Moving from jail or prison back into civilian life is a notoriously difficult proposition. PNS associate editor Joe Loya is working on a memoir about his years in federal prison. The other day I gave a talk to a group of worried men in the Fairfield County, CA jail. They are worried that they may not survive the transition into free society. My decision to go straight is part of a statewide and national trend.
Recidivism is down in California.
I offered more encouraging good news. California's prison population shrank last year for the first time since 1977. Connected to the decline in recidivism and shrinking prison population is the fact that last year the nation experienced the largest single-year drop in violent crime since the Justice Department started keeping track 26 years ago. Apparently a lot of ex-offenders are coming out of prison and picking up a lunch pail instead of a gun. Some prisoners think society hates them, doesn't want them free.