Return To Honor

A close friend of mine and I were in a discussion today about relative terms…words and phrases like love, truth, respect…and honor…words we all tend to take for granted assuming that everyone knows what we’re talking about when we use them. I was referring to men in prison who do their time “honorably” should be acknowledged somehow…maybe with a certificate of achievement or something to give them some kind of recognition for having done the right thing.
“What does that mean?” she retorted. “You think we should give them an award for doing time for something they screwed up? How can that be ‘honorable’?”
I was a bit taken aback because she works with me and she well knows what I mean by ‘honor.’ Or so I thought. It’s about standing tall, telling the truth, being in integrity and so forth. Even men in prison know the core truth of what that means. But then again, maybe not. I’ve had audiences of inmates stand and cheer when I talk about them doing their time ‘honorably.’ They seem to know what I mean, but maybe that’s just slogans and feel-good words. But my own teammate and manager didn’t seem to get what I thought was a given. Then I realized that she was making a damn good point: We don’t always speak the same language. Honor to an inmate can, in fact, be very different from honor on the battlefield, or the corporate workplace. It’s a relative term, no matter how much we might assume everyone knows what it is.
To men in prison, it’s more than staying out of trouble while doing their time. It’s about going the extra distance to make sure you’re not even suspect by people on either side of the walls of doing something devious or not right. You don’t sidestep issues or lie or manipulate others. You reach out, even if it’s without someone knowing, and you help them in some way. It’s caring about others first and yourself second…while still keeping to yourself and not interfering with their lives. It’s being courageous without bullying or resorting to needless violence…even if courage involves walking…not running…away from trouble. It’s about not buying into the “unwritten rules” of behavior that keep men on both sides playing mind games and intimidating each other. It’s about doing kind things and doing any job well, even when no one’s watching.
It’s no different on the outside, really…just less intense and far less threatening or intimidating. Prison (and jail) are places to learn fast…albeit a bit painfully at times…how to do such things without compromising one’s character or integrity. If one can accomplish that while locked up, that’s a huge jump in maturity and self-respect…which leads instantly to outward respect. To me, that’s what ‘honor’ is about…respect. That doesn’t mean coddling or cowtowing to others, or sucking up to them. It means simply that you acknowledge each person as a human being…not an “inmate” or any other label we use all too frequently for people we don’t know or understand or run with.
Anyone who can get through any length of sentence in prison or jail without incident, hostility or negative behavior certainly deserves some credit. It’s damn hard to get through such an experience without being confronted at some point. Anyone who does, has accomplished something significant, and yes…they deserve a certificate. From some of the places I’ve seen and heard about, just getting through it alive and intact and sane is cause for a medal…and receiving some sort of credit for doing their time well should be actively monitored by prison and jail staff, and make note of when it happens, how often and by whom…and that person will come out a better man or woman because someone took the time to notice in the first place, then made an effort to acknowledge it.
Yes…give them some recognition for getting through the minefields and the cesspools of the twisted world of our present correctional system…while under constant threat of ‘enemy fire.’ Give them a medal, a stripe or a certificate or something to say they did something honorable. That will be even better than a job reference, once we do it often enough and well enough to get it started. Once it shows up in changed attitudes by released as well as present inmates, and by correctional officials themselves, and others on the outside who are exposed to continued ‘honorable’ living, it will spread like wildfire.
What an example we could set by seeing someone come out of the pits of hell, clean themselves up and get back into the workforce…or, better yet, into schools and colleges once they qualify. After all, that’s what made this country great.

Don Kirchner

January 27, 2010

A front page feature article in today’s Sunday paper described the rising interest on the part of aging Americans to join the Peace Corps and “make a difference” in the world. God knows that the staving kids in Bosnia, Bulgaria and people living less fortunately in all parts of the world need and well deserve all the help they can get. At the same time, however, so do millions of our own people right here in America.

Believe it or not, we have many “third-world” living conditions within our own borders. Some of them are Native American reservations, which to me is an ironic twist of fate for those whose ancestors were here first, and many more who are in the streets of many of our biggest cities. Of those, a huge percentage are people who have either done time in prisons and jails of America, or are destined to if their attitudes and lifestyles don’t change soon.

Then there are the families and the children of those who are or have been incarcerated. When one considers that 2.6 million people are locked up across America, and they impact at least 5 to 10 people on the outside, that number alone is staggering to consider. It exceeds the entire populations of some of those third-world countries who “need our help”.

So, what about us? What about our people? What about the children growing up in neighborhoods where the wallpaper on whatever rooms they have to sleep in are constantly illuminated with the red and blue flashing lights of the police cars outside, and whose playgrounds are streets filled with drug addicts and dealers, prostitutes and police SWAT teams and helicopters circling overhead? How do they fend for themselves, and what hope do they have for a better way to live? Who’s making a difference in their lives?

