In many countries—Russia included—some of the homeless are ex-offenders who cannot get a job and pay rent… How does this happen? Sentenced to prison, then released, but unable to find a job, with no way to pay rent, and living on the streets or in shelters.
Former prisoners who are released find it extremely difficult to obtain work and, in turn, find accommodation. Being blacklisted by employers and sometimes shunned by their families, they often return to committing crimes. In fact, under such immense difficulties, doing crime seems the only rational way of survival in a society which wholly rejects them.
The recent 'escape' attempt by a Russian prisoner about to be released after a 22-year sentence dramatically highlights the severe predicament former prisoners face after their release.
His flight confounded people! Most people seek to avoid prison not remain in it! Some prisoners count the days until their imminent release. But the bizarre case of a 49-year-old convict who had served his 22-year sentence and escaped on the day of his release has taken people back. The aim of his flight from a penal colony was not freedom, but alas, to have his time in prison prolonged! He well understood that his attempt 'to escape' would get him a maximum of four years imprisonment.
What is it that Kamolzhon Kalonov finds enticing about the prison colony in the Irkutskoi region of Russia? Well, in the penal colony Kalonov, he has the right to work, he can obtain food, and he has a roof over his head. Beyond prison his prospects are very bleak.
Most employers won't employ a former prisoner and without an income he cannot feed himself—never mind rent a room! Like many prisoners, he has lost family ties, his parents have died, and he is divorced.
Daria Baibakov, the head of the Moscow charity *Nochlezhka told Streetsense…
"What incentive is there for an ex prisoner to go straight when he can't find any work or means of existence? It is no wonder they can decide to do crime again when there seems no way out!"
Like America, Russia has one of the highest rates of imprisonment in the World. There are currently 483,000 people in Russian prisons. As many as 40% of freed prisoners go on again to commit crimes.
Yeva Merkacheva, a human rights advocate, stated, "There really exists a number of big pressures on former prisoners. How can they survive if they can't do anything? They don't have any accommodation, their wives have divorced them and their parents have died. I can't imagine how they can, in principle, adapt to this new life! Of course the most important means to dissuade prisoners from recommitting crimes would be to offer them work but no employer is in a hurry to employ an ex-prisoner. "
American former prisoners confront similar problems after release. In one study, approximately 2/3 of those released are rearrested within 3 years. One ex-prisoner, Christy Cooke, estimated that she had submitted 140 applications for work. It was all in vain. She never got employment. Christopher Williamson who lost his job as a cook on being released from prison in 2019 due to an injury, has problems finding work. He stated, "It's been one door closed after another. It is really disheartening."
Why are so many employers reluctant to employ former prisoners? Fear is one reason! Jeffrey Korzenik, a chief investment strategist at 5th Third Bank and author of “Untapped Talent,” claims employers often presume the worst about ex-prisoners seeing them as a potential danger and threat. This is despite the fact that the vast majority of prisoners have not committed any violent crimes.
And according to data from the Prison Policy Institute those convicted of violent or sexual offences are unlikely to be rearrested for the same offence.
However, as a Russian proverb goes: “'Fear has big eyes.” Most employers assume that prisoners will again commit crimes. The ex-prisoners are viewed as 'a commercial liability' when, on the contrary, they can really turn out to be among the best employees.
Another reason why prisoners can't find work is because they don't have either skills, qualifications or basic literacy skills. According to the Prison Fellowship, as many as 70% of prisoners have a low literacy level. For instance, they have trouble writing a business letter or filling in an application form. Jim Vail, a teacher and journalist from Chicago told me he had met former prisoners who viewed prison as a place they learnt how to first read or write.
What is to be done? Indeed, can anything be done to assist luckless prisoners who really need a big break? Some Russians see a little hope in a new Russian 'Law on Probation' which has been passed by the Russian parliament and partially comes into force in January 2024. The new law will establish centers to help former prisoners attain training in new trades, offer special counselling from social workers and psychologists, provide some unemployment benefits and attempt to revive broken ties with their families….
But critics claim that those proposals don't have a supportive infrastructure or sufficient resources and staff to make the new law effective. For instance, experts claim that as many as 50,000 social workers and psychologists are required to provide therapy. Russia is short of qualified and skilled psychologists. And many of the psychologists do not have the appropriate experience never mind training. A lot of psychology in Russia is academic rather than applied practice.
