Imagine taking your first steps back into society, the sunlight hitting your face, people walking by talking on their phones, cars stuck in traffic, babies crying, all everyday sights and sounds but things you haven’t seen in years, then the thought starts looming over your mind… what now?
This is the thought that goes through the heads of many women as they leave prison and re enter society. They have been excluded from society for years and are now coming back in with a label taped across their foreheads that says “I committed a crime.” Many are returning to tattered connections to family and more closed doors. The struggles an ex prisoner faces seem to be endless, how can these women escape the stigma? Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, is the largest women’s prison in New York State, and according to The Correctional Association of New York houses about 800 to 900 inmates. Many of these women face many struggles once out of prison, one of the most important; getting a job because of their past many struggle in getting a even a minimum wage paying job. Which then begs the question could there be a new discrimination starting up against ex prisoners?
There are about 2.5 million people in prison in the U.S. and approximately 105,000 are women, and the numbers keep growing. “With this many people in jail, there aren’t too many options available on what to do after prison, which may be why the U.S has such a high recidivism rate, 39 % for women.” says Michelle Ronda assistant professor of sociology at Marymount Manhattan College and faculty advisor to the Bedford Hills College Program. “There are programs out there, but without the effort of the entire community, without acceptance there will be no change.”
Although Ronda says there needs to be acceptance for change she does not believe the struggle in getting a job after prison is intentional saying, “we call that collateral consequences, where we don’t necessarily mean for them to have a hard time, but it just so happens that it works out that way.” Ronda believes that if we offer incentives to companies it could help in getting more job opportunities for ex prisoners.
Ronda strongly suggests that access to education can stop women from going back to prison, but she also believes that gender plays a role in the situation saying, “There will always be gender stratification even with people who have never been to prison, and getting an education seems to be more beneficial to men than women.” She says that even if women and men have the same educational background after prison men will have an easier time getting a job than women, and will also make more money. “Many jobs offered to ex prisoners are entry level jobs, which require labor, in this case a man would be more appealing, even if they have a worse criminal background than a women applying to the same job, women are seen more as care takers, so the stigma is higher.”
Men and women have been fighting each other for equality in the workplace since women entered the work force, but this becomes an even harder battle for women who have just re entered society after being in prison, but women have always been fighters. Ronda does not believe this to be a reason for women to throw their hands up and throw in the towel, she believes women should keep fighting and reach their goals.
Dr. Stephen C Richards, professor of sociology, corrections and criminology and author of Life Beyond Bars, and many other books is proof that you can become successful after prison, “I am an ex convict, I went to jail for 9 years for marijuana… marijuana I was locked in a cage for almost 10 years I mean that can mess with a persons mind, and marijuana is something that is sometimes accepted, so it was a little easier for me to “re-enter society” those who went in for worst crimes they’re treated like subhuman’s”
Richards believes the justice system in the United States needs improvement saying “We have the longest sentences in the world and sometimes for the smallest of things, and in NYS we spend $27,000 per inmate… that’s money that can be spent elsewhere.”
Richards believes that the way ex prisoners are treated is a form of racism. “ When you are filling out a job application, there is this little box that says have you been convicted of a crime, they don’t ask you if your heterosexual, homosexual, if you’ve got cancer, or about religion because it’s illegal, so why can they ask if you’ve been convicted of a crime? What does that have to do with my ability to do the job?” Richards explains that in many European countries it is illegal to ask about criminal history, everything is on a need to know basis. “Here, criminal history can be found online so your neighbors can see, why are they doing this?…well because it’s a new form of apartheid, a new form of racism.”
Silja J.A. Talvi, an investigative reporter, and author of Women Behind Bars said in an interview with Seattle Pi, “I thought I had prepared for that visit, watching documentaries about super maximum security prisons. But being led into this concrete facility that looked so foreboding, I was soon surrounded by the screams of these prisoners — moans and wails echoing off the concrete walls.” She explains that there was a commonality in the threads of these prisoners, out of the 100 women she interviewed nearly all of them had a serious history of trauma or abuse in their life. According to a report done by The Correctional Association of New York about 50% of the women at Bedford hills were on the metal health caseload as of January 2007, and the conditions and services of the program were not up to par.
Ronda says this can take a huge toll on women and their efforts in a getting a job, “Some of these women have committed astonishing violent crimes but none of those women were not also the victims of terrible violence before that happened.” She explains how although they have been through a lot they still pick themselves back up and reclaim themselves. “The students I encounter are so committed and engaged with their education that it’s palpable, and we don’t have video or computers were sitting in a room talking. They do their readings and come with questions. They’re so excited about learning its actually astonishing what the classroom experience is like, and they’re really supportive of each other I don’t always see that in other settings.”
In regards to programs outside of prison that help struggling ex prisoners get a job, there are a couple of well known programs in NYC, one of them specifically geared to women being Women’s Prison association, a program that helps women and their families with criminal histories realize new possibilities to obtain work, housing, and health care.
Bedford Hills offers a variety of programs to women including the Puppies Behind Bars, and the Bedford Hills College Program. Puppies Behind Bars is a program that trains inmates to raise puppies to become services dogs. Ronda believes these programs to be beneficial to the inmates because it makes them feel like they are giving something back to society, while Richards believes that although this program may exist it doesn’t necessarily mean every inmate will get a puppy or have even seen a puppy, and the program will probably be obsolete in the future.
In regards to the need for change in the correctional system Richards simply answered “Yes! And that’s all I’m going to say about that, there is definitely a need for change.”