When a person is a violent offender there is only release from prison....I don't know alot about offenses but it seems to me that violent offenders get 3 or more years....how can some one who has spent 2 or more years be expected to come out and not go back? There are no half way houses....families sometimes emotionally cannot go through another giving of a second chance....

When some one spends years incarcerated the world changes...we don't see this but "they" do....my son was in for 4 yrs....when i picked him up at the prison, he was beside himself...he thought they had given him play money ...and that was just a small thing....

Where we live there was no support groups....only probation officers and counselers to suggest mental health work ups....

I think somehow someway we need to get together so that society allows violent offenders a re entry place....to me that is why so many return back to prison....
Its comfortable....it's what they know....
I don't understand why anyone would want to be in prison but I do know that their system is structured ALOT....then these guys get released into society and are lost...no one telling then when or what to do

Some told me once that they thought being released from prison was alot like finishing your time in the military (except your accepted) and that if you could make it through the first 6 months you were home free

thanks for listening

There's a mental condition called becoming institutionalized and the theory is that when a person spends over a year in prison, they become institutionalized. This means that their choices and privacy have been taken away for so long that they have a hard time getting back to making their own decisions and being responsible for themselves. We have to remember that they've not had their choice of what to wear, what to eat, when to do things for many years. Plus the way prison works isn't the same way life works out here, so that causes stumbling blocks for them, too. You could start a support group in your area since there isn't one. There are probably lots of other people who would welcome one. Time is the key. If the person being released can just give themselves time and not expect too much too soon, they're better off. Of course, the PO's job is to push to get him into a job and into being self-sufficient, so that doesn't give him time to adjust, but he can do it if he puts his mind to it. I'll keep you all in my prayers.