Next week Tuesday, Nov. 2nd, I will be showing a documentary entitled, "A Hard Straight," about the parole system in California. After seeing this video in class, to earn 5 EXTRA CREDIT POINTS, I want you to post a two-paragraph comment in which you will focus on ONE of the three parolees featured in the documentary. The question I want you to address is simply: what could have been done to help this person make a successful transition to life outside of prison, thereby avoiding the personal and social costs of sending him or her back, as over 50% of parolees in California are today?
PLEASE POST YOUR COMMENT NO LATER THAN FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5TH.
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Also, be looking for another blog post soon describing the family activity on "Gang Leader for a Day."
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15 comments:
For Regina Allen it was the hardest to keep letting down her family because of her addiction to drugs. Her 21 year old daughter had to step up and take over all the responsibilities of having to take care of the two younger siblings. I believe that because of her children, Regina really wanted to change but didn't know how because she couldn't battle against her addiction. She even comments that while she was in prison the second time that she never got the treatment or attention that she needed or asked for.
After her release she was put into the Milestones Rehabilitation Program that was supposed to last for six months. However, California dropped the program only after two months of Regina's stay. Regina knew that those two small months would not help her addiction. Even though Regina did end up coming together and fixing her problem I believe that she would have been able to fix it sooner and saved her and her family some pain if there would have been more efforts by the prison, the state, and her parole officer to get the treatment she needed.
The person that I chose to focus on was Aaron Shepard, simply because of the fact that he seems to be the one who needs the most help out of the three people who were interviewed. Shepard ended up spending more time in jail because of parole violations than he did for his actual sentence. His original sentencing was 12 months, but because of consecutive parole violations, he ended up spending approximately 8 years in prison. Shepard spoke almost as if he didn't want to get out of prison. He talked about how people are excited to be released from prison, but he asked the question, "What is there to look forward to?". He had an attitude that sort of said, well I'm just going to end up back in jail anyway. Shepard's actions reflected this sort of nonchalant attitude.
Shepard knew that there were certain things he wasn't supposed to do and certain places he wasn't supposed to be, but he continued to do these things, which resulted in his being arrested again. I think that what Shepard needs is not necessarily something (like a program), but someone, who he can count on or depend on. Someone who can help guide him in the right direction. I know that's supposed to be the role of the parole officer, but they have multiple parolees and I don't think that he can get the kind of attention that he needs. Shepard even mentioned in the film, how he thought that the parole officers treated him as if he were beneath them. He said that he didn't like the way they made him feel. I believe that Shepard needs someone that can be there for him on many different levels. Shepard needs to first change his attitude in order to get on a more steady path of doing what's right. Once that changes, his actions are sure to change.
Regina Allen was arrested and detained in San Francisco, California for forgery. She had a history of substance abuse and was addicted to "speed" for over 25 years. The relationship with her daughter Tera was greatly affected by Regina's addictions. Regina tried to reconnect with her famiy but was in denial about her addiction to drugs and alcohol. Seven months after being released, Regina tested dirty for meth. What could have been done to prevent Regina from relapsing?
Regina entered a six month CDC program, but it was shut down shortly afterwards. She seemed to be making improvements but she soon fell back into the same routine. I personally believe that Regina could have been helped more. She had parol officers and family members looking after her, but that was not enough to keep her off of meth and other illegal substances. The state should have done more to provide her with proper treatment. She should have been entered into a halfway house where she could receive medical attention for her addiction. With the right resources, Regina can once again become a good role model for her children. California needs to change the way they treat their parolees. More programs need to become available, so parolees such as Regina, can live more prosperous lives outside of the jail cell.
I believe the main reason that such a high percentage of parolees return to prison is because they are not given the proper treatment or education. In the documentary, Regina Allen was addicted to “speed” for twenty five years. She also had an addiction to alcohol, although she refused to admit this. These two addictions are the cause of the crimes she committed. Regina was let out on parole without any treatment for her addictions. She struggled with these two addictions and had a relapse. Only after her relapse was she sent to an addiction treatment center, which was shut down before she had the chance to finish the program.
Although, Regina was able to straighten her life out and fight her addictions most addicts do not have such a successful result. I believe that treatment programs should be required for any addicts. Whether they are sent to a treatment center instead of prison or if they receive this treatment in jail, it should be a required treatment. Once they are on parole they should be required to receive further treatment if needed and should seek counseling for their addiction. This way it is likely they will not relapse once they are given the opportunity outside of prison. The system is set up to fail by simply sending addicts to prison and paroling them without any treatment for their addiction. These addicts will relapse while on parole and will simply be sent back to prison which only causes more emotional damage and economic costs.
