Gotta Have More MTC

Last year Arkansas released over 6,000 inmates from prison. Half will be back within three years, most for addiction related crimes. This high recidivism rate plus new convictions has our prisons and jails so full that it affects the performance of our justice system (i.e. no room in jail for new arrests, releasing inmates faster than the courts wish (Emergency Powers Acts), and unreasonable case loads for Parole Offers. The current situation led officials to “call the overcrowding in Arkansas prisons a crisis”.

As bad as the situation is, there is a bright spot. A small alternative incarceration program in Arkansas has achieved unusual success, cutting recidivism to 25%. The five Department of Community Correction Units around the State take non-violent offenders through a 9 mth program they developed termed “modified therapeutic community” (MTC). Residents in the program enter recovery to maintain sobriety, learn responsibility, and practice accountability. These ‘life skills’ are the foundation that DCC spiritual volunteers build upon in their teaching of courses like Men’s Fraternity, Celebrate Recovery, Alcoholics Anonymous, and Crown Financial.

A couple of UGM folks were interviewed in a Channel 4 Sept 2009 report:

What Changed the Bloodiest Prison in America?

Angola Prison in Louisiana was the most violent in the nation until Warden Burl Cain took over. What could change this large maximum security unit? Watch as Warden Cain takes us through a picture of current day Angola.

Video from the Arkansas Out4Life Conference

Warden Burl Cain from Paul Chapman on Vimeo.

Tashonda's Freedom

This post by Rita O’Kelley, ministry leader in the Wrightsville Hawkins Unit for women.

FREEDOM!!!

My name is Rita. I don’t carry a badge (think Joe Friday and Dragnet)
I am a prison ministry volunteer. I’ve been “in” for three years and
am now OUT. I’m out because God released Tashonda Whitlock today, September 8, 2009. He told me to be a mentor to Tashonda,
young 37 year old mother of two, in prison for 5 years. Today we both graduated into real life mentor/mentee on the outside. FREE!

It was a grand and glorious day in The Lord’s work. He shows up in the best ways, with high expectations and He never disappoints.

A group of us showed up (IFI staff and volunteers … friends ALL) to welcome Tashonda into her new life. The “old clothes” removed (prison whites… State issue clothing)… plopped into a plastic bag and sent back to prison, re-cycled for those still awaiting their big day. Amy Osborne is now walking in Tashonda’s shoes. Big shoes to fill.

We took pictures, hugged, cried, laughed, carried out a copy paper box full of her entire life, encapsulated in such small space it is a lesson to all of us as to what is important. Her Bible was not in that box. She carried it separately… kept it with her. When in my car, the Bible got placed inside her new black purse. Tashonda carries The Word with her everywhere. It is hidden in her heart… but also in her purse.

The rest of the day is a blur…. Her First meal was On The Border… steak fajitas and a Dr. Pepper. Yum! She was clearly in heaven. We prayed, ate, shared God stories, passed around gifts and chips and salsa. A nice gentleman recently returned from vacation in Alaska offered to take all of our pictures together. Yea! 8 smiling faces

After lunch we detoured from our shopping plan and made our first
(of many) trips to the Parole Office in N. Little Rock. We sat in the waiting room, waiting to see her new Parole Officer, with no appointment. As I sat wondering how long this would take and bemoaning the fact we were not shopping for essentials (for a girl), those fears were soon dispelled as IFI Counselor Tena trounced back to the inner sanctum to high-five and visit with her old buds from her P.O. days (that would be Parole Officer, not Post office). She found our officer and we were soon whisked back to her office…. Down many long narrow hallways formerly used for bowling balls but now remodeled for parolee business. Take breadcrumbs… you won’t find your way back out of there without a trail!

Patricia Shade (IFI) and I escorted Tashonda outside after setting up her first appointment and waited for Tena to emerge from her fun reunion with former co-workers and supervisors.

Off we go to take Tashonda to the Rens’ house where she will live for a while until she has a job and an apartment of her own. Everyone is thrilled with the accommodations. What is not to love… her own “suite” downstairs with a sitting room with TV And movies, a patio overlooking a beautiful back yard, bedroom and bath… all on her own, privacy… real toilet… a shower where you don’t have to wear flip flops… no one watching…. New fun-smelling shower and bath products.

I had to tear myself away to head back to Wrightsville for my last class with Group 2 who have now completed their 18-month program. More tears… passing the roll around (prison Kleenex comes on a roll… also known as toilet paper). We laughed, danced, sang, shared, said our goodbyes and farewells and “see ya laters”. We will be back from time to time, for graduations, holiday banquets, other occasions.

