Next week Thursday, Nov. 3rd, I will be showing in class 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 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 were at that time?
PLEASE POST YOUR COMMENT NO LATER THAN MONDAY, NOV. 7TH.
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According to the movie we watched today I thought there were some pretty predictable outcomes, and the unpredictable. I didn't expect Regina to stay out of jail, and remain clean from meth. But I also did not expect the Hispanic gangster to go back to jail after all that time. But Shep going back to jail time after time was expected.
I think overall the government does the best they can because some people will just never change. All three of the characters denied they had a problem, and continually violated their parole by who they chose to associate with. In most cases like Regina's more rehab options would really improve numbers, and change a lot of people's lives. Regina and many people like her needed to go straight into a rehab program before trying to move back into society without any transition. Shep and the Hispanic gang member could probably use some kind of set up with a job and a place to live coming out of jail, and for a lot of people that would eliminate a lot of parole violations while helping to create stability. The problem is that all this needs money, and where does it come from considering taxpayers already pay so much to keep criminals in jail they would not want to pay for them to survive in normal society. For people like Shep and the Hispanic gang member they have never had a normal job to maintain besides their hustle so finding a job and living in a normal home is something strange to them. I think a transition period between jail and life on parole would make a big difference in the turn around numbers.
The documentary, “A Hard Straight: Doing Time on the Outside” that we viewed in class today was intriguing. The three people that were featured, Richard Martinez, Regina Allen, and Aaron “Shep” Shepherd, all came from different walks of life and faced different criminal charges, yet they shared a common bond; being arrested, serving time, and now living life on the other side of prison bars. Richard Martinez caught my attention because he reminded me of a child. Martinez realized that he needed restrictions in order to stay out of trouble, but he was not keen on the majority of them. Like a child, Martinez deserved, needed, and yearned for his independence and freedom, but he acknowledged that he could not have too much freedom all at once.
I was not surprised that Martinez did not follow his parole agreement or the advice of both his first girlfriend and parole officer. Martinez was too caught up with the “homies”. I was shocked when Martinez broke up with his girlfriend though. She only wanted the best for him. She put her foot down when he wanted to compromise his freedom by doing things such as breaking or rather ignoring curfew. With this example Martinez reminds me of a child who does not get his/her way. Martinez rather be rebellious than follow the rules. Martinez spends a lot of time talking about his traumatic past, his drug addicted mother, the death of his son, etc. and how these things greatly affected him, yet he returns to his old ways.
When Martinez found out that he had a baby on the way, it seemed to me that this would be a turning point for him. Yes, he found a “job”, but tattooing the homies is not a “job” since they are gang members. I was not too surprised that Martinez went back to jail because he continued to involve himself with the wrong crowd. To me, Martinez refused to grow up and truly be a man. I think that Martinez needed a fresh start in order to ensure that he would not go back to prison. Regina Allen made a good point. She said that she was ambitious about her new life while in bars, but once she was free all those thoughts go away. Martinez claimed that he wanted to do better, but his words were cheap. He did not just need instructions on how to live a better life. Rather, Martinez needed help and support to ensure that he was on and would continue to follow the correct path.
Based on “A Hard Straight,” I found that there are a few things that could be done to help parolees and people just released from prison succeed and prevent them from returning to jail. In the case of Regina Allen, it was mentioned that one of the main catalysts in Regina’s criminal behavior was substance abuse. A substance abuse rehabilitation program may be beneficial for parolees who are also addicts, helping keep them out of jail and moving in a positive direction. Regina did attend a mandatory rehab facility, Milestones, but due to inadequate funding, the center was shut down shortly after she began rehab. In addition, group/family therapy may help make parolees and former prisoners successful and keep them out of jail. It was obvious in Regina’s case that there was unresolved tension and issues between Regina and her daughter, Tera, upon her return from jail. Because most people leaving jail have a very weak, or even nonexistent, social/family support system, it may be helpful to work on mending the relationships that do exist and encourage parolees to begin forming a support network to help them succeed and stay out of jail. Finally, some sort of professional development program or network aimed at helping parolees and people just out of jail jobs may help the parolees become successful and stay out of jail. It was clear that Regina had trouble finding work and staying busy after her release from jail, which clearly contributed to her return to drug usage. Helping parolees find work and a means of income may give them purpose and encourage them to succeed and stay out of jail.
However, as seen in the case of the failed Milestones center, the major problem with having any of these programs is government and state funding. While all of these options may help parolees, programs to help prisoners and parolees are clearly not at the top of the list as far as funding is concerned. This means that parolees rarely get the help they probably need and they are often overlooked and even shunned in society, causing them to end back up in prison more often than not.
The documentary, A Hard Straight: Doing Time on the Outside, follows the journeys of three California parolees: Regina Allen, Richard “Smiley” Martinez, and Aaron “Shep” Shepherd. Of the three, only Allen escaped the fate that 50% of CA parolees meet, while Martinez and Shepherd were incarcerated again. Though he ended up returning to prison, Martinez’s story stood out to me the most. Perhaps my fascination with him resulted from my disbelief that he seemed dead-set against taking any of the preventative measures that would keep him from regressing down a criminal path. It all boiled down to his refusal to turn away from the past and abide by the rules, and the parole program neglecting to reprimand his poor decisions.
