Re-entry and Reintegration

Black people released from correctional facilities, their loved ones, and service providers talked about several barriers and challenges faced when former prisoners attempt to reintegrate. Previously incarcerated people found that stigmatizing labels, having a criminal record, and racial barriers were tough to overcome. These labels often stick, making it difficult for them to close their past, move forward, find work, and rebuild relationships. Others also mentioned the difficulties they faced while trying to process the trauma and experiences they encountered while incarcerated. This significantly reduced their confidence and mental well-being and often led to mental health challenges and stress. In addition to stigma faced when attempting to access social institutions, some participants indicated that they were stigmatized by people in their informal support system, including family, friends, romantic partners, and other loved ones. They highlighted that this contributed to a feeling of isolation. There was consensus that there is not adequate support to deal with this this range of reintegration barriers. Former prisoners shared that there was an absence of guidance upon release, a lack of tools to navigate outside prison, and that doors to opportunities were closed to them. They often traced reintegration difficulties to gaps in effective programs and resources offered within correctional institutions prior to release. Participants shared their frustrations with a lack of Black involvement in release decisions and a lack of relevant social context to understand Black people seeking parole. They highlighted observing inequities in parole outcomes which they argue are shaped by systemic racism and bias, rather than objective criteria:

“There needs to be greater community involvement in release decisions. The reason why Black people don't get parole is because they're perceived as more dangerous than even their crime. It's a direct result of racism. The community needs to be more involved in parole decisions. We can decide whether somebody should remain in prison or be released. Leave it up to the people that know the individual. Not poor parole boards that are riddled with racism.” (Community member, location unknown)

Community participants' perceptions about racial bias in parole are supported by the Office of the Correctional Investigator (2022) which found that “Black people are released later in their sentence and less likely to be granted day or full parole” (p. 41). Participants noted that to address these biases, there is a need to:

“Ensure that the decision-makers are diverse and reflect equity-seeking groups. This is especially important at the leadership level. Develop zero-tolerance anti-racism and Anti- Black racism policies with clear and consistent consequences for violations.” (Community member, location unknown).

A theme that commonly emerged from the consultation sessions was that the high costs associated with criminal record expungement poses a barrier to reintegration success for Black people. Participants noted that criminal records were prohibitive for seeking a job, getting housing, and other opportunities, even for people who have been acquitted. The effects of criminal records do not just impact those who have served time in Canadian correctional facilities, but also their loved ones by reducing earning potentials, the ability to get home insurance, and other factors. In their own words:

“The expungement of criminal records (even if you are not guilty) costs hundreds of dollars and for this type of environment that we're living in, with the soaring cost of housing and me being a single income household, how can I again, on top of everything else, afford to expunge a 20-plus-year-old record?” (Individual formerly incarcerated, British Columbia)

“The judge found me not guilty and I was completely acquitted of the crime. However, the charge remains on my record more than 20 years later, hindering my capacity and capability to apply for certain jobs or be promoted in certain areas. This is something that I find happens to many marginalized communities. I worked for an agency that worked with BIPOC women and domestic violence situations, so we saw a lot of that happening and hindering people's opportunities, future opportunities in terms of work.” (Community member British Columbia)

“I have a criminal record for life. I cannot be hired at certain well-paying jobs unless I get my record expunged which costs much more than I can afford as a single mother.” (Female individual formerly incarcerated, British Columbia)

“Number two, the difference is in punishment, right? When it comes to punishment, when it comes to what happens when you get arrested, you can't necessarily get a job, right? Because of this record that's hanging over your head. You get a record, now you can't even get car insurance. You can't give homeowners insurance. By all of these things that affect you, put you in a position where you can't necessarily access certain things.” (Community member, Québec)

“But there's things that people might not know about that doesn't just impact the individuals, but impacts their family, the community. So, when [anonymous] said about insurance and not being able to get insurance, if you have a record, or if you've been incarcerated, it doesn't just happen to that person. If you're living with somebody, that person cannot get insurance because they have somebody living with them that might have a record or, you know, had problems with the law. So that impacts on the greater community because so what? But now I have a house, I have my son or my partner that's living that has problem with the law, so I can't get house insurance. So if I have a fire, I'm not insured. So then there goes my property that I've worked for, because I can't get insured” (Community member, Québec)

Graffam et al. (2004) makes clear how important employment is for reintegration:

"Employment provides more than the income necessary to support adequate material conditions. It also provides structure and routine, while filling time. It provides opportunities to expand one's social network to include other productive members of society. In addition to all this, employment can contribute to enhanced self-esteem and other psychological health.” (p. 1)

To address the persistent negative impact of criminal records on Black people, participants called for legislative change to address issues stemming from criminal records, especially in the employment sector. This recommendation is imperative. Research has found that having a criminal record is positively correlated with recidivism because it reduces the ability for people who were incarcerated to be hired (Denver, Siwach, & Bushway, 2017). Moreover, John Howard Society Ontario (2019) found that 60% of employers require criminal record checks and would not knowingly hire a person with a criminal record. These findings suggest the urgent need to re- consider if criminal records are helping people or hurting people and reframe our collective thoughts about them.

