In the U.S. alone there are approximately 2 million inmates serving time in penitentiary’s, jails, and correctional facilities. For these individuals the future may appear uncertain, intimidating, and sometimes entirely unimaginable.
These disadvantaged individuals lack the guidance and support needed to make true and meaningful changes due to the understanding that prison administrations are rarely working towards correction and rehabilitation. Instead, the multifaceted prison industry in the U.S. is centered around isolation, control, profit and punishment. This treatment strips inmates of their self-esteem, individuality, and sense of belonging causing many to experience loneliness, depression, and a social and emotional struggle that will be difficult to overcome even when released.
Every year 600,000 inmates are released from various facilities around the U.S., but with a recidivism rate of 70% means that 420,000 of those individuals will be returning to prison. We believe prison correspondence alone won’t solve all the issues with mass incarceration. However, we do believe that it can establish a united and supportive system that will help reduce recidivism by spreading awareness, perspective, and understanding.
The main goal of reaching out to an inmate and building connections with a prison pen-pal, no matter if its once a week or every other week, is the profound difference it creates in their daily life. It will help them feel less isolated, promote changes to their identity, provide a distraction from the monotonous life within prison, and raises their hopes for life beyond the fence. The chance to set aside the mask and express themselves can result in long lasting friendships and lead to inmates feeling freed from the stigma that the public relentlessly puts upon them.
Contact with the outside world can help raise an inmates chances for successful rehabilitation and reintegration into society when released. Getting involved in prison correspondence is a way to take a strong stance on, and for, inclusion and prison reform.
The current methods of connecting inmates to pen-pals are honestly outdated, and merely effective. Within prison there is a real and constant demand for change. The PrisonBaes app will bring a whole new experience to the prison pen-pal world, creating opportunity for the incarcerated populations, and the public, in our dedication to raising awareness and reconnecting inmates to the outside world.
The value of family, friends, and community have never been so great as it is today. You don’t have to had been incarcerated before or even know anyone who has in order to relate to the incarcerated and understand why this project is so important for those on both sides of the fence.
In 2020, Covid-19 shut the world down and it kept so many people isolated from family, friends, work, a sense of security, and hope. Everything you knew, and what you knew it to be was being threatened by change. For so many the future looked uncertain, intimidating, and possibly unimaginable. These are only a few of the many reasons why society is ready, and able, to show compassion for and even relate to those serving out their sentences.
It is time to raise awareness to a whole demographic that is isolated from family, friends, and the world. Reintegration into society needs to begin before their release, instead of unrealistically and selfishly expecting those who get released to be able to adjust and cope with what is very well a whole new world and culture than what they knew it to be prior to their incarceration, and to that within prison itself. Your correspondence can help an inmate throughout that journey and increase their chances for successful rehabilitation and reintegration.
Thank you for your time, – Brian.
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2023.html
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/honors_theses/3665/
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