In the early 1980’s, Jerome Miller became the Director of the Massachusetts Department of Corrections. In an unprecedented move, Mr. Miller closed all but the most essential juvenile detention centers in his state, and put the money saved into pro-active programs to mentor and provide simple caring to juveniles in the form of college students paid to “hang out” with juveniles as “big brothers” and “big sisters.” The rate of juvenile crime in Massachusetts during those years dropped by over 50%.

As someone who has dedicated much of the past decade or so to “making a difference” right here at home, I commend anyone wishing to do anything that makes a difference in the lives of others, and I urge anyone wishing to do so to look into juvenile diversion programs and anything having to do with “re-entry” or “aftercare” of former felons. It’s not a bad or scary thing, because every former offender (and they are “former” until they re-offend), is really just a terrified little kid in a scarred, tattooed grown-up body who made the wrong, but often only choices, that they believed were available to them early in life.

You want to make a difference in the world? Start right here at home…and right now. All it takes is a modicum of compassion, a willingness to understand, and a little courage to overcome preconceived notions and judgments, and making an effort to learn more about it. Just that much will reduce crime in this country by as much as 10%, I can promise you.

As a noted correctional specialist once wrote to me, “For altruists who want to save lives, that’s a lot of lives. To economists who want to save money, that’s a lot of money.”

Google “Prisoner Re-entry” or “Prisoner Aftercare Programs” in your state for more information than you can likely absorb in the two years required to serve in the Peace Corps, or check out the large number of affiliates and resources appearing on this blog site, and you may just find your “next calling” in life.

Don Kirchner

www.ReturnToHonor.org

Incarceration is a term with which most Americans are well familiar by now. Enough movies, books and television and news programs have us all well informed by now about all the dark, evil and brutal aspects of being locked up. True, it’s scary and sinister stuff. It’s the darker side of the human experience, and for most people it is evil and even brutal. But it’s our stuff, meaning that collectively it belongs to us. We, as a society, created it and we sustain it by what we believe about it and how we allow others to run it, just like everything else in the political and economic worlds.

In order to do anything about it that makes any difference, we need to recognize it for what it is, and how it functions with our collective acquiescence and indifference…and our ignoring what goes on inside the walls and fences. That includes what goes on in the minds of the people who manage and administer jails and prisons, many (if not most) of whom do so with a sense of vengeance and coldness that only inflames the problems and reinforces behavior patterns on the part of “criminals” that typically make them worse.

I am not a cynic, nor do I have anything against “the system,” such as it is. In fact, I work with that system, in that I counsel and teach both inmates and correctional officers how to recognize behavior patterns that are destructive and counterproductive, and to change those behavior patterns for the better. It’s amazing how small a change in thinking toward others will positively affect their behavior no matter how “brutal” or vengeful they might be.

How do I know this? I was one of them. I was a federal prisoner for 2 1/2 years, which very nearly became 25 years, with no chance of parole. I survived the experience in the face of brutish resistance and hostility toward me because I looked like everything most inmates and criminals have learned to dislike and distrust. But as I made consistent efforts to help them with simple things like reading and writing, their behavior changed for the better, not only toward me but toward everyone else––including correctional officers. What seemed destined to be a 25-year sentence became far less, primarily because of the good that was evidenced as a result of my work inside. Nearly everyone’s attitudes toward one another began to change, and with that came near-miraculous developments that enabled me to not only still be alive, but thriving outside the walls as a useful, contributing member of society.

In order to change anything that has such a huge collective emotional charge such as the criminal justice system, we have to get outside of our own personal issues and pre-conceived notions about crime and criminals, and be willing to change our thinking…if only a little bit at a time. Just being willing to understand is a major step forward. One needn’t agree with or condone criminal or negative behavior, but only be willing to see behind the masks and the negative images we see in the movies and on television. If enough of us do that (and thank God that there is a groundswell of people on both sides now doing exactly that), we can change the way “incarceration” works, and make it work far more effectively.

Don Kirchner
June 9, 2009
www.ReturnToHonor.org

Free at Last

Criminal rehabilitation in prison has a lousy record, so when a rehab program works, it deserves all the encouragement it can get – and so it is with the Augusta Transitional Center, and other such centers around the state and nation.

Basically, the centers reduce the number of discharged inmates who commit new crimes and have to be re-incarcerated. This is because the transition centers provide a period of time, from six months to three years, for the men to readjust to life on the outside and to prepare themselves to stay on the outside. The centers are a kind of halfway house where offenders acquire job training, assistance with job placement, cognitive programming, and related support systems such as Alcoholics Anonymous.

