SPRINGDALE -- The United States has the highest imprisoned population in the world. Many of those prisoners will one day face the challenge of re-entering society.
An After the Arrest Summit was featured Saturday at The Jones Center in Springdale to help people who work with nonprofit organizations, volunteer in prisons or have incarcerated loved ones better understand the challenges former inmates face re-entering the community.
The Northwest Arkansas Reentry Coalition
The Northwest Arkansas Reentry Coalition meets monthly at the Returning Home prison ministry, 703 N. Thompson St. in Springdale.
The coalition’s mission is to foster the successful reentry into society of justice-involved individuals through support, education and advocacy with community stakeholders.
Anyone who works with or volunteers in support of incarcerated individuals is welcome to attend.
The next meeting is from 11 a.m. to noon Sept. 18.
Source: Staff report
About 90 people attended the event hosted by Returning Home, a Springdale-based prison ministry. The summit featured speakers who addressed topics such as trauma healing, culture change, community recovery and boundaries.
"Our goal is to embrace men and women coming out of incarceration whose paths are hindering the future they desire," said Nick Robbins, Returning Home executive director.
More than 100,000 people are released from state and federal prisons weekly, according to the Department of Justice.
Robbins said 460 people are released from incarceration in Northwest Arkansas monthly.
Former inmates may find themselves in what Robbins described as a second prison upon their release because of the limitations placed upon them.
Many prior prisoners struggle to find work, a place to live or repair relationships damaged through their incarceration, he said.
"Now you can't live most places in Northwest Arkansas, now you can't work in most places, now most people don't want to reach out to you to help you," Robbins said. "What we're doing is we're putting people in the position that leads to their failure at a higher rate because of how we deal with re-entry."
Joey Abshure, 39, of Springdale attended the summit Saturday. He said he's been in and out of prison since 1997.
Abshure participated in a 90-day re-entry program with Returning Home and now serves as a re-entry specialist with the nonprofit group.
He's spent a total of 18 years in prison for drug-related offenses and said transitioning from prison can be overwhelming.
"You come out and you feel like everybody can tell that that's who you are, so it's uncomfortable to even walk in and open your own bank account," he said of being a former inmate.
Inmates can leave prison with a lack of understanding on how to navigate things like applying for a job or participating in a job interview, Abshure said. That lack of knowledge may lead former inmates to revert to what they can relate to.
"You just resulted back to what you already knew how to do," he said, explaining it was selling drugs in his case.
About 53% of people released from prison in Arkansas return to incarceration, Robbins said, noting the state hasn't legitimized policies concerning prisoner re-entry into society.
"You have small organizations like Returning Home and others that are just doing the best they can with very limited resources and a great heart, but they can only impact so many," he said. Returning Home is able to provide re-entry support services to 50 new clients a month.
Joy Stevens, a chaplain with Good News Jail and Prison Ministry in Iowa, spoke at the summit on "The Impacts on Trauma on the Returning Citizen."
About 2.2 million people are imprisoned in America, Stevens said. The United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world with 698 people in prison per 100,000 people. Rwanda is second with 492, followed by Russia at 446.
Robbins said the high number of people imprisoned in the country makes it important to address re-entry as soon as a person is incarcerated so inmates can become as prepared for re-entry as possible in that setting.
"None of us talked about how we can go out and go through an interview," Abshure said of the bulk of his time in prison.
He said re-entry efforts that are beginning to emerge within the prison system can make all the difference in the world for the success of inmates post-prison. Abshure said no such programs existed the majority of the time he was "growing up" in prison.
"It could have been different," he said of his years in and out of prison. "I did get tired -- I promise," he said. "I put some hard years in, and I just didn't want to do that no more."
NW News on 08/25/2019