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Abby Schogel

Mr. Sean Young

December 6, 2016

Confronting Mass Incarceration

When considering mass incarceration, one must consider the impact it has

beyond that of who is personally in prison. The repercussions felt by families and

communities make the topic significantly more complex, especially when considering

the cyclical nature of incarceration and how children are influenced. There are countless

organizations that focus on aiding those to are directly involved: legal aid for those

facing prison, educational and vocational programs for those in prison, assistance in

housing, employment, addiction treatment and much more for those reentering society.

But when researching support for the families and communities, the outcome was

minimal. Based on research regarding the impact, The need for assistance of the

incarcerated and families is equally important.

An organization located in Chicago that made the wellbeing of those exiting

prison and the children who are impacted by incarceration their mission is FREE.

FREEs focus is simple--to give second chances. Established in 2013, this fairly new

organization is motivated by the same research that startles many--that the impacts of

incarceration on children are severe and the likelihood of recidivism in those who left

prison is dramatically high. They strive to break the school-to-prison pipeline and

provide proper aid to reduce recidivism through their programs and through advocacy

work in the local government. They operate through housing and three main programs:

mentoring, Get Help (an application for mobile devices), and youth programs.
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The Freedom House, a transitional home for those reentering society, is what

they call wrap around reentry or a holistic approach to reentry. Though not everyone

is qualified, those in the Freedom House received the services that operate under the

reentry treatment model, developed by Dr. Edward Latessa. The organization alludes

to the research conducted and conclusions made by Latessa, who established eight

risk/needs that need to be addressed when helping someone through a successful

reentry.1 This model is characterized by Freedom House through the individualized,

assessment-driven treatment plan for the clients, which can include health care

services, mentoring, social and recreational opportunities, case management, family

support, housing placement assistance, education, aftercare, and employment

assistance. Housing is need based with additional assessments regarding risk, but the

organization begins to work with clients from the time of an arrest and through

Freedom House, can continue years after the release.

Housing is a key factor in assisting in the process of reentry, but for those who do

not live in the Freedom House, FREE provides various additional programs. Mentoring,

available for adults and young parents, is offered to those who volunteer and are

extensively trained (using the research of Latessa). Incarcerated Adult Mentoring (AIM)

and Young Fatherhood Mentoring (YFM) both begin while the client is incarcerated and

continues after reentry. Meetings take place weekly, in person and over the phone. Both

AIM and YFMs purposes include increased well-being and lower levels of stress through

communication, the mentor promotes good parents skills from in and out of prison, to

encourage employment skills and self-sufficiency, and generally to encourage positive

1 "What Works (and Doesnt) in Reducing Recidivism." 2013. Accessed December 6, 2016.
doi:10.4324/9781315721224.
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behavior that will benefit the lives of themselves and their families. FREE gives constant

support to the mentors, enabling them to be as influential as possible and to encourage

the development of lasting relationships. Specifically, the encouragement of positive

interaction with children and families interacts well with their other mission--to lower

the risk of children of incarcerated parents to follow the path of their parents or grow up

with emotional, social or mental hindrances.

FREEs Children with Incarcerated Parents program, the program that seems to

have the most emphasis from the organization, operates through staff and a network of

organizations that all work with the same goal in mind and work to achieve that goal

through similar foundational understandings, particularly those of Latessa. These

organizations are faith based and secular, and the goal is to create a positive

environment in which children can create memories and encourages them to learn how

to be happy and responsible. A strength of FREE is how they recognize the need to help

a community from the inside. The website reflects this: Our directors, staff and

volunteers are racially, ethnically, religiously and demographically reflective of the

communities we serve and the population of our children and their incarcerated

parents. Professionally, we are social workers, researchers, pastors, criminal justice

professionals, educators, journalists, and technology specialists. The leaders have

empathy for the children they are working with, giving them credibility and allowing

them to be more effective. All of the staff meet monthly to discuss their effectiveness and

to foster the breadth of organizational and individual cultures we have molded

together. The care of the children is individualized, similar to the care provided at

Freedom house. The children are located through the arrested parent and are matched

with a partnering organization. By assessing the trauma of the parents arrest, the
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emotional stability of the child, and the current relationship with their caregiver, they

are able to intervene in a way that fits the needs of the child. These centers provide that

individualized attention through the staff while they also have the opportunity to spend

their time learning to code on computers, in artistic classes including dance, arts and

crafts, acting, and various musical skills.

Another aspect of CWIP is the opportunity for children to travel to prisons to

spend time with their parent. These bonding visits, give parent and child time

together, usually about four hours, doing puzzles, crafts, and other activities that

encourage bonding. On the way home, the children are brought to a bowling alley or

skating rink in order to have some time to process their emotions or relieve stress. The

staff is there with the children to encourage conversation and provide emotional

support. These visits are free and offered quarterly, something that makes the

organization unique as they work directly with correctional facilities.

Finally, support for the CWIP comes through government advocacy. In addition

to wanting to bring the stories of success and difficulty to the public, the organization

works to bring funding to programs that work directly with children. Through public

discourse, social media, and public involvement, FREE strives to include the community

in their mission, leading to more with the shared passion of breaking the school-to-

prison pipeline.

Mass incarceration is no small problem to take on, but I admire FREEs ability to

attack various facets of the problem. The organization does not only seek to aid any one

kind of person involved, but seeks to approach the problem holistically. Though it seems

to be well funded by partners, ranging from large corporations like Verizon to small

community organizations like Teamwork Englewood, I cant help but wonder if the
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organization is spread too thin. Though the website is fairly disorganized and has some

obvious errors, it did demonstrate which programs were given the most attention. There

was drastically more information about the childrens program than the others and

there was no information about the impact. I expected to see success stories or statistics

of how the organization has helped to improve the lives of those they worked with;

however, it is possible that it is too young of an organization to quantify the impact.

Another critique I noticed, was there were no links or information for those seeking

help. I attempted to think of how a caretaker of a child with an incarcerated parent or

someone who has recently been released would go about seeking help and the

organization is accessible through Google, but there is no directions or information for

obtaining help. Overall, the organization seems to be well informed regarding the best

way to help this community. Through advocacy, working with staff and volunteers who

are from the communities they are serving, and approaching the issue from various

angles, I would assume they will continue to grow as an organization and in their

impact.

Works Cited

"FREE." FREE. Accessed December 01, 2016. http://www.freereentry.org/.

"What Works (and Doesnt) in Reducing Recidivism." 2013. Accessed December 6, 2016.

doi:10.4324/9781315721224.