PRISON & HOUSING

When facing release from prison, the most basic question for every incarcerated person is: Where am I gonna live? What’s my release address?

What makes this even more pressing is that the prison system requires an approved release address roughly three months before their ERD (estimated release date). You literally can’t get out of prison without an approved release address. As a result, many folks facing release just want an address to submit so they can get out, even if they have little intention of actually living there. 

We are about a lot more than just finding an address, and most One Parish One Prisoner incarcerated applicants are in a different frame of mind, too: focused on finding the right housing that supports their healthy reentry and gives them the best chance at starting their new life. 

Already read this? Yep: as a team, you started work on the HOUSING module a month ago. This is the place for designated team members to carry this super important work forward. It’s the role that’s relevant starting right now (other roles are focused on barriers further down the road).

Here’s the PRISON & HOUSING Role for your team’s journey.


Terms to be aware of as you start: 

  • RSO is the abbreviation used for individuals on the Sex Offender Registry. These folks will require RSO-friendly housing. If this is your incarcerated friend, start familiarizing yourself with the housing restrictions they’ll face – for example, they cannot live within 500 feet of a school, park, or daycare.

BEFORE RELEASE

  • D.O.C. COUNSELOR

    You will be the point person for your friend’s DOC Counselor, aka their case manager inside prison. When a DOC counselor sees that a prisoner on their caseload has responsible community members on the outside  who care about them, who are ready to help and coordinate details . . . let’s just say things go better.

    • If you don’t have it yet, ask your incarcerated friend if they can get you their DOC Counselor’s office number and email address.

    • Reach out and introduce yourself: tell them you’re part of a Parish Team with your Releasing Friend (use full name and DOC#) with a program called One Parish One Prisoner (include the link to the program, if you want: oneparishoneprisoner.org.) Let them know that you’re building a relationship and a release plan to support your friend’s reentry into your community. Clarify any outstanding details, confirm your friend’s estimated release date (ERD), and let them know you’re helping with the release address/housing process. 

  • IDOC has a Field Service Representative (FSR) assigned to each incarcerated individual. It’s sometimes difficult for our friends on the inside to know who their FSR is — caseload changes and turnover rates are high. This is an important contact however, because IDOC promises a list of reentry resources and materials on the way out. When an FSR sees that a prisoner on their caseload has responsible community members on the outside who care about them, who are ready to help and coordinate details . . . let’s just say things go better.

    • Ask your incarcerated friend if they can get you their FSR’s name and contact info. Have your friend let the FSR know that their OPOP team wants to connect for a quick phone call about reentry assistance. 

    • Once you have a phone number or email address, reach out and introduce yourself: tell them you’re part of a Parish Team with your Releasing Friend (use full name and IDOC#) with a program called One Parish One Prisoner (include the link to the program, if you want: oneparishoneprisoner.org.) Let them know that you’re building a relationship and a release plan to support your friend’s reentry into your community. Clarify any outstanding details, confirm your friend’s release date, and let them know you’re helping with the release address/housing process. 

  • Institutional Parole Officers are assigned to TDCJ units. They interview incarcerated offenders to prepare Parole Case Summaries.

    • If they haven’t yet, ask your incarcerated friend if they can get you their Parole Officer’s office phone number or email. 

    • Reach out and introduce yourself: say that you’re part of a Parish Team supporting your Releasing Friend (use full name and TDCJ number) through a program called One Parish One Prisoner. Let the PO know you’ve been building a relationship and a release plan to support your friend’s re-entry into your community. (Include a link to the program, if you want: oneparishoneprisoner.org.) Let them know you’re building a relationship and a release plan to support your friend’s reentry into your community. Clarify any outstanding details, confirm your friend’s release date, and let them know you’re helping with the release address/housing process. 

GETTING AN ADDRESS

You can help your friend think through, contact, and secure one or two good housing situations, starting now. This is all about being in dialogue with your incarcerated friend. Print and send this page, and talk about their preferences. Even if you have one strong option, remember: it’s good to have a backup plan. 

Here are the three most common options to discuss with your releasing friend.

  • Living With Family - This isn’t as easy as it sounds. Many folks leaving prison don’t have good relationships with family members. Sometimes starting a new, sober life means breaking away from the environments that helped put them in prison. Family members’ addresses are sometimes not approved by a DOC house inspection (for example, if current house residents have felony charges, firearms, known drug activity, etc). Your friend may have a romantic partner offering their home as a release address option, but your friend feels conflicted about whether that’s really the best way to start their new life. You’re not the parent or boss. Just ask good questions, like a good friend would. 

    Maybe a family situation is just right. You can help communicate with the family and build a relationship with them. Ask if it’s OK to visit the home/family. Invite the family member or loved one to a team meeting to help them feel embraced and supported as well. 