It is not irrelevant to point out how prisoners who were granted freedom in return from doing military service, and survived, have just returned and are at this moment facing many difficulties finding suitable employment. They can't wait until January 1, 2024, for assistance when the new 'Law on Probation' comes into effect.
However, it is not just a matter of training or educating former prisoners. The wider public and employers need to be reeducated about prisoners and prisons.
1. We need to clear up misconceptions about prisons. Prisons are not places where everyone who is in them are 'bad' or 'evil'. It is worth pointing out that some people have been wrongfully imprisoned or put in prison for petty offences. In addition, many prisoners should be in a psychiatric hospital rather than in a prison. But the psychiatric hospitals are also often full in places such as Scotland and America. Most prisoners are not dangerous. We need to challenge the negative stereotypes of prisoners that prevail in the minds of most people.
2. There exists a vocal minority who think prisoners should not given a second chance and their punishment should begin not only in prison but after prison or forever. Some think that prison is too good for them as it provides them with free food and accommodation. …that prisons are not hotels! Prisoners should be forced to pay for their upkeep! Manipulative politicians don't want to lose the vote of this 'law and order brigade.' This betrays a complete ignorance of how hard prison is. It is no easy option at all. On the contrary, prison can traumatize people.
If you take a historical perspective, it is not a remote possibility that a new state can imprison innocent people en-masse. This was the harsh reality of the Nazis regime as well as the Russian revolution. Such a future scenario unfolding in America can't be ruled out. Events can unfold in all kinds of unanticipated ways.
3. There are some people who argue that it is impossible to reform or rehabilitate prisoners. But there are a lot of examples from history which puncture this myth. In the early 19th Century, a Scottish reformer of a penal colony in Australia, Lachlan Macquarie, successfully assisted prisoners by offering them a second chance to do honest work.
Up to the 1990's a “special unit” in Scotland successfully reformed the hardest and the most aggressive prisoners. People who had written off those prisoners as 'hopeless' were proven wrong. Unfortunately, you don't here much about those and many other countless successful projects carried out all over the World.
It is worth looking at one happy story from Nochlezhka…
A homeless person by the name of Artem grew up in a dysfunctional problem. He started to mix with bad company and ended up in prison. He was sentenced to five years imprisonment for robbery. When he was released, he had a girlfriend. However, when she left him, he got upset and took drugs. He was sent to prison again. After being released from prison he did not know what to do and felt at a dead end. But luckily his brother picked him up and took Artem to a special half-way house which helped prisoners. He managed to complete a special rehabilitation program, found a job, and moved into his brother's place. Artem is now doing well. All people like Artem and other former prisoners need is a little help to get back on their feet again. A larger and well-coordinated state program could work wonders if given a chance!
A famous German Doctor called Fedor Haas was indefatigable in attempting to dispel those false notions about prisoners. He thought everyone deserved a second chance. All his life, he was devoted to improving the harsh conditions of convicts. His famous motto was “Hurry up and do good." The motto captures how urgent he viewed his mission and the predicament of so many people experiencing untold misery.
A person once defined hell up in two words as “Too late.” We certainly must not leave things until they are too late.
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Acknowledged sources
1. “Escaped from Prison on the Day of Release,” by Anna Zhukova, “Metro Newspaper” (Russian edition), September 19, 2023, number 26.
2. Interview with Daria Baibakova, Moscow head of Nochlezhka, September 2021
3. “Nochlezka Annual Report of 2021,” Moscow: Nochlezhka.
4. “The Scottish Enlightenment: The Scots’ Invention of the Modern World,” by Arthur Herman, 2001. London: Fourth Estate.
5. “Life After Prison,” by Alexander Fedyr, “Forbes Magazine,” (Russian edition), January 14, 2023.
6. “How the Law on Probation Will Work, by Nadia Tkach, February 17, 2023, On Line article in Russian.
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*Editor’s note: Nochlezhka, founded in Saint Petersburg, is Russia’s oldest charity for helping the homeless. Founded as a foundation in 1990, “…by Valery Sokolov and a group of like-minded people who are concerned about the plight of homeless people and people without registration” Nochlezhka has grown dramatically (About Nochlezhka (homeless.ru)).