The WHY of rehabilitation is crucial to ensure a successful ‎rehabilitation in the 21st century

presented by Avraham Hoffmann at the ICPA 19^th annual conference, Montreal, October 2018

Our sages contrast two stories from the Bible: The story of Noah, who built the ark ‎without asking God to spare his generation of sinners, and that of Abraham, who on the contrary, confronted God’s ‎decision and begged him not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if only he could ‎find a few righteous people. This opposition presents a ‎social choice between living in a fortress and that of doing social rehabilitation. ‎

In the past prison used to be autonomous; society wasn’t interested in what was happening behind the prison walls. And even when it showed interest it didn’t mean to interfere. All they cared about was that offenders were punished and paid their debt to society, and that they had learned their lesson. Nowadays, the liberal and anti-liberal movements want to influence society and prison nonetheless. As a consequence prisons are not autonomous anymore. They are influenced by public opinion. Over the years the separation between the prisons and society decreased.

Currents from outside prison, understand now that they could influence what is happening within prisons, and prisoners on their part understand that they can influence too.

Moreover, most of the prisoners will sooner or later return to society. Therefore one cannot manage the daily activities in prison without taking into account the contemporary society and social life to which the prisoners will return to after their release from prison; A society that does not ignore what is happening in prisons may have different perspectives on prisoners and rehabilitation, whether positive or negative. 

Our society prefers fast and immediate solutions. However rehabilitation is along and continued process that requires patience and tolerance. Therefore, often rehabilitation fails due to society’s attitude toward released prisoners and its unwillingness to forgive. Judaism believes that after a person has been punished and paid its debt to society, society must treat him as a brother and help him rehabilitate.

The media, society and politics are involved. As a consequence, while in the past discussions were taking place only within the prison walls, dealing mainly with the HOW. Today more than ever before, we must develop a philosophy to convince society of the ability to rehabilitate and of the importance of successfully rehabilitated released prisoner to society’s morality, safety and even economy.

The walls of the prison have become more transparent. We must take into account how society views the prison and the prisoners, and how prisoners view society and create a strong WHY to ensure that prisons and society have a shared aspiration to rehabilitate prisoners.

How to turn the walls of the prison into seeds of hope?

For many years the prisons were hidden from the public’s eyes. Life in a democratic country requires revealing what happens inside the prisons. A world you cannot see with your eyes, you cannot feel for with your heart. Such a world will never get state budgetary prioritisation. As a consequence there would be no way to advance prisoners and prepare them to return to society.

Prison Governors – how can they help?

Prison governors must find ways to educate and influence the public outside prisons and address the “out of sight out of mind” human nature. This will also ensure that the society allocates the required resources and means to advance the prisoners and prepare them to return to society. Preparing the prisons’ governors and staff for public exposure is not easy and requires an important investment and the development of new methods to train the prison staff for the new era in which we live.

A society, to which the prisoners are not strangers, will be able to open its heart toward prisoners. Without public support, those who wish to rehabilitate released prisoner during incarceration and after their release from prison, will fail. More and more, prison governors are thriving at more openness. However without a detailed strategic action plan, the best intentions and professional up-to-date knowledge will not be sufficient.

Why is the Political system important?

One way by which Prison Governors can promote the change in society, is by working closely with the central political system. Inviting legislators and MPs, Ministers and judges to visit the prison regularly and on special occasions is a way to expose them to the importance of rehabilitation and consequently to the importance of allocating adequate budgets and it is a bold statement that they have nothing to hide. By getting to know the prisons, their residents and their staff, officials have the opportunity to experience at first hand and eventually build their case for supporting rehabilitation and in some cases supporting alternative punishments (instead of incarceration) and thus promote budgeting adequate budgets for rehabilitation and other aspects of rehabilitation. And, only a strong WHY of rehabilitation can support a prison governor in leading others to believe in rehabilitation and act accordingly.

And what role do Volunteers play?

An additional step prison governors must take is to develop a strong bond with individual volunteers and volunteer organisations. This is a powerful way to offer released prisoners the positive alternative of the normative society, as opposed to returning to their post-incarceration criminal community.

Volunteers from the community are invaluable to the rehabilitation of released ‎prisoners. For the released prisoners, they represent a close person from the law ‎abiding society who cares for them genuinely. Hence they feel a personal obligation ‎not to offend the law. Volunteers are also more flexible then the administration, ‎which is a valuable aspect, especially in the immediate period following the release ‎from prison, a critical period, during which the released prisoners need both emotional and ‎practical support and help.‎

Moreover, in moments of crisis, this kind of relationship may reduce the help the released prisoner seeks ‎from professional. And since released prisoner are often suspicious ‎of the state authorities and workers, the volunteers may serve as a bridge between ‎them and strengthen their trust in the community services.‎

One must have a strong belief in the possibility of rehabilitation to come voluntarily to work with prisoners. Hence, volunteers can also contribute greatly to educating the public at large about the ‎problems of released prisoners. Hence, promoting more tolerance toward released ‎prisoners and a willingness to integrate them. ‎

Therefore, the PRA sees pairing volunteers with released prisoners as one of the ‎most effective and efficient way to accompany prisoners during the first period following their ‎return to society.‎

Not only do the volunteers help prisoners inside prison toward their release, but they will also be there for them outside prison after their release. They may be personally volunteering in the community, but not necessarily. By volunteering inside prison they become powerful agents that disseminate the belief in the possibility to rehabilitate and therefore they prepare society, directly and indirectly, to reintegrate released prisoners: including society at large by setting the example, and the media.

