Making Amends in Prison

Repairing harm means making amends. This can be done in many ways, ranging from an apology to a financial settlement. Articles on the variety of ways prisoners can make amends to their victims and to the community while they are in prison.

Art helps heal crime's wounds

from the article by Howard Zehr in the Philadelphia Inquirer: I admit it. Sometimes I have Philly envy. Philadelphia has a Mural Arts Program, and the community in which I live does not. ....I have been drawn to the arts as a way of reframing the challenges of crime and trauma. The arts can engage the whole person to express or understand the harm done and help harness heart and intelligence to reduce isolation. The arts can provide a way to explore what can be done to give back, and to give voice to the full range of human experience. The act of creation can restore a sense of meaning and agency to those who harmed and those who have been harmed.

Wilkinson, Reginald A. The Impact of Community Service Work on Adult State Prisoners Using a Restorative Justice Framework

This study is an analysis of the impact of community service work assignment on recidivism of Ohio adult state prisoners. The primary research question posed asks, do prisoners who participate in community service work return to prison less often than those who did not have any community service work experience? The other three research questions ask: does it make a difference with respect to the number of hours of community service work an inmate might accumulate; does participation in community service makes a difference in terms of the length of time between release and return to prison; and lastly, do community service participants return to prison for less serious violations compared to offenders who do not participate in community service work? The restorative justice paradigm is the theoretical underpinning for this research. This restorative model stresses community participation, victim reparation, and offender rehabilitation as a holistic approach to crime prevention and community/victim restoration. This study furthermore proposes that the educational foundations philosophy supports the restorative justice model because of its concentration on community participation in pedagogy and educational development, in this case for offenders. Author's abstract.

Khoza, V. I. and Potgieter, P. J. and Cilliers, C. H. and Khoza, V. I. and Michell, L. J. and Potgieter, P. J.. Correctional Officers' Perceptions of Restorative Justice

The contemporary criminal justice model has focused heavily on retribution and on the punitive punishment of offenders. Shifts have been occurring in this dominant criminal justice ideology that push for more restorative models of justice, which involve the active participation of the offender, victim, and community in restoring justice to all parties. An integral part of this process is the acceptance of responsibility by the offender. The current study assessed how correctional officers at seven correctional centers in South Africa perceive aspects of restorative justice. Participants were 401 arbitrarily selected correctional officers, representing all ranks, who completed a closed, structured questionnaire that probed perceptions of restitution, restoration between the offender and victim, rehabilitation, and prison overcrowding. Results are delineated based on gender and rank of responding correctional officer. Overall, the findings suggest support for a restorative justice model, particularly the aspects of monetary compensation for crime victims and the rendering of services by offenders to communities impacted by their offenses. Results also indicate that correctional officers believe a restorative justice model can reduce recidivism and reduce prison overcrowding. Abstract courtesy of National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.org.

Restorative justice and the challenge of prison reform

from Brian Steels' recent paper: Crucially, prisoners have to learn to accept responsibility for the harm their criminal activities have caused to individual victims, family and neighbourhood. This largely transformative component is implemented at the beginning of any given prison sentence and is maintained throughout the term of custody. ....Wherever practical and possible, prisoners are made responsible for any financial compensation owed to victims. To this end, a restoration fund may be established and prisoners able to earn money in order to pay victim compensation. This encourages a degree of responsibility in prisoners whilst providing reparation for victims.

. Mending fences: reparation and the reorientation of young people in the secure estate.

The paper is informed by the findings of mixed method study of the Duke of Edinburgh intervention at selected secure estate establishments in England and Wales, drawing on the findings of an Attitude to Offending instrument (CRIME-PICS11) and accounts of young people and secure estate staff. Young people’s CRME-PICS responses are examined through qualitative data from focus groups with young people and interviews with staff delivering the intervention. The findings highlight the importance study participants placed on development of interpersonal relationships between young people, and between them and others within and outwith the secure estate. The authors suggest that, notwithstanding constraints on delivering interventions in the secure estate, reparation activities can be achieved with incarcerated young people, which may assist young offenders’ short-term strategies in managing day to day incarceration and long-term strategies of re-integration, acceptance by the community, and improved life opportunities in the future. The authors argue that while reparation activities, which do not involve face to face contact with victims, are often presented as a poor relative of restorative justice ‘proper’, they are not only more realisable in custody, but offer potential to facilitate development of fundamental social interpersonal skills which underpin young people’s rehabilitation. (author's abstract)

Inside Chowchilla Women's Prison: Locked up, reaching out

 

Workman, Kim. The Future of Restorative Justice – Control, Co-option, and Co-operation

This paper explores the history of restorative justice in New Zealand and lays out a course for the future.

