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Changing how you think helps the transition from prisoner back to citizen [npr.org]

 

Raymond Tillman spent most of his adolescence and early adulthood behind bars. His last release — after three stints inside — was in 2011. When he got out, he had a lot to catch up on — like, the digital age.

"When I first came home I was illiterate to technology," he explains. "Didn't know how to turn on a computer, let alone what an email was." But he needed a job, and to get one, he'd need to be able to apply online.

A parole officer suggested Tillman go to the Cal State San Bernardino Reentry Initiative, a promising new program designed to smooth the transition from offender back to citizen. A big portion of the U.S.'s record-setting prison population is re-offenders, so re-entry centers work to get those numbers down by helping people on parole get the tools they need to function in society — so they eventually stay out of prison. Programs are like a bridge, between the world of corrections and the world of social services.

At other times in Raymond Tillman's life, he would have blown this off, but this time — and he doesn't even know why — he showed up and followed through. He took nearly every class the center offered: "Domestic Violence. Computer Literacy. Job Readiness. Anger Management. Substance Abuse. I took them all."



[To read more of this article, please click here.]

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