Reflection Essay Sample

Falling Back: The Harsh Realities of Reform and Life After Incarceration

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Falling Back: The Harsh Realities of Reform and Life After Incarceration  

In their reform and transition journey, urban youth must face complex issues related to their past and their life after incarceration. The harsh realities during reform and the clash between their existing values and what they are expected to conform to can be overwhelming. Furthermore, they must anticipate what awaits them as they re-enter society. This discussion focuses on various themes from chapters 3 and 4 in an attempt to understand the dynamics of reform and social reintegration. Chapter 3 demonstrates the considerable challenges in the reform process and how changing entrenched behavior can be difficult during reform. Two major issues emerge: the superficial change effect during reform and the relevance of criminal thinking errors. In Chapter 4, the discussion includes the themes of identity transformation, realities of systemic failures, and complexities of family dynamics.

Chapter 3

Superficial Change Effect in Reform Programs

The chapter’s title effectively describes the residents’ difficulty adhering to the institution’s values and teachings. It intimates that reform programs may help individuals leave the streets, but they may never change the person or make them abandon their mannerisms. The clash between the street code and institutional values exemplifies the underlying challenges affecting change. Holding on to the street code means that individuals are likely to resist change, which sets doubt on reform programs’ effectiveness. While the streets glorify toughness, independence, and loyalty, Mountain Ridge Academy aims to instill discipline and order, requiring the youth to abandon street mannerisms (Fader, 2013, p. 62). However, it is a challenging undertaking because individuals are torn between maintaining their street character and following new rules. Mountain Ridge, for example, requires that peers hold each other accountable, yet on the other hand, it means that they have to ‘snitch’ on them, and this is unacceptable in street code. The dilemma in this case is that reporting their peers could be the right thing to do, but individuals also risk being alienated from their social circles. The author does an excellent job of describing how the cultures clash. In one example, they describe the thought process of choosing between telling on their peers and maintaining the street code, maintaining that he could never choose to report to the authorities because that is not his nature. The example demonstrates how hard it is for individuals to conform to the institutional values, having been used to the street. The street code is considered a survival strategy that only the weak are likely to abandon, which means the residents would do anything to maintain it.

The resistance to change is closely tied to another theme in the chapter: “fake it to make it.” Since the residents are required to conform to certain rules or behave in a certain way, they are forced to pretend in the quest for survival. Other ways of survival apart from pretending to follow the rules while still abiding by the street code include hiding personal details such as the level of addiction and behavioral problems such as anger issues (Fader, 2013, p. 72-73). Essentially, they suppress their real self to appear well-behaved, which means their negative traits may not be addressed during the reform. ‘Faking it’ introduces some risks of not internalizing meaningful change, affecting the residents’ performance and the program’s effectiveness. The results indicate why, despite a good system for reform, many residents are unlikely to change their mannerisms in the long run, which casts doubts about the program’s effectiveness (Mackey et al., 2024). Malik, for example, rejects the program’s values despite appearing to conform, which renders the program’s reform efforts superficial. Furthermore, it could indicate the program’s inability to deal with deeper environmental and cultural issues that could be responsible for individual behavior.

Limitations of Criminal Thinking Errors

The Mountain Ridge program is anchored in the ‘criminal thinking errors’ approach, often criticized for its ineffectiveness in understanding individual behavior presentation. In the chapter, specific thinking errors are painted as illogical and ineffective. An example is the notion that “I can’t” equals “I won’t.” The assumption that inability is equal to being unmotivated to do something demonstrates poor translation of real intentions (Fader, 2013, p. 67). The thinking error could lead to misunderstandings due to oversimplification, such that the real challenges may not be effectively addressed. Secondly, thinking errors create the potential for an ineffective understanding of structural factors that affect criminal behavior. It oversimplifies complex realities and interprets them as purely moral or cognitive failings. In another example, Malik explains how the staff handle residents in case they try to confront them. They resort to verbal abuse and attempts to create self-disgust. For example, they may say, “How you’re gonna be nothin’, you’re not gonna amount to nothin’. You’re nothing but trash” (p. 67). The power thrusting is considered a criminal thinking error, with staff taking advantage of their position to bully the helpless residents. Ultimately, the criminal thinking errors approach is flawed because self-disgust to facilitate change only creates deeper problems due to the attack on an individual’s identity and personality (Guan, 2022).