Restorative justice provides new path for prisoners

from the article by Jesse Bishop in the Misourian: ....This is no television prison. There is no guard or glass wall. There are no handcuffs or restraints, just a couple of cameras and a conversation. A conversation about where they came from, why they’re here, but most importantly a conversation about where they’re going. It’s a path with few options. “On the other side of that door, it’s either hell or redemption,” Baumgardner says. “You choose.” “That door” leads to the bowels of Jefferson City Correctional Center, a maximum security prison. Starr, Baumgardner and King have all chosen the latter path. Hell is what got them here. Restorative Justice offers them a chance to change that.

Helping the community, building connections

by Lynette Parker Recently, we shared the article “Give prisoners the chance to help the community” by Erwin James in which he describes prison as consisting of “enforced idleness” and working to “create model prisoners instead of model citizens.” Erwin describes the benefits of programmes allowing prisoners to do something for the community. Referring to his own participation in a Braille unit when incarcerated for murder, Erwin says, “...it was the first time in our lives that we had experienced the satisfaction that can be gained from helping other people.” I thought about Erwin’s article as I read about prisoners making trauma bears in the Australian state of Victoria. The programme – a partnership between Prison Fellowship Australia and the prisons – teaches prisoners how to sew and stuff the soft toys that are provided to emergency service personnel to use to comfort children experiencing an illness or injury and given to disadvantages children in the community. The prisoners may also pay for the materials to make a soft toy for a loved one. Programme volunteers describe the paradox of watching the men who have caused harm work to create the soft toys. As described in the article, “Masculine hands clenched tight ready to harm or reaching out to thieve and finally bound for prison now develop something creative and productive that brings joy to traumatised children and their loved ones.”

Giving back: RCI’s Restorative Justice Program helps inmates help others

from Christine Won's article in the Journal times: On a recent Friday morning, 13 inmates at the Racine Correctional Institution in Sturtevant diligently worked on their needlework, their nimble fingers pulling together tiny stitches or weaves. The fruits of their toil lay strewn about the tables: a Mickey Mouse look-alike, a doll, random bears and other stuffed animals, as well as scarves, hats and more slowly took shape. Those bears and lamb pillows have made their way into little hands around the community, and those mittens and gloves will keep others warm this winter. Charity Crafts is part of the prison’s Restorative Justice Program, through which inmates find ways to give back to the community, according to Tommie Thomas, RCI program supervisor.

A view from behind bars: School of Theology and Ministry exhibition showcases artwork by American prisoners

from the article in The Boston College Chronicle: An exhibition of more than 40 works of art that depict images of grief and hope created by men imprisoned in American jails and penitentiaries will open at the School of Theology and Ministry on March 15. “Seeing the Man: Art From Behind Bars, A Vision of Restorative Justice and Healing” will be on display through April 30 in the Atrium Gallery of the STM Library, located at 117 Lake Street on Brighton Campus. The works of art are provided by Do-Right Ministries, a non-profit organization that raises awareness about the American justice system and promotes healing through art.

Prisons, rehabilitation and justice

by Lynette Parker Recently, I read an article about the struggles faced by the state of Florida after the US Supreme Court banned sentences of life without parole for juveniles who do not kill anyone. In the discussion over the need to revisit cases and re-sentence the offenders, one retired judge was quoted: “There are no resources in prisons for rehabilitation,'' the former judge said. ``You give him 30 years, and he'll get out when he's 45, what's he going to do? Re-offend. Some people, regardless of their age, need to be put away forever.”

Increasing restitution for crime victims: A toolkit

from the entry by Jeanette Moll on Right on Crime: The National Center for Victims of Crime recently released a “Restitution Toolkit,” which provides state agencies and external organizations information on instituting or furthering restitution opportunities for crime victims. The information is in-depth and comprehensive, including:

What were they thinking? Horse farms and inmates?

from the blog entry by Peter Hermann on BaltimoreSun.com: It was one of those feel-good programs that come across reporters' desks nearly every day. This was from the state prison system: "Restorative Justice Benefits Women Inmates and Starving Horses." Here's what the news release said: The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services today added yet another to its growing list of unique restorative justice inmate initiatives, putting a work crew comprised of female inmates at Howard County’s Days End Farm Horse Rescue. The inmates, from the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women (MCI-W) in Jessup, will begin with grounds maintenance and landscaping, and eventually move into equine care. “What we try to do with these restorative justice programs is not only give inmates skills and the chance to pay back the society they’ve harmed, but meaningful projects that really do make a difference in the lives of people -- and in this case, horses,” said DPSCS Secretary Gary Maynard. Only state prison officials forgot to tell the neighbors of the horse farm, as well as the young volunteers who work there. Now, state officials have shut down the program, according to a story by The Baltimore Sun's Larry Carson.