Sentences: punishment vis-à-vis rehabilitation

In 1983 Israel enacted the Law of the Prisoner Rehabilitation Authority that secures the continued ‎therapy from prison to rehabilitation. Real rehabilitation can be achieved only by a free ‎person. As King David wrote in Psalms (23: 4-5): “Even when I walk in the valley of darkness, ‎I will fear no evil for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff-they comfort me.”‎

That is, the punishment and the rehabilitation of the released prisoner must be, according to King ‎David” an integral part of the verdict, so it shortens the imprisonment term and extends the ‎period of supervised rehabilitation – after the release from prison.‎

This world-view necessitates change of positions among the public and among the political ‎leadership. This world-view is also preferred by economists, who know the limited resources ‎available to build and operate new prisons. Today I would like to propose a bolder approach to shorten the prison incarceration period to a half (as opposed to reducing a third) while the second half is spent by the released prisoners in residential hostels for released prisoners, where they are given therapy but at the same time work in the community while being supervised and monitored. This would cut the state expenses by at least half – since prison costs are much higher than those of residential hostels.

Why should we include Mayors and local agencies?

Mayors should have an important interest in promoting the successful rehabilitation of their convicted town residents as well as in the rehabilitation of all released prisoners. They care about the safety of their town and residents and have to deal with the outcomes of delinquency and crime; it requires considerable budgets and impacts the town’s reputation. Eventually they also have an electoral interest in reducing crime. These are important incentive to engage the municipality in rehabilitation, and to increase it further, I once invited the late mayor of Jerusalem, Teddy Kollek, to join me on a visit of prisons. As a result he became an avid supporter of prisoners’ rehabilitation and helped us recruit “friendly” employers for released prisoners.

How can employers promote rehabilitation?

We define rehabilitation as integration into the law-abiding society. The absorption ‎into the work world is one of the major assessments to the success  of rehabilitation. ‎Many efforts are made in the field of released prisoners’ rehabilitation, in their ‎detoxification from drugs, in emotional therapy, and in family therapy, but without ‎any solution in the employment field, any investment may be for nothing. A lack and ‎failure in employment are one of the major factors for going back to crime and ‎consequently to prison. ‎

To amplify the chances of success, the PRA employment co-ordinators work at ‎finding “friendly employers” who are willing to employ released prisoners and co-‎operate with the PRA employment co-ordinator.

 Because, many released prisoners lack stability in employment and have difficulties ‎in accepting authority, the PRA has developed an employment support program that ‎offers a prompt response to the released prisoners’ problems as an employee. In co-operation with the Employment Bureau, released-prisoners ‎participate in vocational training to better their chances of finding a suitable work ‎position. They receive the assistance of a social worker that follows up the progress, ‎intervenes when necessary, and helps finding a job and keeping it.‎

The “friendly employers” present a perfect combination of people who genuinely want to help society and that can at the same time benefit from finding employees. Because the Israeli industry is strongly developed in the high-tech professions, recent years ‎show that there is a shortage of manpower in the other industries and low-tech professions, ‎such as building workers, plumbers, electricians, painters and locksmiths. Hence, employing released prisoners has a positive contribution to the whole economy and society.‎‎

And last but surely not least:

The Prisoners’ families

For many of the prisoners, their way to crime has its roots in failing to find their place in their original family. Hence curing this pain is a necessary condition to the success of their rehabilitation.

Prisoners’ families should be engaged in the rehabilitation, both for their sake as for ensuring a successful rehabilitation of the prisoners themselves. By ‎treating the prisoners’ spouses and their children, as well as the family as a whole, toward the ‎reunion following the release from prison, we prevent the prisoners from returning to crime as well ‎as preventing their children from becoming delinquents in their turn. Instead of returning into ‎the arms of the criminal community, they will return to a loving family. It offers the released ‎prisoners an opportunity to see and experience their future reality outside prison, and deal ‎beforehand with issues that may prevent them from integrating society.‎

Conclusion

Our strong WHY and conviction that rehabilitation was possible and a societal obligation enabled us to achieve exceptional results. Through this presentation I hope I have offered you the gift of a strong WHY as the foundation of all successful rehabilitation.

We live in an era in which people look for fast solutions – rehabilitation requires a long patient way, paved with tolerance and taken with small gradual steps. Let’s embrace King David understanding of the process of rehabilitation: punishment must be followed by rehabilitation[1].

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[1] Babylonian Gemara, Sanhedrin 6b: ““And David executed justice and charity to all his ‎people” (II Samuel 8:15). And is it not that wherever there is strict justice, there is no charity, ‎and wherever there is charity, there is no strict justice? Rather, which is the justice that has ‎within it charity? You must say: This is mediation‏.‏

The Gemara cites an alternative interpretation of David’s method of judgment, in which we ‎come to the opinion of the first tanna, i.e., Rabbi Eliezer, son of Rabbi Yosei HaGelili, who says ‎that it is prohibited to mediate a dispute: If a judge adjudicated a case of monetary law, and he ‎correctly exonerated the party who was exempt from payment and deemed liable the party ‎who was liable to pay, if he then saw that due to his ruling a poor person became liable to pay ‎an amount of money that is beyond his means and therefore the judge himself paid for him ‎from his own house, this is justice and also charity‏.‏