Chapter 4

Identity Transformation

Tony, a 19-year-old man exhibits remorse for his past choices and decisions that led him to incarceration. During his incarceration, he has had time to introspect and identify his mistakes. The beginning of introspection is always a journey towards change of perspective about life (Fader, 2013). He has been able to identify the things he took for granted such as education. He wishes to go back to school and eventually become a nurse. The passion in which he states his goal to go back to school is impressive. He keeps insisting that he needs to go to school continuously and remain commitment for at least six years. He is committed to self-improvement because it is the only way to escape the dangers of crime and drugs.

A meaningful life only emerges from the need to improve decision-making by considering long-term achievements over immediate gratification. Tony understands the power and success come from proper education that provides opportunities for growth in the future. He says, “The more school I get, the more power I have, the more money I have, not even the more money, but the more success I will have” (p.77). He also imagines a future where he visits his friends and warns them how drugs are a petty source of income generation. Identity transformation is marred by several impediments that could easily throw the youths off track. Some of the problems include limited resources and lack of support systems that impede the personal convictions from becoming practical outcomes.

Shattered Hopes and Harsh Realities of Systemic Failures

While Tony leaves Mountain Ridge after fifteen months, he like other young men is full of hope and optimistic expectations regarding societal reintegration. Once they settle into the community, they realize the harsh realities of the systemic obstacles. Initially, Tony has promised to join school and pursue nursing after incarceration (Fader, 2013). He remains eager to accomplish his dreams, but he realizes joining Job Corps is a bureaucratic nightmare. For instance, Tony’s application to Job Corps was delayed because there was a bench warranty than had been overlooked. The harsh realities of life after prison is that these individuals are kept in limbo as they wait for the systemic failures to be resolved. Tony soon becomes frustrated as he realizes his dreams are a mirage. The systemic failures dilute his aspirations with every passing day. For instance, after joining the Empowerment, Education, and Employment (E3) Center, he realizes there are no teachers. He complains, “The program just started. They don’t even have teachers for most of their classes yet. But they expect us to be there four and a half hours a day, five days a week (Fader 2013, p. 80).

The harsh realities of societal reintegration revolves around shattered hopes and reverting to old habits. There is a serious mismatch between ambitions and the harsh realities especially because incarcerated individuals are not prioritized in the society. While the young people were building optimism while incarcerated, their communities remained unchanged. Even as they were committed to forge a new and positive life, they are unable to experience structural support that deters them from the cycle of poverty and crime. It is revealed, “All his momentum and enthusiasm about the importance of education that he had felt while locked up was now washed out by the realities of his life. It had been easy to see the value of education in a bubble.” (Fader 2013, p. 81). The idea of reverting to old habits becomes a plausible solution to conquering life rather than remaining in limbo waiting for the system to be accommodative.

Conclusion

Overall, Chapter 3 and 4 emphasize on the harsh realities that await incarcerated individuals when they re-enter society. The most recurrent theme is the intersection between structural and systemic challenges vis-à-vis individual aspirations. Institutions like Mountain Ridge help individuals to gain prosocial values and rational thinking regarding their lives. However, when they re-enter society, the harsh realities emerge leading them to old habits.  The chapters also critique the justice system by blaming it for promoting the cyclical criminal behavior. The system relies heavily on punitive measures while overlooking the value of flawless societal reintegration. Nevertheless, the criminal justice system upholds flawed and redundant reintegration programs that push individuals to frustration and pain of diluted aspirations, leading to high recidivism rates.

References

Fader, J. (2013). Falling Back: Incarceration and Transitions to Adulthood among Urban Youth          (Critical Issues in Crime and Society). Rutgers University Press.

Guan, X., & Lo, T. W. (2022). Proactive criminal thinking and restrictive deterrence: A pathway to future offending and sanction avoidance. International Journal of Environmental Research And Public Health, 19(18), 11636. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191811636.

Mackey, B. J., Taxman, F. S., Durnescu, I., & Byrne, J. M. (2024). The Routledge handbook on global community corrections. Taylor & Francis.