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Congregations represent a rich resource for assisting men and women returning from incarceration (returning citizens) in their reintegration to society. While recent efforts in the public and private sector have focused on the provision of services such as employment, housing, mentoring and substance abuse, research indicates that support systems that provide pro-social life skills are an important part of the reentry process. Additionally, family connectivity-keeping families together during incarceration and through the reentry process-provides an important support for those transitioning back to society. The Healing Communities model of prisoner reentry, detailed in this article, offers a model for the support returning citizens that draws on the resources of faith and relationships characteristic of congregational life.
IN THE PAST DECADE, BOTH THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS HAVE expressed significant concern over the growing rates of men and women returning from incarceration. From the initial (2001) federal agenda for the White House Office on Faith-Based and Community Initiatives1 through the shifts in national faith-based organizations' priorities toward the formerly incarcerated, to the distressed, local communities receiving these men and women after their confinement, concern mounts over the supports necessary to facilitate a successful reentry to society. Such successful reentry impacts communities in producing productive citizens in family and community life, reducing recidivism and further crime, and developing the social capital necessary for neighborhood stabilization and even transformation.
As such, prisoner reentry does not exist as an issue unto itself; it is not a stand-alone challenge simply to reduce crime rates. Rather, because men and women, including adolescents, who are incarcerated have been members of families, communities, and other social networks, prisoner reentry stands as a challenge that affects the whole of community and family stability.
Because of its ongoing commitments to family and community strengthening, the Annie E. Casey Foundation began its work in prisoner reentry not simply as a "crime and recidivism" enterprise, but rather as an issue contextualized by the realities of vulnerable families and communities. Working in these communities, the Foundation discovered excellent reentry programs. But the programs lacked the resources to achieve the scale necessary to address the large numbers of persons returning from incarceration. But they also noted the profound resources of the faith community and its heroic efforts to minister...