Parole—The First 24 Hours—a story

...the motivation behind the Community Support Group Project.

With a clean slate and within minutes of leaving the correctional facility a parolee, who sincerely believes they are intent on going straight, is usually picked up at the gate by a spouse, family member, or friend. Quite possibly they are asked, "Would you like to drive?" They are elated. Both "forget" that the parolee's driving license has expired. They accept the offer and cautiously pull out onto the freeway. The experience of freedom is exhilarating. Soon they find themselves being passed by those going faster than the posted limit. They dutifully obey the law resisting the urge to keep up with the flow. But their passenger says, as though they are joking, "Hey, you've been inside too long, you're holding up traffic." The parolee, now trained to follow instructions without hesitation, unwittingly succumbs to the peer pressure. And so, within minutes of parole the parolee has been lovingly supported by a true "friend" in breaking two a laws, risking sanctions by their parole officer if they get a ticket.

The parolee then asks their friend if they can stop at a book store because he promised his parole officer he would buy a study guide for the upcoming carpenter journeyman's test. The friend says, "Great, I'll treat you to some good coffee at Borders." The parolee buys his book and then his friend buys two cups of coffee and sets them on a table. His friend then leads the parolee to the magazine rack. He urges him to pick out a few magazines to read. Not wanting to be a stick-in-the-mud he does, knowing full well it's wrong, and that he's ripping off not only the merchant but the distributors and authors.  He feels uncomfortable doing it and keeps looking up, expecting a clerk to ask, "May I see your receipt please?" In prison even minor infractions can lead to loss of privileges. The friend sees his furtive looks and further encourages him, "Relax. Look around. Everyone does it." It doesn't occur to him that Borders is capitalizing on a customer's unethicalness—it ultimately generates more sales. A "Feel free to read" sign would support everyone's integrity.

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The "friend" is totally unaware that twice now they have supported the parolee in resorting to the same kinds of behaviors that contributed to his incarceration. Later the friend will say to others, "Yah, it's too bad. I could tell he was heading back to prison."

Later at home an old friend stops by and asks if he wants to go see some of the guys. He eagerly accepts the invitation. The guys are drinking beer. A few are smoking pot. He reluctantly refuse both. Everyone laughs but they understand and seemingly accept his decision. However, they keep kidding him, offering him tokes, trying to assure themselves he's still one of the guys. Later, when a few whom he respects have left the party, he finally has one beer and just two tokes.

On the way home, the owner of the car casually mentions that the car is not insured. This is a given for perhaps a third of his old friends so it's no big thing. It's always been that way. The parolee just accepts it, unaware of the friend's unethical dump, an unconscious test to see just how straight the parolee is going to go. Silence assures the perpetrator that the parolee is still the same old supportive friend.

At home, sitting around the kitchen table, his mother mentions how helpful his brother has been while he's been away, "He let me claim that he lives here so I could get more food stamps and welfare money."  Again, silence is complicity. It is unthinkable for the parolee to say anything about the fraud. It's always been that way, one "small" scam or another. Nothing really serious, but nevertheless, unethical.

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Each perpetration² throughout the day eroded the experience of wholesome integrity that was there earlier in the morning. Each complicity having its own consequence. Each perpetration begs to be acknowledged to prevent compounding consequences.

Not having anyone to clear with, to acknowledge the day's perpetrations, the parolee falls asleep, but it's not the healthy sleep of a person committed to integrity. He is neither whole nor complete, "But what the heck," he mutters to himself dozing off, "nobody else is either."

All this occurs within less than 24 hours. For our parolee tomorrow will not be a new day, merely more of the same. —Kerrith h. (Kerry) King

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Notes:

It's not too hard to see the correlation between recidivism³ and a community's communication support skills.

Just as there is a way to communicate that inspires integrity so too is there a way that enables and empowers unethical behaviors. The communication skills used throughout the community, the ones taught to us by our parents and teachers, also support recidivism.

Time and again we've seen what happens when we release a parolee back into his/her community of social and familial relationships—most resume relating with the people that supported, however unconsciously, their incarceration.

Parolees who engage in conversations with parents, loved ones, friends, and community members, those who have not concurrently participated in their own rehabilitation program, are at great risk. How we communicate effects all with whom we relate.

It's a remarkable testament to the communication-leadership skills of Hawaii's correctional professionals that the majority of our parolees succeed. It's possible that the reason rehabilitation programs are not more successful is because none include community participation. Whether or not a parolee successfully integrates back into the community is determined by the willingness of the community to accept responsibility for the effects of its communication model, and to put in correction. The Community Support Group Project allows everyone to participate in the successful integration of each parolee.

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