A recent forum highlighted the support prisoners need once they are released from prison. Watch video
You've done the crime, you've done the time, and now you're ready to get on with your life.
If only it were that easy.
Although the state's Office of Transitional Services says New Jersey is experiencing a downward trend in the number of former prisoners who find themselves behind bars again, the rate of recidivism is still sobering.
According to the most recent figures, 53 percent of prisoners were re-arrested within three years of leaving jail. More than 34 percent of those released were re-incarcerated.
Considering that about 650,000 state and federal prisoners are released every year, that adds up to a lot of lives wasted and a lot of families destroyed.
Where the system breaks down, advocates say, is in helping these newly freed men and women find jobs, housing and social services.
More must be done for prisoners
This lack of support practically guarantees the ex-felons will be going back to the same environment that helped turn them into criminals in the first place.
That was the compelling take-away from a forum earlier this month hosted by State Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester) and geared to program organizers, former prisoners and local and county officials.
Kevin McHugh is executive director of the Re-Entry Coalition of New Jersey, a multi-agency organization that provides community-based programs and services for people as they adjust to becoming members of society after doing time.
"I don't think we can afford to continue just incarcerating people without thinking about what actually happens when they leave prison," McHugh said. "We need to have an assessment, we need to have a release plan ... Those things are cheaper than incarceration, and they make more sense."
At a time when the nation's entire criminal justice system is increasingly under a microscope, both on the local and the national level, much credit is due to organizations such as Volunteers of America Delaware Valley.
Booker helps prisoners find jobs
Since receiving a $750,000 state grant last October to expand its re-entry service, VOA has reached out to prisoners from Trenton and Atlantic City on the eve of their release from the county jail systems, providing aid with housing, employment and addiction treatment.
How do I apply for a driver's license? What about my Social Security identification card? Where do I sign up for help with my drug problem? Are there employers out there who will look beyond my prison record and see an individual ready to work?
These are challenges that torment many an ex-offender, and questions a compassionate society needs to make sure that when the jail doors open, there's a pathway for redemption for those who seek it.