“I’d rather sit in prison than release to a broken world…” – Lance

After several years of viewing the world through a very shattered lens, I came to prison and learned the art of healing and the science of change. Truth be told, I know a lot of people who fundamentally changed for the better. None are perfect, but they exemplify progress. So with years of creating a new life and profound changes, the world that originally shaped some of their worst selves becomes a daunting place to go back to. In a toxic election season, a global pandemic keeping the world on fire, civil unrest in every news story, and a job market that’s tough for those who DIDN’T commit a felony, the idea of systemic changes in prisons scare some incarcerated people who may potentially be eligible for an early release. What kind of world are they walking into when they’ve worked so hard to change everything?

How a negative world receives a releasing prisoner is very similar to how a broken home receives a traumatized veteran (if you find yourself scoffing at the comparison, I feel my experience qualifies me to make it). New life and new perspectives can also house new fears and when the media exposures to the free world are brutal and negative, some find peace in the progress incubator they’ve learned to create in prison. When we become incarcerated, it’s because society deemed us too awful to be among it. But, judging by the constant barrage of negativity, when will society change for the better? It has some very worried inside, because they’ve actually worked towards a better change…

by Rory Andes

Some incarcerated people need a little hope from you too…

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Rory Andes 367649
MCC-TRU
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