#95 Post release issues (retro)

Post Release Issues

I think this is a situation that is completely ignored and swept under the rug when it comes to the needs of an ex felon who is returning to society. Our country has continually shown that we ignore the “misfits” of society and pray to God that somebody else takes care of them.

It’s like having $100 in your pocket, headed to the mall to blow on some clothes and you pass an elderly woman with only $10.00 in Food Stamps (or EBT cards if you prefer). You KNOW that woman needs help, and you are in a position to help, but you walk past, hoping somebody else will have the courage that you apparently lack.

We see this all the time in our “great country”. Men and women go across the ocean to defend our country and come back in debt, and we turn a deaf ear to it while our government is busy bailing out businesses made of shady characters who take your tax dollars and spend it on a party.

We even see this with ex felons. Now I will be the first to admit that a man or woman who serves in the military OUGHT to be taken care of first, but after that, society needs to seriously look at the post release issues of inmates. In short, what must we be aware of when an ex felon is released, and how can we get that person back to a patriotic, good-citizen human being and a compliment to his community.

In my opinion, we fail in every step of whatever process there is supposed to be to help a fallen man stand up. More times than not, the parole or probation process isn’t geared to help the ex felon integrate back into society, it serves as a paddle, ready to punish the ex felon on ANY mistakes, rather than helping them.

When an ex felon is released, you really have to get some idea of what that person needs in order to make good on his new freedom. There are many aspects that we could discuss, but in keeping this short, I won’t get into that much. But you don’t need to be an expert on prison issues to understand some of the things an ex felon needs when he is released.

One of the biggest things he needs is a second chance. One of the things I can say about the Dallas Cowboys is that the owner seems to believe in second chances. Just look at the players on the team, many of them have been turned away from the other teams because they didn’t want any part of them. Even the owner of the Atlanta Falcons recently said that even in light of what Michael Vick did, he deserves a second chance.

But regular society does not embrace that too well. As the saying goes, once a con, always a con.

And this is where the problem starts. In order to fully address the problems of ex felons in post release, we have to get across this problem. Many people are of the mindset that a person who goes to prison can never be trusted…and tell me again how much money we as a country gave to a bail out a bunch of money-hungry jerks? It cost us almost a Trillion dollars to bail out, or give a SECOND CHANCE to a bunch of millionaires who could care less about the average Joe. And we’ll argue and whine about it for awhile but we’ll forget about it because after all, those guys aren’t con men, are they?

Only people who go to PRISON are con men.

When I decided to start deleting my blogs, one person on one of the blogs criticized me for “expecting people to pay me”. This idiot missed about 99% of my entire reasoning for blogging, and saw me as a “con” for looking for support in my writing. See, it’s easy to find fault with me, I wear it like a chain of thorns. But you can’t blame those people who suckered our government into giving all that money, because they can’t be con men.

We have an image that we perceive of ex felons, and as long as that image is embedded in our minds, we are in no position to help a man or woman get their life back, because we’re too busy judging them. It’s the very first step we must defeat if we are going to help ex felons in post release. If you cannot get past this, then half the battle is lost.

I mean, who looks more promising, a man dressed in a used suit who just got out of prison a week ago, needing a job, or a well dressed executive who works on Wall Street….be serious, who would YOU give your favor to?

But if you knew that man in that used suit as paid his debt and wants nothing more than to provide for himself and his family the best way he can, while the well dressed executive just got a bailout of $2.5 million dollars, of which he plans to jet off to France with, who THEN would you favor?

Sadly, the answer would still be the same.

Again, this is a much deeper situation than I am willing to write at this moment, but one that somebody better address. Your loved one is due out of prison soon, and you need answers, or your loved one is already out, and you still need answers and understanding. What are you gonna do?