by Tracy Phernetton

Created on: November 27, 2008

Healing America Within:

A Chronicle of Faith & Justice

Introduction

There is little dispute that inmate re-entry is a potentially serious social problem that can no longer escape attention. The sheer number of people involved is one factor precipitating a crisis in this area. At mid-year 2004, there were an estimated 2.1 million adults serving time in prison (Harrison & Beck). Arguably, inmates reentering society are an especially unstable group. In a 15-state study, two-thirds of prisoners released in 1994 were arrested during a three-year follow-up period (Hughes, Wilson, & Beck, 2001; Langan & Levin, 2002). The process of re-entry appears to have become more difficult for inmates, with just under half of parolees completing their parole supervision successfully, a 25 percent decrease from just 20 years ago (Glaze, 2002).

In the context of an era of "get tough" policies, the re-entry movement represents an important effort to provide social services to offenders as they reintegrate into the community. The question that remains is whether the re-entry programs being proposed and implemented are likely to be effective and with whom. The issue of effectiveness is complicated because the reentry process involves both the assumption of productive social roles and restraint from criminal behavior. The question we address is whether the re-entry programs being proposed are likely to be successful. Specifically, are these programs and services properly designed to address the issues of these high-risk and high-need offenders?

Background

It is widely unknown to many that the origins of the Faith-Based formats were first developed in Brazil. Carol Vance, a former Harris County District Attorney and former chairman of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice took a trip to Brazil and visited a Faith-Based Prison Rehabilitation program in the region called, "InnerChange," and discovered that the program had achieved dramatic results. Carol then took her discovery back to Texas where she would be the first to inform then, Texas Governor, George W. Bush of Brazil's unique approach to the "repeat offender syndrome." Brazil called their specific Offender Reentry Program "InnerChange," which complimented their innovative Faith-Based umbrella program.

By the time the news of Brazil's revolutionary approach to social ills reached Texan territory, Governor Bush had already proposed and enacted two similar laws having to do with addressing social issues in a rather

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