As welcoming as it is
for ex-felons to hear the doors of prison close behind them on the way out, the
sound is something they will have to get used and can make it highly likely
that the door just closed will be the one that is ultimately
reopened. As such, prison volunteer, educator and Croton Falls
Presbyterian Minister Hans Hallundbaek has been doing all he can
for the last 20 years to close the revolving door and is now involved in a new
initiative in Ossining to help released prisoners successfully reentry society.
“It is a 15 week program
that helps them look for jobs, interview, manage finances and find a place to
live,” he says of Breaking the Chains of the Past Program, which is held weekly
at the Ossining Presbyterian Church
Set up upon release with
housing that amounts to nothing better than a shelter, obtaining housing is
also included among the assistance. All told, he’s definitely resigned to the
difficulties ahead for them. “A person comes back after 5, 10 years, it’s very
tough,” he says, and while he does see a small change in the “get tough on
crime policies” that have turned millions of low level drug offenders into
felons, it’s still going to be a long time before the war on drugs stops
providing an ample work load. “We are number one in the world in incarcerating
people,” he says.
A figure he had no
inclination of when leaving the business world over 20 years ago for something
more meaningful. “I had my midlife correction,” he relays his wife’s words, as
the seminary became his path.
Then by happenstance, Hallundbaek
was invited into Sing Sing to do a Thanksgiving Service and was awakened to
something that should be obvious but really isn’t to most of us on the
outside. “Once you get inside and meet them, you realize they are human
beings. They may have made serious mistakes but they are not necessarily the
mistakes they made,” he says.
In turn, he became
alerted to the residue left behind by the War on Drugs. But given the
injustice in many cases and since “The War” has been waged largely and
disproportionately against people of color, these ex-felons must not make such
a great hire of all the years stolen and anger accumulated. “Most
of them have been angry for many years, but they find ways to resolve that and
they come out determined to stay out,” he says.
Of course, the extended
gap on a resume that includes a prison sentence never gets passed a prospective
employer and is among the challenges the reentry program helps enrollees
confront. “How can you make your experience into something that can be
seen as a positive? Whatever you may have learned in vocational work, education
and so on,” he says.
Still, the bad economy
tall order enough, the program does at least have an outlet with a number of
local Rotary Club members who have an inside track on where the jobs
are. “Once they get to know the people coming back by working as
mentors, members can steer them toward job situations,” he says.
With this current
project and his overall work in this area, the word back from employers is
typically positive. “They want so hard to make it work that they seem to have
an additional incentive,” he relays past feedback.
On a larger level of
affecting change, activists such as himself try to nudge political change in
accordance to the limitations that govern elected officials. “It can be
dangerous to be seen as soft on crime so the way to work with politicians is to
help them understand the issues,” he says.
As it stands, Eric
Holder, The AFL-CIO and even Barack Obama are among those publically stating
that change is needed. In turn, he says we should take their cue. “People can
inform themselves better, evaluate it themselves or go visit a prison,” he
says.
Thus, he recommends a
video screening of Michelle Alexander’s, The New Jim Crow at the Katonah
Library on March 27th. Exposing how the War on Drugs has been
unfairly executed, its implementation relegates millions to second class
citizenship via the ex-con label that follows and is simply a follow up to the
original Jim Crow that once limited housing, employment and voting rights.
“Whether you agree or not, it’s raising appropriate questions about the
system,” he says.
Given the consequences,
questions we must demand answers to.
No comments:
Post a Comment