If an ex-con is to reform, he or she must find a welcome spot back in society. The community they move into must accept them, or the alienation will only turn them back to their old friends, If they leave prison to find no new friends -- none of the good variety -- they are left to look up the friends of their past.
Perhaps some friends from the past are good, but most often they are not.
I think of our volunteer programs, and how people volunteer for service. Would this work? Could we have people from each community volunteer to be friends to help rehabilitate those coming out of prison? Perhaps. But this is different than most any volunteer project. You don't just go punch in a couple hours a month, or even a week. Being a friend is more intensive than that. Being a friend is being there for them everyday. It might mean going to movies with them, or getting together to watch ball games.
Though it is more intensive, we should try it. We need to provide a circle of friends around the ex-con. Another of the friends should be the parole and probation officers. If we had a program working right, the ex-con would be turning to the parole and probation officers for friendship. Call them something else, maybe post-prison advocates.
Society is only as good as its reach to help others. It is only as good as its ability to bring those who aren't so good, to become good.
No comments:
Post a Comment