  • Oxford House - These clean-and-sober group houses are in most counties. There’s no staffing, no sign out front. They are resident-run, like Twelve Step meetings. The only conditions are a strong commitment to addiction recovery and paying rent (usually around $500/mo). There are random UAs (urine analyses), required Twelve Step meetings, and house meetings. 

    But there are wait lists, and applying from prison is tricky. If your friend wants to pursue this option, you can locate local Oxford Houses on OXFORDVACANCIES.COM, mail your friend the application form, and facilitate their “reentry application” to get on a few wait lists months before release.

    KEY: many Oxford Houses assume the only way a reentry applicant can pay rent is if they have a DOC Housing Voucher for the initial down payment and first month. Be sure to tell your contact at the local Oxford house—and your friend, to tell their in-prison counselor—that the One Parish One Prisoner team will help cover rent costs IF there’s no DOC voucher. The prison system and Oxford Houses don’t often see people releasing with support from a place like Underground Ministries, so you may have to explain your team’s readiness to pay the deposit ahead of your friend’s release date. That first couple months rent is a major “stone” blocking the reentry process—a stone your church can help roll away.


  • Recovery or Transitional Home - Many communities have local residential recovery programs. These are usually non-profits with a strong addiction-recovery (and often faith) focus. Your friend may be turned off by a home with a manager and structured program. Or your friend might feel that’s exactly what they need —to grow, have a stable and sober environment, with daily support and structure to thrive.

Start asking around: Who knows of good recovery homes, good housing programs or transitional housing? It’s a great chance to get to know your community more, learn about good work happening close to you. Follow reliable word of mouth recommendations; steer clear of outfits that have a hyper-controlling feel or poorly maintained facilities. Delegate one person on the team to learn more, and another to be an intermediary between your friend and potential housing options —for photos, applications, advocacy, to help be taken seriously as a candidate.

FREQUENTLY ASKED HOUSING QUESTIONS

Why not have the One Parish One Prisoner team/church offer a place to live?

It’s a good question. When we first started our One Parish One Prisoner experiments, our hope and assumption was that every church has someone with a spare room or downstairs apartment or something to rent. What better way to serve someone coming home from prison than to provide them with housing?

Here’s the problem: There’s too much power in being someone’s landlord. It puts you in a bind: you need to enforce basic standards of behavior, which they might fail. And if they relapse into an addiction or fail to pay rent, you are no longer the one they can come to for mercy and support–you’re the landlord/enforcer they’re trying to avoid. Months of deep relationship building go out the window. 


That said: Please do NOT offer your releasing friend housing within your church congregation or One Parish One Prisoner team members.


Who pays early rent?

For the upcoming WELCOME HOME EVENT, you’ll be putting together the ROLL AWAY THE STONE FUND, and this is the primary purpose of that fund: covering the first 2-3 months of rent for release housing. 

Once you’ve worked with your friend to locate good housing, apply for it, and get accepted, your team can pay rent for the first month to save your friend’s spot and secure a RELEASE ADDRESS. A second and third month can be paid for too, if needed. Per the One Parish One Prisoner model, we don’t cover more than three months of rent. After this, your friend’s first employment checks should be rolling in. 

WHAT ABOUT GRE / WORK RELEASE?

  • What is “G.R.E.”?
    It stands for Graduated ReEntry, and it’s a program unique to Washington State. You can read up on it here.

    You may have heard your releasing friend mention this, and you may have assumed it was the graduate exam tests. Nope. It’s a really cool (and growing) release program offered to strong candidates releasing from WA DOC prisons.

    Instead of getting spit out of a prison facility on their release date, this program is a gradual easing into freedom that starts about a year before their actual release date:

    Phase 1: Work Release: ~ 1 year or less

    First, your friend will be transferred to a large DOC-run home near you, maybe a county over. They are expected to immediately get a full-time job while living there. They have permission to leave the house, work all day, then come right home. Their earnings go into a DOC savings account, where DOC fines/costs are paid. Their last 2 months of earnings add up fast, and are a nice nest-egg your friend will have upon release (best used for housing/rent). After their first month in work release, your friend can have a few pre-approved “sponsors” (for example, you and the team!) take them on social outings!


    Phase 2: Electronic Home Monitoring (EHM): ~ 18 or 9 months or less (depending on the criminal charge)

    Next, GRE participants ease into the last phase: releasing to their approved release address, still months before their official release date (ERD), wearing a GPS ankle bracelet. This phase is a lot like Work Release, but in an even less institutional environment. Their last months in official custody are easing into a more normal life—but still under strict surveillance and supervision. 


    If your person is accepted for GRE – hooray! Celebrate that. But remember (and educate your team):

    Though they are “getting out” of prison sooner, the real Release Date is still when the ankle monitor comes off. Don’t stop the module reviewing and planning that needs to happen to ensure they’re fully supported by their ERD! Even in Work Release, even with EHM, they’re still incarcerated, they’re just being given a softer transition out of prison. They’ll still need the same support when the bracelet comes off; they’re still facing the same uncertain and often terrifying future. Make sure you’re planning your Welcome Home Event for essential needs and fundraising well before this official release date.

