Delaware's justice system overlooks the value of family
Strong bonds reduce recidivism
unhappygrammy-(NH's Justice system is no better, along with many of the other states. Between the courts and DCYF/CPS, the value of family doesn't mean anything anymore)
Families make up the social fabric of what society is and how society develops. According to the National Resource Center on Children and Families of the Incarcerated, 2.3 million people were held in federal and state prisons and jails in 2007.
Imagine the millions of family members, including children, who are directly affected. Jeremy Travis, president of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, put it well when he said, "Prisons separate prisoners from their families. Every individual sent to prison leaves behind a network of family relationships.
"Prisoners are children, parents, siblings and kin to untold numbers of relatives who are each affected differently by a family member's arrest, incarceration and ultimate homecoming."
Studies show that strong family ties during incarceration have a positive effect on people returning from prison, and those who have access to family support are more successful than those who do not in various re-entry outcomes.
The Family & Corrections Network concurred, issuing the following statement at the First National Leadership Conference on Families of Adult Offenders in 1986: "Strong prisoner-family relationships reduce recidivism, and stronger family ties for offenders mean safer communities."
A number of recommendations were made as a result of this conference. They include training agency staff to value and respect offenders' families; providing family support services throughout the criminal justice process, from arrest through release; providing adequate access to information for families, even orientating them to the criminal justice processes; and providing special training to agency staff regarding treatment of prisoners' children.
It was collectively determined by conference participants, ranging from law and government representatives to local and faith-based practitioners, that it is "in the best interest of the criminal justice system to maintain and strengthen family ties through the adoption of system-wide policies and programs."
Unfortunately, the criminal justice system as a whole lacks adequate support for prisoner-family relationships and, to date, Delaware is no exception. The current I-ADAPT Re-entry Model has no mention of the importance of supporting family relationships among prisoners.
The model, implemented with a back-end emphasis, focuses a large portion of its current application on the need and importance of community organizations providing support to prisoners upon release.
The Delaware Department of Correction's policy regarding offender re-entry names 12 criteria "to be reviewed, addressed or services provided," none of which mention the families of prisoners or supporting family ties during incarceration or beyond. After further investigation, I learned there are no policies, programs or services that exist at all within DOC that support maintaining or strengthening prisoner-family relationships.
As a concerned citizen and advocate, I say this must change. The evidence exists and the data are clear that positive family relationships play a significant role in a prisoner's incarceration, rehabilitation and successful transition and re-entry back to society. Family members of prisoners have been criminalized with their loved ones for merely caring and giving their support.
In reality, family members of prisoners are the underlying allies in cultivating safer prison environments and safer communities.
There are a number of prisoners who do not have any family support or family relationships at all. These are the prisoners who will rely most heavily on the numerous stabilization services our community and faith-based organizations provide in order to successfully reintegrate. However, there are a number of prisoners whose family members are present in our communities and committed to supporting their loved ones.
These families, already in a crisis due to the incarceration, work tirelessly to navigate a system that shamelessly dismisses their worth and value. Family members go on to deal with harsh and insensitive treatment by those employed in criminal justice agencies. This behavior is modeled from the highest leadership down, and this should not be so.
Every autonomous component of our criminal justice system should realize the significance of supporting family-prisoner relationships and its benefits to society.
Will Delaware take seriously the opportunity to do what is not only effective but right when it comes to preserving Delaware families, reducing recidivism and enhancing public safety? Families are counting on it.
Does that mean changing the way some things are done? Absolutely.
Albert Einstein said it best in words of timeless wisdom: "Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex. ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction."
Heather Smith-Chandler, co-founder of Link of Love, a support and resource network
for families with incarcerated loved ones, lives in Dover.
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20100530/OPINION08/5300301/1004/OPINION
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