Research Question: Challenges in integrating incarcerated drug offenders of color into the society
When people are sentenced to prison for drug-related charges, sentencing is usually a long one, and they tend to lose touch with society. This always leads to the belief that they always think that it is the end of their life; however, it is clear that everyday people go on walking from the prison gates after successfully serving their sentences. Ex-convicts usually find it very difficult to integrate back into society. No sooner are they out of prison than they are back to their old illegal ways and soon find themselves on the wrong side of the law and back to prison. Thus research looks into ways of successfully integrating prisoners of color convicted of drug-related charges back into society without much difficulty.
Article I: Joyce, C., & Lynch, O. (2017). “Doing Peace”: The role of ex-political prisoners in violence prevention initiatives in Northern Ireland. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 40(12), 1072-1090.
Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1057610X.2016.1253990
The article goes into detail, giving perspectives of reintegrating ex-convicts back into society. To this extent, the article gives the importance of community-based organizations that develop projects to ensure that ex-convicts become ambassadors of change in their local communities, teaching everyone the dangers of being involved in crime. Such initiatives have ensured that ex-convicts get engaged in making society a better place by ensuring that crime rates are decreased. This also helps in the reintegration process of ex-convicts into society.
Article II: Durnescu, I. (2018). The five stages of prisoner reentry: Toward a process theory. International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology, 62(8), 2195-2215.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0306624X17706889
The article states that the reintegration of prisoners back to society starts before the prisoner is released from prison, and it involves five laid down steps. The steps involve prerelease-anticipation, recovery and union, activation, consolidation, and relapse. The article articulates that if the right steps are not taken to keep ex-convicts from falling into crime, then the most likely outcome is that ex-convicts will end up being in prison.
Article III: Windiasih, R., & Hariyadi, H. (2018, November). Ex-Prisoners, Correctional System, and National Resilience. Annual Civic Education Conference (ACEC 2018). Atlantis Press.
https://www.atlantis-press.com/proceedings/acec-18/25905895
The authors propagate that for ex-convicts of color to be reintegrated back to society, their social relations need to begin back in prison before getting out of prison. For example, there is a need for regular visitation from their spouses and their relatives. This makes it easy for ex-convicts to socialize with society even after getting out of prison positively. To this extent, the article suggests that it is essential for society to view ex-convicts a chance by relating to them and not treating them like second class humanity.
Article IV: Loosemore, M., Bridgeman, J., & Keast, R. (2020). Reintegrating ex-offenders into work through construction: a case study of cross-sector collaboration in social procurement. Building Research & Information, 48(7), 731-746.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09613218.2019.1699772
The article is concerned with integrating ex-convicts of color into society through economic empowerment. Research has shown that many ex-convicts find it difficult to find meaningful engagement after being released from prison. To this end, the article suggests that the best way to ensure that ex-convicts are kept away from prison is by ensuring that they get meaningful employment after being released from prison.
Article V: Yin, E. T. (2020). Religion, Rehabilitation, and Reintegration of Prison Inmates Into Mainstream Society. In Handbook of Research on Trends and Issues in Crime Prevention, Rehabilitation, and Victim Support (pp. 398-414). IGI Global.
The authors bring out the importance of religion in assisting with the reintegration of ex-convicts back into society. To this extent, the article suggests that religion should be a tool for influencing ex-convicts to ensure that they are of positive virtues and integrate back into society. It is important to appreciate that ex-convicts are not easy to be reintegrated back to society. Thus there is a need for society as a whole to play in reintegrating ex-convicts back into society.