Churches throughout the District are setting a
national precedent by joining a new legal effort to help convicted criminals
become law-abiding citizens.
Already, 39
churches have become part of what is being called the "faith community" to
announce the program on Re-Entry Sunday on Jan. 13 when churchgoers will express
their faith through service.
Pastors will
encourage members to become mentors, then on Feb. 7 there will be an orientation
meeting to teach mentors how to work with trained reformists to help
ex-criminals find housing, get jobs and abide by
laws.
"I believe truly this is the breakthrough
the city really needs," said D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, a
Democrat.
About 2,500 convicts in the District
are released on parole and probation annually. The 62 percent national
recidivism rate means 1,550 of those convicts will commit new
crimes.
"Too often, we forget these individuals
are part of our community, and they come back," said Mayor Anthony A. Williams.
"We must mentor our returning inmates just like Moses mentored
Joshua."
Keeping track of criminals on pretrial
release, probation and parole is the job of the newly formed Court Services and
Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA), which will continue operating halfway
houses. But those houses only monitor and work with criminals up to six
months.
"Churches, mosques and temples are the
cornerstones of community," said CSOSA interim Director Jasper Ormond. "If the
returning offender can find a welcome there, then he is not alone. He can tap
into the strength of the community and use it to reinforce his resolve to
establish a life that is free from drugs and
crime."
Most convicts were substance abusers,
with an average educational level of no more than fifth grade and few, if any,
job skills. Nonetheless, most of them emerge from prison "with high hopes and
sincere resolutions" to do right, Mr. Ormond
said.
Mentors may help the convicts get jobs.
There will be training to help convicts become literate, increase their
education, Mr. Ormond said.
Many convicts were
abandoned by their parents, and the foster-care system simply could not fill the
gap, said Mr. Ormond, who also claimed "abandonment is a prerequisite" for crime
and drug addiction.
"These are not children.
They are grown up, but they need guidance," Mrs. Norton
said.
The District's nonvoting congressional
representative praised the faith community for helping D.C. residents overcome
the fear of crimes being committed in their
neighborhoods.
"I feel so strongly about this.
I really do," Mrs. Norton said.
Obie
Washington, director of the D.C. Department of Corrections, said his 30 years of
experience have shown that convicts are reformed by getting jobs, support from
family or friends, by a "change of heart" about right and wrong, and significant
substance-abuse treatment.
Lorton's seven local
prisons were closed last year, and the 10,000 inmates, convicted of crimes in
the District, were sent to prisons throughout the nation, including West
Virginia, Ohio and Arizona. Upon release, those convicts are paroled and
returned to the District.
The mentoring
partnership is supported by the Council of Churches of Greater Washington and
the Muslim Society of Washington, and has more than 100 members, Mr. Ormond
said.
"It is unprecedented," he added.