I think Aaron Shepherd had the most interesting story in the movie. I think he was the most interesting because it seemed like he had the hardest transition into normal society.They said he was taken to jail five times because he violated his parole.I honestly think that he preferred to be locked up over being in parole because at least he had someone looking over him all the time. The fact that he was brought back five times should have been an indicator to California's prison system that what they were doing was not working.
I think they should have placed him in a transition program where he would slowly move back into the free society. I think one big problem was that when they first let him out, they told him they had nowhere for him to go.So, basically he's leaving a place where he's at least guaranteed a meal and shelter to being homeless if no one can help. Luckily, he had a friend, but I knew that it wouldn't work for long. He left prison where he had his entire day planned and structured to being relatively free to make all of his own decisions. Even though he had to report to his parole officer he still didn't have the same kind of structure that he had while he was locked down. I think the system should find a program where newly released people can transition from complete lock down to a minimum lock down. Maybe if they were slowly moved back into society they would have a better transition rather than just being thrown out.
Maybe the government could find a way for the people to move out of jail/prison and then move into another facility with less monitoring. This might help them to practice making good decisions on their own rather than having someone tell them what they will do.
I noticed that each person tried to keep themselves away from the things that would get them in trouble but the second things started to get bad they went right back to their old ways because that is what they knew. The things they did got them through and for Martinez(Smiley) his gang was all he had. The only family that Smiley had were his gang members and he was not allowed to be with them. He didn't have anyone to help him but his girlfriend. He struggled to find a job and they struggled to find somewhere to live. When things get that tough a lot of people will do anything just to get some food or a roof over their head. The parole system needs to give these people some sort of package to get them back on their feet. Smiley wanted to get back on his feet and be a good dad to his future child but he had nothing to give. If the parole system helped them get a job and a home to get them started on the right path then a lot of them would feel better about themselves and want to make something of themselves. Smiley was really good at tattoos, maybe the parole officer could have helped him get a job at a tattoo parlor. The parole officers need to make more contact with their parolees and get to know them personally so they can help them.
For Regina Allen getting over her drug addiction was the biggest problem.After being arrested and spending time in prison, she was released into the hands of her daughter. The situation Regina was released back into was the exact same as it was when she left. This I believe is the true problem.
While in prison Regina received no treatment or care for her addiction. She even expressed that this was what she needed. After Regina was released from prison, she soon fell into the same addiction pattern again. The true problem is that Regina had no help , and when she did the facility got shut down. Help and rehabilitation is all she needed and the prison did not provide this.
I think that the transition out of prison into society was the most difficult for Richard Martinez (Smiley). Smiley's mother was a drug addict and in and out of prison for his whole life. When he was living in foster care at the age of 12 his mother died leaving him alone. At this point in time he turned to the gang to fill the empty void of having no family in his life. For the majority of his life the gang has been his family, or his "homeboys." He had a girlfriend, and even a child with her but when the child was a baby it died, leaving him alone once again.
When Smiley was released he had no where to go and no money. He went to live with his girlfriend. With strict parole rules like not seeing the gang, and an early curfew, Smiley was often angry. His girlfriend could not handle it and they broke up. Smiley then turned to another x. He moved in with her and her father because he had no where to go and no money. Living with no money and no job made things difficult for Smiley. His talent was being a tattoo artist but without clients it was nothing, so he began to tattoo the gang members. The little cash that he made for tattooing came from the gang members. However, Smiley was not supposed to see the gang members so by giving them tattoos he was breaking parole. I think that the transition was the hardest for smiley because he had no one to turn to. If he would have had a family to hold him up when he was released I think that he could have done something with his life, and stayed out of trouble.
Regina Allen was one of the three parolees in the documentary titled "A Hard Straight." She was arrested, detained, and required to attend parole meetings in San Francisco, CA due to forgery. Influencing her actions while committing this crime was her history of drug abuse, in which she was addicted to speed for over 25 years. Once released from jail, Regina had a difficult time in adjusting to life outside of prison. She said that once outside the gate fears go away and her goals and aspirations quickly disappeared. While out of prison, her husband passes away which causes her to resort to her old habits of drinking and using drugs. However, she thinks that this is just a temporary thing thus making her in denial of her serious addictions.
