challenges these inmates face when returning to the community.
Lewis says that's exactly what is needed to help the restorative justice process work.
"Education and awareness is the first step . . . if there's a belief in the second chance and you're able to help them attain that, then there's less chance they're going to commit a crime again."
He says there needs to be a place inmates can go for help "on the outside," such as a transition centre, where they can gain access to resources - from finding employment to learning basic skills - to eliminate the potential for them to re-offend.
"It should be about making sure they don't fall into the wrong crowd again and go back to their old habits and end up back in prison."
For some inmates, that reintegration starts before they are released from prison at places like St. Luke's Renewal Centre.
Smith says St. Luke's is, for the prisoner, a 'time away' from the noise and negativity of institutional life.
Smith, who is employed by the Christian Council for Reconciliation (CCR), a nonprofit group, says St. Luke's opened in 2000 and offers retreat time for spiritual renewal as well as courses on emotional healing and life-skills. St Luke's also arranges for volunteers to come to the facility to offer programs on creative writing, poetry, art, music, yoga and a variety of other life-enhancing programs.
"Volunteers from the community are an important part of St. Luke's mission," she says. "They represent the community to the inmate during his time of incarceration and encourage the inmate to develop the skills needed to lead a healthy and productive life."
Lewis says he felt the "reward-based system" of St. Luke's centre is a second chance for some inmates within the prison.
"St. Luke's is a great model for any prison to use," he says, noting that the reintegration process has to begin within the prison system to better prepare the inmates for release.
In fact, just this past year, Smith has initiated a project called Community Accompaniment for the Reintegration Process(CARP). This is a restorative justice initiative, which involves an inmate from Springhill meeting with a small group from Sackville United Church for the purpose of mutual understanding, and an opportunity for socialization for long-term offenders.
She says five Escorted Temporary Absences have taken place and the end result was a very positive experience for everyone involved. Along with the time spent within the church building, the community of Sackville was also part of this project and provided many activities for the group to experience, such as walking on the marsh, and a visit to art galleries, Bridge Street Cafe, Marshlands Inn, and Joey's as well as the shops around town.
Lewis, who says he plans to volunteer his time this summer at the halfway house in Moncton, thinks CARP is a great program to introduce inmates to the community and to let others know that "they're just people too."
"If people knew what a lot of inmates were like, some of them simply dealt a bad hand or whatever the case may be, I think they'd be a lot more willing to help them out."
As part of the project, the students interviewed members of the CARP group, as well as a police officer, a resident and three case workers from a halfway house in Moncton, and also conducted surveys of nearly three dozen local businesses.
The business surveys were a prime opportunity to delve into whether the community is prepared to accept inmates after release.
"The main response we received is 'it depends on what they did,' says Lewis. "Obviously if it's someone known for stealing, you don't want them handling money."
But many of these inmates have changed while in prison and he says employers need to keep an open mind when considering hiring ex-criminals.
"People need to realize these people aren't just coming out of prison and living on the streets. A lot of them, while they're in prison, are learning trades and learning how to contribute to society again," he says.
And although most business owners were, as expected, a bit hesitant to say they would employ inmates, Lewis says there seemed to be a general acceptance towards the restorative justice process, that these inmates should be welcomed back into the community.
He says education would go a long way in ensuring the community has a better understanding of the inmates, how they got to where they are, and how they can move on to become a regular member of society.
"These people need the community help. And they deserve it too. They've served their time; they're getting involved in what programs they can . . . they've done the time; they've bettered themselves; they've made amends with a lot of people," he says.
Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of articles based on three projects that were conducted over the past few months by students in Mount Allison University's social policy research methods class, which all had a community focus. Watch in the coming weeks for a story on poverty reduction in Sackville and an article on literacy as a fundraising focus for the Tantramar Family Resource Centre.