‘Puppies for Parole’ making a difference

from Mark Morris' article in the Kansas City Star: Puppies for Parole, as the Missouri Department of Corrections calls the program, is at work in eight state prisons, where offenders have the time and patience to give dogs from shelters basic obedience training.

Lund, Laurie.. "Restorative justice from prison."

At the time of writing this article, Lund was an inmate in Minnesota. Convicted of a violent crime, she describes her involvement with various restorative justice programs. These include meaningful work both inside and outside of a prison setting, a Speakers Bureau (for inmates to address young people in the community to warn them about the effects of being an offender), and volunteer projects in a local school. She conveys the positive changes in her due to participation in these programs.

International Centre for Prison Studies. "We don't waste prisoners' time and we don't waste bicycles': The impact of restorative work in prisons

In January 2000 the International Centre for Prison Studies launched the Restorative Prison Project. The aims of the project are to review the concepts that shape the use of imprisonment and to work with the Prison Service in Great Britain to explore the possibility of applying restorative principles in the prison setting. This then is a report into the activities in prisons of the Inside Out Trust, an organization that promotes the development of vital links between prisons and the community, as well the development of opportunities for prisoners to do work for the benefit of others. The research in the report deals with the ways in which prisoners and prison staff view the work of the Trust. It also covers the impact of the Trust’s work on the regime of the prisons with which it is associated.

Toews, Barb. Listening to Prisoners Raises Issues about Prison-Based Restorative Justice

In this essay, Barb Toews writes on the basis of her work with prisoners and their families as Restorative Justice Program Manager for the Pennsylvania Prison Society. She reports that many prisoners have spoken of their desires to make amends for the harm they caused and of the lack of resources available to assist them in following through on those desires. The Restorative Justice Program she manages is in fact a direct response to assist prisoners with ways to engage victims and community members about their crimes, to seek restorative and reintegrative processes, and to challenge the prison environment toward a more restorative ideal. The experience of assisting prisoners in these ways enables her to identify in this article the challenges of conceptualizing the application of restorative justice in prison.

Prisoners donating money to Lakewood families

Note: On November 29, 2009, a gunman shot and killed four police officers as they sat eating at a restaurant in Lakewood, Washington. from Eric Wilkinson's report on KING-5 News: It's a cold and unforgiving place - a place you'd expect to find nothing but bitterness and hatred toward police. But at the Monroe State Reformatory, the heartless killings of four Lakewood police officers are softening even the most hardened criminals. "The first thing that went through my mind was, 'oh no, not again'," said triple murderer Tony Wheat, who killed three gas station clerks during robberies 44 years ago and who is serving a life sentence at Monroe. He's part of a prison organization called "Concerned Lifers" where those serving life terms try to mentor young convicts and keep them from reoffending. Wheat says the Lakewood killings shocked many inside the reformatory's walls.

McLean, Rachel L. and Thompson, Michael D.. Summary Report: Repaying Debts.

This summary report, the first of its kind, addresses the various types of debts that people released from prisons and jails typically owe their victims, their families, and various criminal justice agencies. his summary provides an overview of the full report, including highlights of relevant research, policies that should guide an initiative to improve the likelihood that people released from prisons and jails or under criminal justice supervision will meet their court-ordered financial obligations, and practical recommendations for implementing these policies. It also includes examples from a variety of cities, counties, and States that may provide useful ideas for other policymakers to tailor to their jurisdictions. Research shows that many individuals released from prisons or jails have a substantial amount of debt, including supervision fees, court costs, victim restitution, and child support. These individuals typically have insufficient resources to pay their debts; and victims, families, and criminal justice agencies often compete for a share of the small payments these ex-inmates can make. Within units of State and local governments, policies that govern the collection of fines, fees, restitution, and child support often conflict with one another, making it difficult for ex-inmates to meet their financial obligations. Ex-inmates' inability to meet their financial obligations can contribute to their reincarceration based on failure to meet the financial portion of probation supervision requirements. The report recommends that States and localities coordinate, and ideally integrate, agencies' policies, procedures, and information systems so that the fines, fees, surcharges, and restitution orders for each person sentenced to prison or jail are consolidated. Child support and victim restitution should be prioritized. Child-support enforcement policies should be enacted to encourage ex-inmate parents to maintain legitimate employment that will help them provide long-term support to their children. (Abstract courtesy of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.gov).