Why society should embrace ex-convicts

 When perceived as a punishment, prison leads to anger, bitterness and the need for revenge once the sentence is completed Photo: Courtesy

In recent years, it has become common for the press to report that horrendous crimes were committed by people who had just been released from jail.

This poses the question, how effective are prisons are correctional services? The reality is that serving time for a crime does not always translate to a state of non-offending. Recidivism – going back to crime – happens nearly as often as getting to a permanent state of never committing a crime.

Change is a personal decision or choice, removing a person from the community to serve time for an offense may not stop them from getting back to crime. Much as it is supposed to ‘repair the offender’, unfortunately the need or deficit that led them to crime in the first place may never have been addressed while they were serving time.

Take the case of someone who is charged with robbery with violence because their desire for a better life away from the slums him to crime. They served time, are now back in the community. They may have learnt from their mistake and found ways to fulfill their needs but without post release supervision they could easily go back to crime.

Crime is a behaviour and has a lot to do with the cognitive and emotional process. Serving time is meant to be rehabilitative. Unfortunately, when perceived as a punishment, it leads to anger, bitterness and the need for revenge once the sentence is completed. An ex-convict may harbour thoughts like ‘after all everyone thinks am bad so why shouldn’t I just be; life is unfair; I am discriminated that’s why no one will give me a job; I must get back at the person who made me serve time;.....’. The behaviour, or crime, is therefore easily repeated and the person ends up behind bars again.

Incapacitation – removal from the community to stop them from committing a crime – may lead to a sense of detachment. Duration of time and the reception one receives when they get out plays a big role in whether one fits into the community or not. If they are discriminated against, labelled as is usually the case, they feel disoriented, don’t how and where to ‘pick up the pieces of their life’. This may be very difficult depending on the personality leading to offending once again just so that they get back to prison where no one really ‘judges them’.

Prison experiences have a major effect on recidivism. ‘Networking’ happens a lot while in prison and these are the contacts one tends to keep and use once they get out. For the younger people, being exposed to offenders who have higher propensities to crime may increase criminal behaviour or reinforce antisocial attitudes. There is a also chance that one may be hardened while serving time so when they get out they have been prepared for worse things.

A network of ex-convicts is a good thing for the group because they support each other but it’s also a precarious situation because their everyday interaction could revolve around the prison experience.

Faced with challenges, they can easily go back to crime. This group is also easy prey for those who want to take advantage of them and use them to commit crimes. It may only take one to be lured back into crime and the rest are in.

Thus, the best way of making it more difficult for ex-convicts to go back to crime is to fully integrate them back into the community.

 The writer is a clinical psychologist based in Kisumu