Incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people are proving skeptics wrong by transforming themselves through self-help and self-discovery programs.
In-person rehabilitative programs in prison, from Anger Management to the Victim Offender Education Program (VOEG), have given incarcerated individuals in-depth understanding of the impact crime has on victims and victim’s families.
However, some anti-reformists, like police unions and many district attorneys, say that too often the focus is on reforming the criminal while ignoring their victims.
But many reformed criminals have made it their duty to recompense their victims and the communities they have harmed.
“I paroled from San Quentin nearly 10 years ago. The reason I haven’t relapsed back into my previous criminal behavior is because I delved into the self-help groups San Quentin provided, and I made victim awareness my sole focus,” Francisco Gonzalez told SQNews.
San Quentin hosts more than 50 rehabilitative programs that weigh heavily on victim awareness along with reforming criminal thinking.
“Before prison I lived my life by the rules of the streets, which meant I didn’t care about anyone other than myself and my gang. The day I discovered the words “character defects,” my life changed forever,” said Jorge Rodriguez.
Although self-help and self-discovery is not required, it helps incarcerated people identify the “who” and the “why” of their crime.
“I have spent decades working on changing who I was that tragic day,” said Rodriguez. “I had no understanding of who I was — only of who I portrayed myself to be.”
Leonard Graham, a former prisoner and current advocate for prisoners’ rights, said, “After years of self-discovery, victim awareness classes, and mindful thinking, I was able to root out the cause and effects of my criminal thinking.”
Many survivors of crime believe that criminals will never be more than the crimes they have committed.
Rehabilitation data for those with determinate vs. indeterminate sentences indicate that an incarcerated person’s story does not end with criminal proceedings.
For fiscal year 2015-16 (the most recent CDCR adult recidivism data available), the data showed that of 23,812 determinate term prisoners, 23% returned to prison — compared to 3.2% of those with indeterminate sentences.
“They [society] don’t know how hard nor how many years I’ve spent changing the way I think. Today I finally know who I am thanks to rehabilitation groups,” said Rodriguez. “I am a totally different person … All I want people to do is see me for the man I am today and not the criminal I was years ago.”
Said Graham, “The self-help groups I took in prison helped me to understand why I wasn’t able to view my victims humanely and why I caused them so much hurt and trauma.”
Federal data indicate four of 10 incarcerated persons surveyed experienced some sort of mental health issue relating to their criminality, reported Shared Safety Solutions.
“Mental health can be seen in nearly every crime you witness on your daily newscast. Especially and particularly during instances where police officers goad an apparently mentally disturbed person into a fatal situation,” said Total Women Empowerment Director Dana Cheatum.
“There needs to be a system in place to bring more awareness to the signs of mental illness. When a person who is going through a mental health crisis approaches law enforcement holding a knife — such as the fatal incident in San Francisco a few years back — it should be apparent to trained responders that there are mental instabilities present,” said Cheatum.
For many prisoners, like Rodriguez, who discovered self-awareness and empathy for others, it was their first introduction to rehabilitation and to making living amends on their road to redemption.
