After 40 years behind bars, James Pharms is trying to understand how to be a free man.

Since 1977, Pharms, has spent less than two years out of prison, missing his daughters growing up and the birth of grandchildren.

“I still can’t get over it,” Pharms, now 57, said of his November release from the Indiana Department of Correction.

His most serious brush with the law came in 1993, when he was convicted of dealing cocaine in East Chicago and conspiracy to commit murder for threatening to kill a witness in the case, court records show.

Several years into that 25-year sentence at the Westville Correctional Facility, inspired by Oprah’s book club, he started to read, inspired by the Book of Job to let go and break with the past.

“I don’t want to put myself in a position where I return to prison,” he said. “So, I’m going to take it one day at a time, get used to society.”

“I have a problem communicating with a lot of people,” Pharms said. “There’s certain codes that we live by (in prison). It’s going to take me a long time getting that out of my system.”

He plans to apply for disability benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder and hopes to return to juvenile jails to talk with younger inmates, hoping to spare them from the same fate.

“I went back because of my own selfishness,” he said later. “I realized I couldn’t keep doing this because it’s affecting my family.”

He said his grandchildren are the biggest influences keeping him out, Pharms said.

Men who spend “25, 26 years don’t go back to prison,” he said. “They wake up.”

‘Peer-to-peer’ support group

Months after his release, Pharms joined a new re-entry group in Gary for ex-inmates.

As he entered a conference room of a building in the 800 block of Broadway, he saw a handful of men he spent years together with in prison.

Like Pharms, many had been incarcerated on-and-off since their teens. Now in their 50s and 60s, they were looking for a chance to start over.

“We understand there’s more years behind us than in front of us,” Pharms said. “We have to take advantage of the years that’s in front of us.”

The idea was to connect them to other men with similar experiences and eventually social and job services to help ease their transition, Gary Commission on the Social Status of Black Males Executive Director Bennie Muhammad said.

They borrowed the idea from a similar Chicago program started by Benny Lee, former Vice Lords gang leader who is now director of the National Alliance for the Empowerment of the Formerly Incarcerated, Muhammad said. Lee moderated the July 17 meeting.

About a dozen people attended on July 17, including Zolo Azania, a co-moderator, who was recently paroled after being convicted and sentenced to death in the 1981 killing of George Yaros, a Gary police officer.

Suzanne Tennant / Post-Tribune Zolo A. Azania reads guided tenets and meditations on positive living from the program during the "Re-entry Circle" meeting at 839 Broadway in Gary. Zolo A. Azania reads guided tenets and meditations on positive living from the program during the "Re-entry Circle" meeting at 839 Broadway in Gary. (Suzanne Tennant / Post-Tribune)

Others included Lorenzo Stone-Bey, 59. Federal appeal court records show he was convicted in 1976 for killing late Gary Mayor Rudy Clay’s brother when, at 17, he and four others tried to rob a Gary bar.

Released on that conviction nearly 20 years ago, he had since returned to prison. Released again recently and now living in a shelter, he told others in the group he wanted to stay out for good.

“I’m 59 years old, the average lifespan is 72,” he said after. “Whatever I can do to help someone else, I’ll be grateful. I’ve missed out on too much of my life.”

‘When they have paid their debt to society, that’s what that means’

Nationally, 67.8 percent of ex-prisoners were rearrested within three years and 76.6 percent within five years, according to a 2005 study of more than 400,000 prisoners by the U.S. Department of Justice. More than half of those who returned to prison were arrested in their first year, the report said.

In Lake County, nearly 30 percent of ex-prisoners were rearrested within three years, according to the state Department of Correction figures from 2016. A little more than 55 percent of those arrested returned on parole violations, it said.

Life outside of prison walls can be too overwhelming for some inmates, said American Institutes for Research researcher Roger Jarjoura, a former Indiana University professor.

“They absolutely know how to get back inside,” he said. If rearrested, “people aren’t going to work with them to keep them out. The system is not going to be patient with them.”

Part of an effective transition includes transitional job programs, stable housing, mental health services, substance abuse counseling, Jarjoura said.

“In general, the older they are, the better they do after they get out,” he said. “I think people just age out of some of the more violent and reckless behavior.”

The idea of transitioning ex-offenders is emotionally difficult in cases of violent felony convictions like murder or rape, especially for victims or families.

“When they have paid their debt to society, that’s what that means,” he said. “When you’ve done your time and you’ve earned the right to be released, that’s what they’ve earned.”

Forgiveness is ‘the best thing you can do’

When a criminal case goes to court, Niki Fitusis sends a packet to victims with what to expect and tries to provide emotional support through the process.

Especially in murder cases, families want to remain the voice for their loved ones as they seek justice, said Fitusis, one of two Lake County victim advocates.

“They have fought and hurt, they’re upset,” she said.

If there is a conviction, she provides information on how to keep tabs on where inmates are incarcerated and how the appeals process will work.

Suzanne Tennant / Post-Tribune Benny Lee, center, speaks during a "Re-entry Circle" meeting in Gary. Benny Lee, center, speaks during a "Re-entry Circle" meeting in Gary. (Suzanne Tennant / Post-Tribune)

As a trial ends, families of victims are left with a new reality where their loved ones are not coming back, she said. She often urges forgiveness, but knows it is a painful and personalized process.

“I will tell families, the best thing you can do is forgive,” she said. “Some aren’t ready to hear that.”

‘Let the process take its course’

By 41, Charles Blacknell had spent 20 years in prison. After his 2005 release, he was determined to stay out of prison.

"It's a weird transition," he said six months after his release, according to a 2006 Post-Tribune story. "I ain't got nobody breathing down my neck telling me when to eat, sleep and go to the bathroom."

Almost immediately, he got connected to the Lake County Corrections’ Positive Impact program where he later became a supervisor from 2011 to 2015.

Now 53, he came to the meeting with his son, 2. He credited a close family and support groups with helping him stay out of prison.

“My advice to them is keep coming to the support groups,” he said. “ You’ve just got to be patient and let the process take its course.”

“I’m not going to let anybody determine how I live the rest of my life,” he said, “because I’m determined to do it.”