“Years ago we would just lock them up and throw away the key,” says Superintendent Ronald Brawner, who’s been at the Augusta facility for the seven years it’s been open. “Now these guys want a fresh start… Without having some sort of transition, they leave the prison without having tools to stay out of trouble”.

He’s right, of course. Those who have a place to stay and to learn a trade are less likely to commit crimes.

Candidates for the re-entry program must be physically and mentally able to work and have a clean disciplinary record three months before they’re released. Nearly 9 million inmates cycle in and out of state and federal transitional facilities each year and only 19 percent of them return to prison, compared to 29 percent that return who don’t transition.

Moreover, the re-entry program saves taxpayers money on two counts: first because more ex-inmates are out and working instead of returning to prison and, second, those who get to take advantage of the transition contribute to paying for their own room, board and toiletries.

This is win-win for everybody which is why legislatures in Georgia and elsewhere should allocate more of their criminal justice budgets to transitional centers. They really work. Our state plans to increase the number of transitional center beds by 30 percent over the next year, says the Department of Corrections, which is a good start, but more facilities would be even better.

The Corrections Department budget, like any bureaucracy, should be encouraged to spend its money on programs that work and rid itself of the programs that don’t.

From the Friday, January 02, 2009 edition of the Augusta Chronicle

Senator Jim Webb, Virginia

This country puts too many people behind bars for too long. Most elected officials, afraid of being tarred as soft on crime, ignore these problems. Sen. Jim Webb, a Democrat of Virginia, is now courageously stepping into the void, calling for a national commission to re-assess criminal justice policy. Other members of Congress should show the same courage and rally to the cause.

The United States has the world’s highest reported incarceration rate. Although it has less than 5 percent of the world’s population, it has almost one-quarter of the world’s prisoners. And for the first time in history, more than 1 in 100 American adults are behind bars.

Many inmates are serving long sentences for nonviolent crimes, including minor drug offenses. It also is extraordinarily expensive. Billions of dollars now being spent on prisons each year could be used in far more socially productive ways.

Senator Webb — a former Marine and secretary of the Navy in the Reagan administration — is in many ways an unlikely person to champion criminal justice reform. But his background makes him an especially effective advocate for a cause that has often been associated with liberals and academics.

In his two years in the Senate, Mr. Webb has held hearings on the cost of mass incarceration and on the criminal justice system’s response to the problems of illegal drugs. He also has called attention to the challenges of prisoner re-entry and of the need to provide released inmates, who have paid their debts to society, more help getting jobs and resuming productive lives.

Mr. Webb says he intends to introduce legislation to create a national commission to investigate these issues. With Barack Obama in the White House, and strong Democratic majorities in Congress, the political climate should be more favorable than it has been in years. And the economic downturn should make both federal and state lawmakers receptive to the idea of reforming a prison system that is as wasteful as it is inhumane.

SOURCE: NEW YORK TIMES

Who is Jim Webb?

# Senator from Virginia
# Former Secretary of the Navy
# Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs
# Platoon leader with the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, Vietnam
# Awarded the Navy Cross
# Awarded a Silver Star
# Awarded two Bronze Stars
# Awarded two Purple Hearts
# Emmy Award winning war reporter
# Author of six best selling novels

The Oklahoma Department of Corrections provides public safety by not only ensuring secure confinement but by delivering evidenced-based treatment, education and an array of re-entry services for those returning to communities from confinement. Evidenced-based supervision and services are also provided for those under community supervision. Investment in Oklahoma’s most valuable asset, its citizens, is as paramount an investment as infrastructure such as bridges and roads.

The state has achieved outstanding results with its approach to re-entry. The Bill Johnson Correctional Center in Alva is a prison-based drug treatment therapeutic community that received the American Correctional Association’s prestigious Exemplary Offender Program Award. Offenders who graduate from the program have an amazing 85% survival rate once they return home. There have been 14,341 offenders sentenced to the Community Sentencing Program since its inception in March 2000. The survival rate of graduates is 88%, which is one of the best rates of any community-based alternative program in the country.

Oklahoma discharges over 8,000 prisoners from its prison system each year and has one of the lowest recidivism rates in the nation at 27.8 percent. Their efforts to reduce recidivism are an enhancement to public safety by providing a returning citizen who will remain crime free, thereby reducing future victimization. At an over 70% success rate, that means that over 6,000 prisoners per year are being released that will not return to the prison system. Even though prevention is always a better investment in addressing social illnesses such as substance abuse and a multitude of other contributors to crime, successful re-entry to communities is an investment that pays dividends to many aspects of our communities to include the No. 1 service — public safety.

