Op-Ed: Released inmates need our support

By Guest

By Michael G. Bellotti and John J. Larivee

Imagine walking out of jail with nothing except a change of clothes and no money in your pocket. You want to apply for a job, but can’t because you don’t have a driver’s license, photo ID, or even a Social Security card. You head to the Registry of Motor Vehicles to get an ID, but can’t because you don’t have the money to pay for it and you don’t have a fixed address. You’ve struggled with a substance abuse problem for years and have no idea where to turn for help.

Less than one day into your new life and it seems that every door is closed to you. You’re lost.

The vast majority of people in the commonwealth’s county jails and state prisons will someday be released home, and as it stands today, too many of them end up in shelters or on the streets. Over the last 12 months, about 3,000 men have returned to Norfolk County communities from the Norfolk County Correctional Center each year. Another 3,000 men and women returned from state prison to communities across the state.

As the Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office knows well, community-based reentry services providing building blocks for a new life outside prison walls are the best deterrent to reoffending. Partnerships between the Norfolk Sheriff’s Office and community-based services are key links in the reentry chain of success.

We see the evidence in those who engage with our Norfolk County Community Corrections Center, which provides educational programming, life skills, vocational instruction, and substance use treatment programming. However, statewide the commonwealth has neglected these programs and reduced their funding. We need to change that.

In the last 18 months, four programs that provided community-based reentry services have closed due to loss of funding.

* Span Inc. closed in August 2017 after over 40 years of providing community case management and substance abuse services to citizens returning from incarceration.

* Overcoming the Odds, a city, state, and community partnership, ended in 2016 after three years of providing housing and case management to high-risk individuals returning to the Boston area.

* Worcester Initiative for Supportive Reentry ended services when its grant funds ran out.

* McGrath House, the only residential reentry program specifically for women in Boston, closed on April 2.

Support, guidance, and accountability when someone is in the community — facing the stresses of starting a new life — is where the rubber meets the road. Without these reentry resources being made available to individuals as they are released from custody, the chances of successful reintegration back into society are greatly diminished. That affects public safety. That’s where our emphasis needs to be.

Community-based residential reentry services provide safe housing, workforce development, and case management that build connections and stability for those returning to our communities from prison and jail. Post-release supervision in a halfway house utilizing evidence-based programming reduces recidivism by up to 25 percent for high-risk individuals.

While the effectiveness of community-based re-entry services are widely recognized, Massachusetts has not invested in them. In fact, the commonwealth’s $40 billion state budget includes just $90,000 for community-based residential reentry. That’s roughly the same amount it costs to incarcerate two people in state prison for a year.

Massachusetts is on the cusp of enacting long-overdue criminal justice reform legislation. If we’re serious about achieving the gains of that reform, we must invest in community-based reentry services. A coalition of advocates, including Community Resources for Justice, is urging the legislature to dedicate $5 million for community-based residential re-entry. This will provide funding for approximately 450 individuals to begin their reintegration back to the community with a fair shot: a bed to sleep in, help getting a job, health care, counseling, permanent housing and an ID. By providing connections to housing and employment for people who often have difficulty accessing them, we can strengthen our communities and make them safer for all of us.

For our criminal justice reform efforts to be successful, we need to make sure more men and women who’ve served their time in prison get the support they need to never go back. Please join us in supporting a real investment in community-based residential reentry.

Michael G. Bellotti is the Sheriff of Norfolk County. John J. Larivee is the president and CEO of Community Resources for Justice.

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