I think that many things could have been done to make sure that Regina had a successful transition to life outside of prison. First of all, the parole officers need to familiarize themselves with their parolees on a more personal level. They need to get to know each other better so that the parolees will feel more comfortable around their parole officer. This way the parolee can trust their officer and in turn accept their advice. Also and most importantly, the state of CA not only needs to provide stable treatment centers but also require the parolees to attend these rehabilitation programs. These centers will help them ease back into ordinary everyday life so they don't abuse their freedom and know how to abstain from their old patterns of addiction. Due to her support from her loving family, Regina was able to resist temptations, find a job, and continue life outside of jail.
Regina Allen was one of the three parolees in the documentary "A Hard Straight". For her, the hardest thing was continuing to let down her family because of her drug use. Her 21 year old daughter had the responsibility of taking care of her two younger siblings. Regina says repeatedly that she hates making her daughter deal with her problems.
If Regina Allen had been given the treatment that she needed to deal with her addictions then she wouldn't have had as much of a struggle as she did trying to deal with her addiction. She says herself that she asked for treatment in prison that was never given to her. Not only that, she was placed in a facility that was closed down two months in to a six month program. Had she been given the treatment she would have been better able to cope with the her problems without needing to deal with them using speed. If the prison system had helped her to find a job, or to even get into a program, she might have had a far easier time getting to adjust to the world outside of prison and succeeding
After watching the stories of Regina and Shep unfold, it was obvious to me how over 50% of parolees are sent back to prison, but after watching Smiley's story, I felt a different feeling....one of hopelessness. I truly felt that his situation was hopeless from the get-go, and because of his upbringing and surroundings, it was inevitable that he was going to end up back in prison at some point or another. Smiley was brought up in a life enshrouded in gang life. He said multiple times that everyone he knew was a "gang banger;" it was his entire life. His means of income, his social life, even the women he was involved with, all were one way or another affiliated with his gang. So when Smiley was released from prison, back into his gang's neighborhood, spending 100% of his time with gang members, it is obvious to see that his time was ticking.
I believe that the only way that Smiley would have not ended up back in prison is if he would have been relocated, and served his parole somewhere else, in a different neighborhood. Smiley needed to have a fresh start, one that was not filled with a past life of drugs and violence and gangs. The system set up Smiley to fail, and the only way that he would have been able to survive it is if he would have been relocated to a new beginning, away from the people and pressures of his past. Because this did not happen, the inevitable happened to Smiley...he went back to prison.
Smiley was a very interesting character. I think that he was doing the most to try to stay out of jail but the odds just weren't in his favor. Part of his parole agreement was that he could not associate with gang members and he had a curfew. I feel that even though the intentions of these rules were good, they weren't realistic. First of all, Smiley grew up with gangs and his gang ended up being his family. How are you going to tell someone that they can no longer associate with their family anymore? And his entire neighborhood was gang territory. If the parole officer wanted to give Smiley a real chance, he would have set him up in a half way house type setting. This way his curfew could have been properly enforced and he would not be as tempted by gang related behavior.
Also, Smiley’s real talent was tattooing, which was great. It brought in money and kept him off of the street. But, most of Smiley’s clients were gang members, which violated his parole. His parole officer should have seen his potential as an artist and tried to get him a job at a real tattoo parlor so he wouldn’t have to be around so much gang activity all the time. The problem with the parole system is that they give parolees rules but they don’t really help them stick to those rules. So, when they mess up, which most do, they end up back in prison and have to start all over again. It’s one thing to tell someone to stay away from a certain area, but it’s another thing to make it actually possible for them to stay away from it.
32 year old Smiley Martinez could have been saved. Some of his parole conditions, while understandable, were virtually impossible to obey. Smiley had essentially devoted his life to gang activities and almost all of his associates were in a gang. His best career opportunity lay in his talent at tattoos. However, since he could really only tattoo gang members, it was hard for him to escape his past.
His girlfriend and upcoming child were what kept Smiley "straight" for so long. Without them, he almost certainly would have relapsed sooner than he did. Something that could have helped him would have been if the state had moved him and his girlfriend and child to another area of the state. That way, Smiley would have to make new friends and could have a better chance at starting a new life. At the very least, he could have opened a new, legitimate tattoo business with non-gang affiliated customers.
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