Faith groups unite to mentor ex-prisoners

Correction department is hopeful mentoring can reduce recidivism

Published: October 3, 2009

By Armando Rios
Associate Editor

Courtesy Prison Fellowship

Pat Nolan, vice president of Prison Fellowship, speaks to a congressional sub-committee in October 2007 on his experience as a lawyer, legislator and ex-offender to improve the U.S. justice system. He was the keynote speaker at the Arkansas Out4Life Conference Sept. 14-16 in Little Rock.

Courtesy Prison Fellowship

Efforts have existed across the state to help inmates as they come out of prison, but they have never taken steps to organize, until now.

More than 100 people representing groups from across Arkansas gathered in Little Rock Sept. 14-16 for an Out4Life Conference, including Catholic Charities of Arkansas prison ministry director Tom Navin.

Keynote speaker was Pat Nolan, a Catholic and vice president of Prison Fellowship, the largest outreach to prisoners, ex-prisoners and their families in the world. It was founded in 1976 by Chuck Colson, a former aide to President Richard Nixon.

"There are many groups, both community and faith-based groups, that are helping inmates make the transition, but they are so busy working and doing those things that they don't have a chance to share information and we found this in all the other states, it is not just Arkansas," Nolan said during an interview with Arkansas Catholic. "So that is where the idea of Out4Life came, that we would convene the people that are doing the work, with the Department of Correction and say, let us find out the needs of returning offenders and find out what people are already doing, find out where there is overlap, so they are not doing the double-work."

An Out4Life conference in Louisiana has resulted in more than 300 individuals and groups organizing into five regions to assist people coming out of the prisons, Nolan said. They have a directory of services and have created a preparation handbook for returning inmates that the Louisiana Department of Corrections uses.

There will be three regions in Arkansas. Goodwill Industries will take the lead role in the Central Arkansas region, Navin said.

Navin said he is enthused because it allows each organization to work within its own framework.

"One of the key things that Prison Fellowship works on is working with local churches to develop mentors for the inmates because when an offender returns, even if they have access to programs they need someone to help them navigate all the bureaucracy, to keep their spirits up and hopefully introduce them to the church," Nolan said.

"One of the big fears a lot of offenders have is to go to church and be rejected," Nolan said. "That has happened. People have said, 'Don't come back.'"

Recently released inmates often need to get a driver's license, but in order to get one, they need a birth certificate, he said. They might not know how to get one. A lot of times they dropped out of high school, they may even be illiterate, and they don't know how to do that so the mentor can help them, Nolan added.

"The mentor also helps them deal with the frustration of being turned down for a job or having a frustrating experience with a government agency," he said. "If they find a job and are having a problem with a coworker or with a supervisor, (the mentor) helps them think through strategies on how to deal with it. You don't handle it the way you would inside prison or in the way they did it in their life before. So it is equipping them to deal with the bumps in the road that come with life."

Catholic social teaching fits perfectly with this, Nolan said.

The Arkansas Department of Correction director Larry Norris understands that in order to keep the number of released inmates returning to prison down, it has to be done with the help of the community, Nolan said. According to Prison Fellowship, one-fourth of the 6,200 prisoners released each year in Arkansas return to prison within three years, making it is a "financial and public safety crisis."

"They keep getting the cycle back of inmates and it breaks their hearts to see these folks, who have the best intentions when they leave, end up back inside," Nolan added.

"Successful prisoner re-entry can only occur when government, business, faith and community leaders work together," Norris said in a press release. "The Out4Life conference is focused on developing ways that we can all come together to make Arkansas communities safer."

Nolan said he has a personal interest in this ministry because he was once in prison for 29 months.

According to his biography, in 1988, Nolan was targeted for prosecution regarding a campaign contribution he accepted, which turned out to be part of an FBI sting. Nolan pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering and served 25 months in a federal prison and four months in a halfway house.

"I saw how little is being done to prepare them. I had been in the legislature in California and I presumed that while they were in prison they had all that time on their hands that they would be given productive things to do to prepare themselves but very little was done," Nolan said. "I come from a good family; we had a strong faith. I had a good education and I saw a lot of these guys with none of that. Certainly, no adult in their life that ever loved them or expressed that love in any way never had just somebody to look up to that had a job and took responsibility for the family. When they are released, there is nothing there for them.

"I tell the story about when I came out to the halfway house, a bunch of my friends from the Capitol took me to lunch at a local deli and the waiter came over and they all ordered and I sat there with the menu and I sat there and sat there and sat there, I was just paralyzed. For two years I had not ordered anything, it was just given to me. All of a sudden, I had all of these choices and I literally froze. If that could happen to me, think of the poor people who didn't have what I have."

Moreover, the issues are much larger than just ordering from a menu, he said. They can include decisions such as where they are going to sleep that night -- in a park or under a bridge -- where are they going to get money for food the next day, where do they go to look for work, or get medical care.

They are overwhelmed and overloaded and that is where a mentor can be helpful, pointing out options, keeping them on the moral path, Nolan said.

For more information on the diocese's prison ministry, contact Navin at (501) 664-0340 or .