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Reducing recidivism - The Awakenings way
Drew* has been arrested thrice for domestic violence. Now that he's out on parole for the third time, he has made it a point to attend a behavior modification class in Carbondale that teaches him how to reign in his temper, among other things. "There have been times in my life when I made poor choices," he says at the graduation ceremony of the Awakenings program. "I wish I'd had this class before. It could have saved my marriage." As part of Awakenings, participants meet once a week for three straight hours for 14 weeks and pick up life skills they haven't learned or just needed to revisit again. Two classes are offered at a time, giving participants a chance to attend an evening class if they miss a morning class or vice versa. The lady behind it all is Sister Barbara Lux, Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, at Catholic Social Services. Wanting to help inmates and ex-offenders re-examine their attitudes and behaviors, she developed Awakenings, basing it upon a program developed by a group of psychologists at a prison in Taylorville, Ill.
Statistics show that a high number of offenders repeatedly commit crimes or violate the release conditions of their probation or parole supervision. As a result they are re-incarcerated. This process - of those who come out of prison and go back in within a period of time - is often referred to as the "revolving door." The trend is called recidivism. In 1994, the U.S. Department of Justice tracked the re-arrest, re-conviction, and re-incarceration of former inmates for three years after their release from prisons in 15 States. They found that released prisoners with the highest re-arrest rates were robbers (70.2 percent), burglars (74.0 percent), larcenists (74.6 percent), motor vehicle thieves (78.8 percent), those in prison for possessing or selling stolen property (77.4 percent), and those in prison for possessing, using, or selling illegal weapons (70.2 percent). In an effort to bring these numbers down, programs such as Awakenings are popping up all over the country. What it does is help ex-offenders return to society with a better understanding of the personal responsibility they have for their actions, Sister Lux says. Awakenings arms them with new skills needed to cope with their fluctuating emotions and a new control over their actions. Nancy* is mother to a 25-year-old participant who never did graduate from Awakenings, but did manage to attend quite a few classes. "You have a gift here in this program," she says. "The difference the program made in my son's life is remarkable. There is less anger now in his attitude and the way he interacts with his brothers." The program has been so successful in changing attitudes that participating in the class is often a condition of probation today, with Jackson County probation and Judges William Schwartz and Charles Grace referring many individuals. Particularly effective on a county level, 38 adults have graduated so far, from Carbondale and Murphysboro, since its inception in October 2006. "I love doing it," Sister Lux says. "Participants come in very angry because they have been told to come here for 14 weeks. The class disrupts their lives. I ask them, "Why are you here? And don't tell me it was Judge Grace! Tell me what choice you made that got you here?" The faster they realize they're the ones to blame for their actions, the faster the learning begins. In the end, it's really great to see how 14 sessions can change lives." Beginning with self-esteem and assertiveness training that helps them look at how they interact with people, the class moves onto examining boundaries and stereotypes and then figuring out who the victims of a crime are. "We identify victims and then what happened to them physically, emotionally, behaviorally, and socially," Sister Lux says. "Just one crime can trigger a cascading effect and we can end up with a thousand victims, each of whom has 40-50 things happen to them. It becomes a big turning point in the class. Many struggle to get through it. My hope is that they retain what they learnt." The rest of the classes are devoted to such subjects as dealing with anger - identifying the triggers and learning that alternative choices exist, how to handle dysfunctional families, how to create a healthy relationship, and holistic health. "It's not wrong to have anger," says Charles*, a recent graduate of the program. "But it's wrong to let it get out of control. Being here has helped me a lot. Sr. Barbara, you know, does her thing!" Lux plans on taking this further and is hopeful of getting more funding, which will enable her to start a program every seven weeks. Modifying the program a wee bit, she recently took it to the Illinois Youth Center in Harrisburg, where a lot of her participants were in for armed robbery and assault. Six young adults, between the ages of 16 and 19, graduated. "This class has played a significant role in my life," says an emotional Mike*. "I've learnt not to let anger take over my life. My hope for the future is to be a better husband and father now. I hope my son will look at me someday and say he's proud of me." Comments
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