Vincent Siahaan has had the daunting experience of going back to live in society after serving a nine-year prison sentence for drug trafficking. After over four and a half years in prison, Siahaan was paroled. Yet he endured a tremendous challenge reintegrating into daily life – something most of today’s former offenders experience. His experience sheds light on a broader issue: the high rate of recidivism in Australia, which stands at approximately 60 percent, a figure that starkly contrasts with rates in other countries.
Siahaan wants Americans like him to understand how hard it is for people like him to reintegrate into society after serving time in prison. It’s difficult when you don’t have anybody in your corner. It’s a lot more difficult when you don’t have a house to sleep in,” he said. What had seemed like a downward spiral eventually took a positive turn when he decided to become a certified personal trainer. With encouragement from his wife, he started his own company. That isn’t the case for every former offender.
As Lorana Bartels, a criminology professor at the Australian National University, told The Guardian, that poses a very serious problem. She illustrates that certain demographics are more likely to go back into custody. Among those groups are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, as well as people from rural and remote communities. Bartels explains this as a convergence of social factors that increase likelihood to reoffend.
Workskil Australia CEO Nicole Dwyer said for many long-term system dwellers, the only life they can envision is one of crime. So they continue, and they tend to give permission and license to others to do the same, surrounding themselves with others willing to do the same. The nonprofit has become an indispensable partner in the success of nearly 3,000 former offenders nationwide. It prepares them to break down barriers to employment.
Dwyer points to stable employment as one of the most important conditions for reducing recidivism. She said it’s hard for someone coming out of prison to get a job, an apartment, even an ID card. Without stable housing, steady employment, and sufficient literacy skills—and compounded by untreated mental health, alcohol, and substance use disorders—their odds of not returning to prison are abysmally low. In addition to financial security, employment offers them a renewed sense of purpose and identity.
Mitchell Harnwell’s story is just one example of the wall many former offenders continue to hit. He ended up on a four year bike ride through the prison system, all originating because of the disease of drug addiction. After his release, he found himself facing extreme challenges in finding a job. I was signing up for jobs, getting sat through interviews, and I’m having to tell them I need every week off to go see my parole officer. They all came back like, ‘OK that’s great, we’ll follow up. But no one followed through on that promise, as Siahaan recalled.
Bartels highlights the role of access to social support services. With drug treatment, mental health services and employment programs, we can reduce recidivism rates by almost 80 percent. She illustrated that when there are others to keep you accountable, you’re less likely to veer off course. Having a reason to get out of bed every day is indeed a great motivator, and too often, millions don’t have that joy.
The Justice Reform Initiative is campaigning to shine a light on these issues and end Australia’s astronomical rate of imprisonment. They protest for improved access to the institutional support systems correlative with reintegration. Bartels notes that “returning to areas with lower employment prospects, poorer health opportunities, greater housing and economic stress” contributes to higher recidivism rates.
Harnwell’s experience is a case in point of the cyclical path of criminal behavior compounded by the need of survival through economic means. “When you’re a few days away from not being able to pay your bills, you do what you have to do,” he said. Even stronger, he highlighted how the temptation to go back to business as usual increases under the squeezing force of economic hardship. One phone call and back to business selling we went. We know it’s bad. Once I started selling, it soon became using, and the cycle continues.
As Siahaan and Harnwell depict, positive reintegration is frequently dependent on support networks, coupled with consistent and sustaining work. Bartels asserts that having employment gives individuals “a social identity, money, and occupies a number of hours of the day.” We know that this kind of structure can be critical for those moving back into community from incarceration.
