×
X logo

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox.

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)

You may opt-out anytime by clicking "unsubscribe" from the newsletter or from your account.

YWCA Wheeling Provides Glimpse at Life After Prison

Photo by Betsy Bethel Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger makes a stop at the “bank” during a program at the YWCA Wheeling Tuesday.

WHEELING — It was a chaotic scene Tuesday at the YWCA Wheeling with social workers in jail, counselors on the lam and a police chief pilfering money from a church.

The simulated exercise was part of National Re-entry Week and was intended to give social service workers and other community professionals a glimpse of the obstacles ex-convicts face when re-entering society.

“This was a really, really good learning experience. It helped me understand the people I work with. It helped me understand why they get frustrated and just stop doing everything,” said Rhonda Hayes, an addictions counselor at the Lee Day Report Center in Wheeling and the Wheeling coordinator for the West Virginia University School of Social Work.

Each participant was given a new name and personal details, along with information on their crime and their time served. At the different stations — for example, probation office, workplace, plasma donation, bank, transportation, pawn shop, court, discount medical office, counseling, church and identification card center — the person would be given a task to complete or a set of circumstances to overcome.

They may have had to get a job before they could pay for medication, for example, but they couldn’t get a job until they got an ID card, which they didn’t have the money to purchase. They may not have had means of transportation to get to the job interview, or they may have chosen to use drugs or commit a crime that landed them back in jail.

At the end of the exercise, which represented one month of real time, one-third of the participants were in jail and only a few had jobs.

“It shows how difficult it is to navigate” everyday life when a person gets out of prison, “and how easy it is to get back in,” said Betsy Jividen, acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia, which collaborated with the YWCA WIND program on the event. WIND stands for “Women Inspired in New Directions,” which provides case management and support for women in recovery from drugs.

“Even for those who work in the (criminal justice) system, you can ask people to do something, but you really don’t know what they’re going through,” said Laura Albertini-Weigel, WIND director. “I think it’s important to focus on the people that do serve this population so they can become empathetic … and to help lower the recidivism rate.”

She added the U.S. attorney’s office also has done the program with prisoners to give them a reality check. For example, prisoners have access to programs that could help them with re-entry while they are still incarcerated, but many do not take advantage of them.

“Training convicted felons prior to being released is providing them with a skill set and knowing what they’ll have to deal with on the outside,” Albertini-Weigel said.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

COMMENTS

[vivafbcomment]

Starting at $4.73/week.

Subscribe Today