As important as the future was to Martinez, he couldn’t quite obtain what he was after because there was no escaping his past. One of his monologues was dedicated to the tribulations of his childhood—a mother who was a heroin addict, being moved around from foster home to foster home—which left him desiring, as he put it, a “Brady Bunch family.” When he finally was able to begin a family of his own—with his girlfriend and new born son—he, however, deemed gang activities the first priority, and ended up in jail ten days after his son was born. Martinez still appears to be haunted by the death of his son, saying, “I should’ve died, and he should’ve stayed.” Regardless of his lament, Martinez allowed history to repeat itself, succumbing to his own statement, “If you’re raised a certain way, it doesn’t go away.”
Immediately after Martinez states, “Everyone I know is a gang member”, it becomes apparent that this will most likely become his biggest obstacle, for he won’t receive any positive influence from his “homies”. Oddly, a vital conversation—like the exchange between Shep and his officer—never takes place between Martinez and his parole officer. The officer explained to Shep that it was important that he didn’t reside in any San Franciscan neighbor with a potential criminal population. Martinez might have avoided the penitentiary if those monitoring his activities had put a greater emphasis on transferring to a more positive, law abiding environment. Furthermore, a different residence might have motivated Martinez, and provided him with more opportunities to find a “real” job. Frankly, I was amazed that the parole system didn’t do more to steer Martinez away from the tattoo business. Despite the fact that he was talented tattoo artist, surrounding himself with clients that were solely gang members was no way to successfully reintegrate into society.
Out of the three subjects followed in the movie, Richard Martinez was the most interesting to me. He was going from job to job trying to find a steady source of income for him and his family. His artwork I thought could give him a good shot of staying out of prison. His tattooing was paying the bills but he still he had to struggle to provide enough for his family.
The hardest things for previous inmates to do is to hold a steady source of legal income. I believe if more programs were put in place to help inmates acquire and keep jobs that less would return to prison. Another way to keep the keep the constant return of inmates are support groups. These groups would give them a positive outlook, from people in that they can relate to. People are more acceptable to advice from others that they respect and have more things in common with. While in support groups, hopefully they could find some of love that many report that they missed out on. Martinez said, "The love he didn't have as a child he found from his homies." The support groups could help fill in the void and provide an alternate influence.
These ways can help certain individuals from returning back to prison,but it all depends on the individual, if the person does not want to change then they are simply not going to.
I found the documentary "A Hard Straight: Doing Time on the Outside" that we watched in class last Thursday extremely eye-opening and interesting about the parole system in our country. I never really thought about how the parole system works (or in these cases, doesn't work) for the individuals involved. I found the case of Regina intriguing, especially since she was the only one who did not return to prison (at least, at the end of the documentary.)
There are multiple things I believe could have been done to help keep Regina out of prison (since she almost ended up going back.) When Regina was imprisoned, it was clear that she had a major drug problem with meth. And, as evident by the interviews conducted post her imprisonment, her attitude toward the drug did not seem to have changed. This lead to her continuing to purchase drugs and drink alcohol, after a month or two of staying on the bandwagon. I believe if there had been a form of a rehab program for her in jail to help her overcome her addiction, it definitely would have prepared her for the reality of when she got out of prison and drugs became available to her again. The program that she did end up going to after almost going back to prison again seemed to have helped her straighten her life out, though the program was cut short because of a lack of funding. I thought that was ridiculous, and couldn't help but feel sorry for the people who were enrolled in that program and getting the help they needed once they were tossed out on the streets because of a lack of funding. If Regina had been enrolled in a program like that in prison, she would have hopefully left prison with a better control of her addiction. Also, I think if she had been set up with a job out of prison, or some sort of activity to keep her busy during the days for the first few months, it would help her do better.
The documentary "A Hard Straight" was very interesting. I had never viewed actual videos of how hard it is to stay out of trouble like these people did. I never expected for Richard "Smiley" Martinez to stay out of jail and was surprised the gang member was the one out of the three to stay out. It amazes me how quickly the parolees went back to their jail-breaking lives.
The government did a lot to keep these people in line with check-ins, drug tests, etc. However this did not help keep an ex-gang member stay out of jail nor did it help him to acclimate to current society. Within days of being released from jail, Richard went back to associating with the same kinds of people because they were the only people who would accept him. He was unable to get a job because of his predicament and was not helped to get one by the government. This cannot quite be expected from the government either because of the expense it would take for every parolee to be given jobs and babied of sorts.
In the film, Smiley’s journey was portrayed in such a way as to show his successes and stuggles. First of all, I feel that the parole system should lift some of the restrictions placed on Smiley. For example, he was prohibited from associating himself with gang members. However, as a former gang member most of his friends are gang members. This means that he has no connections with which to get a job and is also unable to live with them. It seems to me that robbing someone of all of their human connections, and also instituting a ridiculous curfew, is not a good way to ensure their success.
Furthermore, Smiley’s parole agent seemed to do little to help him succeed. In my opinion, parole officers/agencies should reach out into the community and secure jobs for parolees, as well as places to live. Smiley’s downfall was a result of his inability to find a good, steady job and his inability to find housing (which has hindered by his unemployment). If parolees did not have to face unmanageable restrictions (such as curfews and being forbidden to be around other offenders or gang members) and were given outside help when trying to find residences and jobs, then they would have a much greater chance of staying out of prison.
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