New York: Imprisonment should not translate into lifetime punishment.
This was emphasised by Mr Glenn E Martin, vice president at the Fortune Society, a New York-based organisation that helps formerly incarcerated people and their families, at a meeting with Correctional Services Minister Sibusiso Ndebele at the College and Community Fellowship and the Education from the Inside Out Coalition offices in New York yesterday, Tuesday 9 July 2013.
The mission of the College & Community Fellowship is to eliminate individual and social barriers to education, civic participation and economic security for persons with criminal convictions and their families.
Martin, an ex-offender who served six years in prison, said: "Most people come out of prison and they are very energised and they have hope and they are looking to do the right thing. But what they come up against is what is really common for people coming out of prison: lifetime consequences.
“In some states, convicts are banned from public housing. In others, they are barred from public assistance. And the ubiquity of inexpensive, electronic criminal background checks has made it all too convenient for employers to discriminate, often illegally, against people with criminal records. It's really easy to commit crime when you can persuade yourself that no one else out there is convinced of your rehabilitation.
The tremendous amount of hope with which people come out of prison is often buoyed with a tremendous amount of fear of failure. There’s just enough time to get smacked in the face with, 'I'm out of prison but I'm in this proverbial prison of stigma and all of these other barriers that society has created for me. And in some areas the barriers are especially steep.
“It is no coincidence that New York State has the largest network of Alternative to Incarceration (ATI) programmes in the USA and, that unlike other large states such as California, Florida and Texas, it has seen crime and incarceration rates plummet simultaneously—improving public safety and saving much-needed revenue. New York has clearly reaped the rewards from the ‘Classification/Alternatives to Incarceration Act’.
We should demand that our elected officials and policy makers find even smarter, more efficient, and fairer ways of safely reducing their jails and prisons. It’s a wise investment in people and in the communities where they live,” said Martin.
Later today, Wednesday 10 July, Minister Ndebele will visit Rikers Island, New York City's main jail complex. The jail complex, operated by the New York City Department of Correction, has a budget of $860 million a year, a staff of 9,000 officers and 1,500 civilians to control an inmate population of 14,000.
The Minister, accompanied by Correctional Services Chief Operations Officer Ms Nontsikelelo Jolingana, Chief Deputy Commissioner for Community Corrections Ms Pumla Mathibela and KwaZulu-Natal Regional Commissioner Mr Mnikelwa Nxele, is currently on a study tour to California and New York to study, and observe, various issues pertaining to the monitoring of offenders, and officials, in order to consolidate a best-practice model for South Africa.
Enquiries:
Logan Maistry
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