Return To Honor

One of the most powerful and endearing statements to ever come out of the military has been “No One Left Behind.” There are countless stories, many of them having resulted in earning someone the Medal Of Honor, that attest to how powerfully felt that statement is to those who have served in combat, and few things stirs our hearts more than to know that someone might feel that way about one of us when we are in trouble. It’s a bond of brotherhood and, if you like, of sisterhood that embraces the notion that we are all “family” in some way…that we belong to one another in some fashion. It is what made this country strong and truly great…families and the sense of “family” that compelled people to work together with a common cause, direction and purpose.
We need that sense of community and “family” now, in every aspect of our society…in our schools, our churches, workplaces and even in our streets. I know it’s hard to embrace that notion with regard to those who might appear to be against us or unwilling to treat us in the same fashion, but that does not diminish the need for us to stop thinking of anyone as separate from us and therefore undeserving of our consideration of their inherent value. If they are troublemakers or have broken laws, then certainly they must be punished…but they still need and deserve to be treated as human beings rather than the dregs of society.
By that I am not saying that we must be easy or soft on them. Quite the contrary. If they are a threat to us, they must be removed from society and kept locked up until they have been “corrected,” which means just that. To punish people harshly without any attempt to redirect their behavior and attitude is only to make them worse…more hateful, more vengeful. Many among them are veterans who have endured some of the most heinous acts of war, and returned to society expected to pick up where they left off.
Veterans or not, they are all someone’s brothers, or sisters, or fathers, mothers, uncles, and so on, and 90% of them will someday be released back into our communities. Do we want them back full of hatred and vengeance, or do we want safer streets and more productive citizens with greater incentive to do right in the world? It’s up to us to demand that they be properly educated and truly “corrected,” which is not as hard as some “experts” would have us believe. Many of them want to change. They just don’t know how, or whom to trust, and few of them leave prisons and jails with anything but the clothes on their backs. In war, which we are fighting on many levels, that’s tantamount to leaving them behind. Only these won’t die or go away. They’ll be in our faces and perhaps in our living rooms someday…and it won’t be to say thank you.
Don Kirchner
July 30, 2010

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

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

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"

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.

As we near the point of an “official” launch of something I set into motion over ten years ago, I feel it important to establish what this “Return To Honor” concept is all about. It’s about people, essentially, and how to begin respecting one another even though we might not agree with each other about politics, culture, religion or other important things. What is important is that we at least make an effort to understand cultural differences, and causes of ill behavior rather than reacting to the outward symptoms.

What makes me an expert on the subject? I’m not…but for 2 1/2 years I was an inmate in the federal prison system where I learned first-hand the best…and worst…lessons in human behavior, from people on BOTH sides of the fences and walls. I discovered that freedom is not a physical thing, but is emotional and psychological. I learned more about personal freedom from long-time inmates than I ever learned on the outside…and I’ve observed more people in prisons of their own minds on the outside than I did those who were actually locked up in prisons and jails. I laughed harder, cried more and felt more deeply about common human frailties, avarice and heroism on the inside of prison walls and jail cells than I have anywhere else, before or since.

The Return To Honor program was conceived at a time when my eyes, heart and mind first started to open to what really causes criminal behavior…and more importantly, what keeps it going…and its concept is simple but profound. With even a modicum of respect for one another, no matter what one’s personal history may be, we can make a measurable difference in criminal behavior that will have a ripple effect on every strata of American…and even global…society. Crime doesn’t happen because people are innately criminal. It happens because we don’t address the causes of crime. Instead, we react to it out of fear, ignorance and indifference…and we inflame it with racial and social prejudice and favoritism. No matter how “fair” we might think ourselves to be as a nation, we have created a correctional system that is anything but fair. It’s an incubator system where crime only begets more crime…and woe be it to anyone who enters it thinking otherwise. As individuals, some of us might make it through unscarred and untainted, but rarely “corrected.”

My comments and my views are not pointed at anyone in particular, nor as an outcry against “the system.” It’s what it is because we have allowed it to evolve the way it has. My respects to those who work in the justice, law enforcement and correctional systems. They have a horrendous job to do, which only gets harder and more complex as we continue to ignore the simplest approaches to human beings who have made mistakes. Some are incorrigible, granted. But the majority can and want to change. They just don’t know how, where to begin or whom to trust. My contention––and it’s been confirmed by many hundreds of people on both sides––is that we must be stern and resolute in correcting criminal behavior, but we must be willing to understand the causes and treat those. We do that with respect…and with common-sense approaches to creating bridges back “home” for those who have erred…many of whom never knew anything better.

In so doing, perhaps we can all “return to honor” as a nation of intelligent, compassionate people who take care of their own. With over two million men, women and children locked up somewhere in this country, every one of them someone’s father, brother, mother, sister, aunt, uncle or cousin, they ARE “our own.” Statistically, each one of them affects five to ten other people, so you can rest assured that any meaningful attempt to assist any of them in their successful return home WILL make a measurable difference for all of us.

More to come.

Don Kirchner