But the real fun happened just now when I went to the ADC website, plugged in Tashonda’s NUMBER and name and "No Matches Found - Please Try Again" is what popped up! Nope, don’t think so. I think that information is entirely accurate, forever. Tashonda is out. She is OUT4LIFE!

- Rita O’Kelley

One Year Later...

I love that we have these two videos of Jerry. The first was taken the day he walked out of prison after doing 14 years.

The second was shot a year later on the day he graduated from the IFI Program. The piece is for the upcoming Out4Life Conference at Fellowship Bible Church in September.

I love the opening story.

CAN YOU BELIEVE THESE STATS?

Wanted to share the cool PSA we created for the Out4Life Reentry Conference.



The Conference is September 14 - 16, 2009 in Little Rock, AR. Click here for details: www.out4life.com

Out4Life Graphics

Wanted to share the cool 'leave behind' created for the Arkansas Out4Life Conference. Jeff Pace, Benton, did an outstanding job.

A lot of people have been working hard to make this conference great. Checkout the Out4Life website for details (speakers, breakouts, etc...).  

Doing the Deal

There is not enough taught about helping folks in crisis.

It's hard and unpredictable.

People are messy and, when in crisis, can generate huge amounts of chaos. But just because it's difficult doesn't mean that we give up or worse, play the spectator.

No, each person has great value... no matter how mad we are at them. And helping them is a worthy endeavor if you count yourself among those who follow Jesus (Matt 25:31ff).

When someone is in crisis (drugs, alcohol, transitioning from prison to free world) here are the principles we equip or our folks with and demand of those we're helping (aka 'the deal'):

For our Folks
No matter how much you love, how strong your personality, or the amount of resource (housing, job, etc...) you bring to bear on an individual, if he/she doesn't 'will' to get better, then they won't. They aren't ready. To protect ourselves and increase the number of people we can help, we communicate early and often:

"As soon as we become more interested in your success / sobriety than you are, we're done".

This does not mean that we drop a guy or gal just because they make a bad choice. In fact I'm often surprised by how many bad choices some folks can string together. At times we could help the guy most by instructing them to 'just do the opposite of what you would normally do'. But if we get to the point where they no longer are seeking to change/grow, then we're out. Some come back and we start over, but we don't enable.

For those we seek to help
The non-negotiables for an individual to enter our aftercare program are:

• Active Member of Alcoholics Anonymous
• Active Member of Celebrate Recovery (must find a sponsor in either AA or CR)
• Active Member of our church

If the guy or gal will do these things then we'll help with housing, employment, transportation, etc...

Each of these points, we think, has healthy expectations of, and seeks to influence vital behaviors in participating members.

In the next post I'll explain why we've chosen these (after much debate) and why we recommend to this course of action to those we consult.

Disappointment

If you're helping addicts, disappointment can be part of the deal.

Today we learned:

• that a guy we've poured tons of time, prayer, and effort into is gone. Last seen with a drug user. We've resourced this guy unlike anyone before. He had potential to do much good for many.
  
• another man we were helping died. Our guy dropped him off at home yesterday. Cause of death unclear at the moment.
  

This has put several guys in a funk. It's hard. That's why it's so important to do this kind of thing in community with other believers.

In the next post we'll list the principles we use in 'aftercare'. These give us tracks to run on, protect our folks, and set proper expectations with those we hope to help.

Out4Life

This is big.

A Prison Fellowship Out 4 Life Conference is coming to Arkansas Sept 14-16.

The purpose of the movement is to educate, equip, and network community stakeholders for the purpose of reducing recidivism.

I don't think there's been anything like this. A partnership of the Department of Correction, Prison Fellowship, and the Church. Our goal is the same... reducing recidivism.

I have the privilege to serve on the planning team and can make this promise to church leaders: you will have a more effective ministry to the families and individuals who are experiencing the consequences of breaking the law. From explaining the justice process (cop, jail, prosecutor, judge, prison, parole, reentry), to relationships of trust with government staff, to effective in-prison programs your congregation can run, to practices most likely to lead to a successful transition back into society.

We're so committed to equipping church leaders, that we're flying in a specialist in volunteerism. Don Simmons is a long time seminary professor and one of the foremost thought leaders on 'serving as discipleship'. He will speak at a special dinner Monday night just for church leaders on the most effective way to call your congregation to serve (it isn't from the pulpit folks). His Tues breakout will equip you to create an ever growing movement of service (heard of TAFFER?). I would attend the conference just to interact with Don.

I'll post more details in the coming weeks. If you can't wait, contact me and I'll give you the brief on other presenters and activities.