– obstacles to legitimate employment a major snag

PERSONS returning to society after incarceration, irrespective of their physical, mental or substance abuse challenges face a confusing transition of reintegration, regardless of their health condition.

This is the view of Forensic Psychologist Dianna Khan, who related that many former inmates face significant obstacles in gaining legitimate employment.

These obstacles, she said, include low levels of education, limited vocational skills and work experience and reluctance on the part of employers to hire “ex-prisoners.”

She said that the transition from prison to community differs for former inmates with health problems, and knowledge of these specific differences can be used to target interventions to improve reintegration outcomes.

“Reintegration outcomes vary by health status. Individuals with physical health, mental health, and substance abuse conditions usually follow distinct reintegration trajectories,” the forensic psychologist said.

She continued: “It has also been observed that dependent [sic] on the health issue, they have significantly different experiences with regard to housing, employment, family support, substance use, criminal involvement and period of recidivism.”

Khan said that former inmates who are substance abusers (marijuana use, alcohol intoxication, cocaine and other generic drugs) irrespective of their culture are most likely to relapse into substance use and recidivate.

“It should also be noted that the time of relapse is significantly shorter than those who have physical and mental health conditions. Generally, the rate of relapse also differs by gender. Post-prison substance use was reflective of pre-prison substance abuse patterns,” the psychologist noted.

Khan explained that inmates who return to society with substance abuse problems generally do not have evident physical conditions, yet they reported more criminal behaviour, having been more likely to earn money through illegal activities.

“Not only do they report more criminal activity, but the crimes they engage in progressively increase in nature…. An example of this is first offence being robbery, second offence being armed robbery, third offence robbery with physical harm,” Khan noted.

Adding that unresolved substance abuse problems often complicate an already challenging reintegration transition, the psychologist noted that returning to society with health problems poses the danger of being unable to engage in work or other activities because of pain or sickness, and their families may be unwilling or unable to serve as a fallback support.

“Former inmates with physical and mental health conditions are conditioned to believe that their health problems would always interfere with their ability to work. Hence, accountability of those instances when they return to crime after some time has elapsed. The timeframe in which those with physical and mental conditions return to crime is generally longer, as compared to those who report substance abuse addictions,” she noted.

Khan added that continuous substance abuse over time ultimately leads to persons having to manage newly acquired health problems acquired over a period of time. Moreover, long-term substance abuse can have damaging physiological effects.

She explained that addressing substance abuse post-release has the potential to improve individual health and re-entry outcomes. The benefits may also extend beyond the individual to the communities in which returning prisoners reside.

This special attention to the substance abuse treatment, she said, should be acknowledged concurrently with the dynamic that such persons upon release return in relatively high concentrations to a small number of socio-economically disadvantaged communities.

“Adverse effects of substance abuse increase the risk of violent behaviour, disrupt family relationships and employment, and ill effects on health. Substance use puts released inmates at risk for a number of adverse outcomes,” she said.

The forensic psychologist underscored that the possession of illegal drugs alone puts individuals at risk for arrest and re-incarceration. “This makes me think of Jamaican legislation on decriminalising possession of “smaller” amounts of marijuana…that was quite interesting.”

Moreover, she said that substance use may propel individuals to commit other crimes in order to finance drug purchases. Substance use also notably affects other outcomes, in that it can impede family relationships, employment, and health.

“Despite the hindrances for starters, to facilitate an easier transition I encourage fostering positive connections with family members and meaningful social networks….As alluded, some substance abuse addicts have been more likely to earn money through illegal activities because of the inability to self-support themselves,” she underscored.

Meanwhile, the Guyana Prison Service (GPS) is considering the introduction of online training as efforts to rehabilitate inmates and reduce recidivism continue, Acting Director of Prisons Gladwin Samuels said.

The director said this practice is already being utilised in facilities around the world.

He noted that with the necessary precautions in place to prevent access to unauthorised websites, the introduction of technology-assisted training will reduce the hindrance caused by the unavailability of space for training within the prison facilities.

“I recognise as well, they are making adequate use of that sort of technology, internet-based training for inmates, where they have their own computer or tablet and a number of programmes are actually pre-downloaded to the instrument, which are prevented from accessing unauthorised websites,” the director added.

According to Samuels, the institution is also focusing its energies on attracting a higher quality staff, while providing training opportunities for those currently on staff, to upgrade their skillset wherever necessary and possible.

Samuels noted that the Prison Service is in a better position to realise its role of inmate reform. It has received assistance from the British-funded Security Sector Reform Project (SSRP) and the Inter-American Development Bank’s Citizen Security Strengthening Programme (CSSP) toward this end.