Those consulted as part of the engagement sessions also asserted that there is a lack of reintegration supports and a lack of awareness of existing supports among those reintegrating and parole officers. They asserted that this increases the likelihood of reoffending and increases challenges faced by Black individuals after release. A Black male incarcerated in Ontario shared “I don’t know anyone who came from where I came from and changed their life.” Community members and participants in British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and elsewhere in Canada said:

“There is a lack of support such as employment, housing and basic needs. Thus, people become recidivists.”

“There is often not someone to guide them in the direction of education opportunities, expungement of records, getting them access to other supports in the community. I can imagine when that person comes out of incarceration or the facility, it's scary.”

There is the need for programs that incentivize the hiring of Black people who have been released from custody: “For example, the community in Kitchener/Waterloo where they developed housing [co-op] for people and they invested into their communities by purchasing bonds, and they could work and earn a living in their housing community.”

Participants stressed that the lack of reintegration supports extends to mental health and substance abuse treatment. Community members in British Columbia and Alberta shared:

“Regarding reintegration, I think that in our community we're lacking the support services to have people reintegrated back to the communities including support places to go to if they are struggling with addictions and substance use.”

“Sometimes it feels people are left out of the system and set up to fail. There isn’t much support available to people. They are shunned from society. They need mental health support and access to skills training programs [...]. Mental health is still a taboo in the community and funding needs to go to community programs that offer culturally relevant and responsive mental health services.”

They also cited the absence of housing opportunities which led to some people being released into homelessness. Reintegration research shows that a lack of housing is one of the most significant predictors for reoffending and unsuccessful reintegration (Baldry et al., 2002; Lewis, et al., 2003). As such, participants called for increasing housing options for Black people leaving custodial settings. Participants also stressed that reintegration initiatives are often not geared towards family repair. A community member in Nova Scotia shared:

“What does the process of family reintegration entail? How harmful is it for children to witness their loved ones imprisoned? What does it involve for individuals to reconnect with their children? Even when considering halfway houses, it is vital for the Black community to embrace and support families. It is our responsibility to ensure that family integration is easily accessible, and we should arrange family celebrations as part of this effort. An incarcerated individual expressed missing the presence of a pastor who could spiritually nourish them. It is not uncommon for people to convert to Islam in order to have access to better quality meals. These circumstances raise important questions: Do we truly have a need for prisons? What is the purpose of prisons when it comes to the Black community?”

Participants discussed how conditions of parole and probation can be challenging to avoid breaking because they are contradictory or do not make sense. A community member in Québec said:

“The system is set up to keep you committing crime…Conditions that are being imposed on them that don't make sense. There is the lack of things that actually break recidivism, like job training.”

Similarly, in their report on Black youth and the justice system in Canada, Owusu-Bempah and Jeffers (2022) note that:

Stakeholders, Black youth, and their families reported that Black youth often obtain contradictory probation/release conditions that set them up to fail. For example, a youth in Calgary noted that one of their conditions was to attend anger management. However, the sessions were scheduled during school hours forcing them to skip class in order to take the training or risk receiving a breach of conditions and going to jail. Yet, skipping school was also interpreted as contradictory to rehabilitation. Similarly, a youth in Toronto, who also had to attend anger management twice a week noted that because he was innocent, this training was a waste of his time. He added that because the training was not in the city where he lived, he had to travel 5 hours by bus to attend, which meant he might accidentally breach his conditions by missing curfew. He eventually had to move to be nearer to the program. Other contradictions in release conditions required youth to have no contact with criminal associates. This was difficult for youth because, as previously stated, many Black youth who end up in the CJS come from neighbourhoods with high levels of crime or have family members who have themselves come into contact with the CJS (p.31).

Overall, participants felt that inequity in parole decisions, racial barriers, a lack of diverse culturally sensitive programming, supports, and resources, and criminal records made the re-entry process incredibly difficult and hampered the chance for successful reintegration for Black people in Canada. They advocated for a diverse set of interventions to increase the success of Black people seeking to reintegrate which can be viewed in the section “Community Re-entry and Reintegration Recommendations”.