Click to read FULL ARTICLE.

This website is dedicated to the hundreds of thousands of men and women who are facing one of the scariest moments in their lives — one of those forks in the road that can determine the course of the rest of your life. You have to find a job coming from difficult circumstances. You can use all the help you can get, but how to find it?

First, I want everyone to know that we have all the tools you will need to put you on an even playing field with your competition. With the economy losing millions of jobs under the incompetence of our almost former President, you’ve got an uphill battle ahead, but you do have an organization on your side. We will be providing resources you can use online, NOW. This website is not only to help you in adjusting to the cold cruel world, but to give you a place to express yourselves as this blog grows.

In the song, “Wish You Were Here”, by Pink Floyd (and how many haven’t uttered those words in their minds over and over again?), Roger Waters really gets to the heart of the “caged” experience and his music conveys the kind of feeling I’d like visitors to this site to have as you become comfortable with TCF (The Cost of Freedom). He talks about experiencing the “same old fears, year after year”. Pink Floyd:

I often tell people I’ve counseled to consider leaving incarceration for “freedom” similar to a death. The old you is dead. The past is history. Your challenge is to focus on what lies ahead, your future. You are very lucky. Because the death you are experiencing is in no way like a real death experience. For instance, rock star Eric Clapton lost his beloved 4 year-old son, Conor, in a fall from a building in New York. For almost a year, he couldn’t sing, perform, or function. Then, he overcame it by facing it head-on, and writing a song for his son, “Tears in Heaven”. Enjoy the song and make sure to bookmark this site.

Posted by: The Candid Blogger

Don Kirchner's True Story - "A Matter of Time"

Don Kirchner's newest book "Return To Honor"

As I watch the political debates and the news about the candidates on both sides, I’m surprised not to see or hear mention of crime prevention as a part of anyone’s campaign platform…even though our good senator from Arizona, John McCain, is an endorser of our Re-Entry efforts. Why not? They all know that proper “re-entry” programs for released offenders is an essential component of crime reduction because the U.S. Congress just recently passed the Second Chance Act and sent it to the President…who introduced it to Congress last year.

Barack Obama’s “movement” in politics brings sharply to mind another movement that is now underway in America that is just as important and impactful on our future as a nation. That is the re-entry of released felons back into their communities, and how to better prepare them for release and, once out, to keep them from committing new crimes and going back…commonly referred to as “recidivism.” So important to our survival as a society is this that nearly every state and many cabinet-level departments of the federal government have offices and departments dedicated to re-entry work. Even several large cities, where crime rates are highest, have recognized the need for more pro-active, preventive work in re-directing those who have done their time and who want to come back with a better attitude.

This is not rocket science. It is common and basic fundamentals of living. If you have a criminal record, no money in your pocket, and no one to extend a helping hand, any parole or probation officer will tell you that your chances of making it on the outside are nil.

The latest figures are out, and they indicate that the U.S. has just reached the one-in-every-100 mark for the ratio of the number of people locked up. That may not seem so significant, until you realize that there are close to 300 million Americans now. Do the math, and you’ll see why this figure is so discomforting. The fact that it continues to increase and we can’t build prisons fast enough to keep up with it should be alarming. Prison related industries make up the second or third highest item in the national budget. That wouldn’t be so bad, necessarily, except that we’re not “correcting” anyone, so all the money is going into something that is counterproductive…to an extreme.

You can read the report, which is easy to read and not at all confusing or complex to understand, at ABCNews.com. Once you’ve read this excellent piece of reporting, you’ll have a better sense of why we’re doing the work we do at the Return To Honor organization. We’re not about making things easier or more comfortable for prisoners, but rather we’re about working with those who have done their time honorably to help them get their feet on solid ground back in their communities. We’re about raising awareness and understanding on the part of corporate employers, civic and religious and community leaders to help in the process of giving those want to change a second chance.

If we don’t do something to build “bridges” back for the many who can and will do the right thing if they feel that people back home care enough to give them even a modicum of caring and respect for having paid their “dues,” we will only be paying that extremely high price for incarcerating them to have them go back and do it all over again…at our continued cost. That price, sadly, comes in terms not just of dollars, but in more crime, more violence, loss of lives and more hardened, increasingly embittered criminals. Many…if not most…felons want to change. They just don’t know how, or whom to trust or where to start. And they rarely have enough resources to last more than a few days back on their own. By diverting even a small fraction of that annual budget toward meaningful programs to help them prepare for release, and by extending a hand to those who want to change, we can make a huge difference in the bigger picture.