    A final note about GRE: Just because someone becomes eligible for it at a certain time, does not mean they will move into GRE right away, or at all. It could happen right at the eligibility date, it could happen later, or plans could shift entirely. There are a lot of factors involved, and the system can be unpredictable – because of that, it’s really important to hold this process with flexibility and realistic expectations.

    Back to the present moment: Securing good housing/a release address ideally takes place during the EHM phase of GRE.

AFTER RELEASE

  • D.O.C. OFFICER

    Also known as a CCO (Community Corrections Officer) or a parole/probation officer. Like you did with the DOC Counselor, your role now is to ask your friend’s permission to reach out and open a line of communication with their CCO. Let the CCO know who you and your One Parish One Prisoner team is, what church you’re with, and how you’re there to help support your friend’s successful (they love that word!) reentry. 

  • PAROLE OFFICER

    They’re like the FSR, but on the outside! Like you did with the FSR, your role now is to ask your friend’s permission to reach out and open a line of communication with their PO. Let them know who you and your One Parish One Prisoner team is, what church you’re with, and how you’re there to help support your friend’s successful (they love that word!) reentry. 

  • PAROLE OFFICER (PO)

    A Parole Officer is the same as the Institutional Parole Officer except outside of prison. Like you did with the IPO, your role now is to ask your friend’s permission to reach out and open a line of communication with their PO. Let the PO know who you and your One Parish One Prisoner team is, what church you’re with, and how you’re there to help support your friend’s successful (they love that word!) re-entry.

IMPORTANT: You are not required to give the CCO/PO any “inside information” or report any slip-ups or mistakes made by your releasing friend.

You don’t lie or hide anything, either. It’s just staying in your lane, letting them do their job while you do yours. You’re not the social worker with ethical obligations. You’re not responsible for your person’s failures or violations. That’s between them and the policing system. You are like family, you are friends, you are simply church members here to love and support in order to help your person—not the DOC. We can be so eager to please authority systems that we forget who we’re here to serve. 

In John (chapter 8), Jesus handles the woman caught in adultery by 1) protecting her from the oppressive enforcers of the law. Only then does Jesus 2) privately talk with her about her poor decisions, in a context of trust and care. On the rare occasion that someone’s life is in danger, or children are being hurt, yes, we need to report this for harm reduction and the safety of others. But most of the time, when our friends in reentry slip up, there are personal struggles with sobriety, curfews, stepping outside the lines that can result in technical violations that can get them sent back into the tombs for a long time. Those violations are not our job to report, ever. That’s not our relationship with the CCO/PO.  Misplacing our fidelity in these situations can quickly and permanently break all our trust with our releasing friend.

Probation is anywhere from the first 6 months to 3 years after release. Released folks have to periodically report to their CCO/PO during this time. If there are any violations during probation, the consequence is often 1-3 nights in jail, or a month back in temporary prison if it’s serious. Sometimes this is better than drifting into full relapse or new crimes, and offers a wakeup call and chance to hit re-start.

It’s possible, but rare, that your releasing friend will have no probation time upon release.


HOUSE HUNTING

Your releasing friend will eventually be ready to move out of a transitional housing situation and into a real house or apartment, paying steady rent. 

That’s hard to do.

Many formerly incarcerated people who have done courageous recovery and reentry work struggle to break out of the low-income, low-quality housing sector because their rental applications show a criminal record and very little rental history.

That’s why your parish, a team of community members, is vital for breaking out of the underground: You’re helping open doors of trust in the community. You know this person! You can vouch for them. Hesitant landlords will listen to you.

This is the work to be done:

  • You can look at online classifieds together for rental listings that your released friend can afford and might think they don’t have a chance at when compared to other applicants. Remind them that you can advocate for them! Keep in mind, you might have better luck with the “mom and pop” rentals (below) than with larger property managers.

  • You can look for “mom and pop” rentals, a family who rents out one house, or two. They can hear your friend’s story and make their own decision. Larger rental agencies often have set policies and the staff person on the phone likely doesn’t have the authority to take a risk on your friend.

  • Do what we at Underground Ministries have done for years: we make the initial phone calls, not our released friend. This is where we leverage our social capital to open doors and roll away stones locally. 

  • Try this: “Hi, my name is Susan. I’m calling about the rental listing I saw posted. Is it still available? . . . . Great. I’m inquiring not for myself, but for a good friend. I’m a member at ___________ Church and we have been working with someone for a while now, who has  made really incredible steps into a new life while recovering from a past of addiction and legal trouble. They have a good job, we at our church love and support them, and they are ready to move into a long-term living situation. We are looking for the best setting and landlord to  continue their future together. Before I take up any of your time, does this sound like a situation that might interest you?”  

    And wait. Don’t say more. You’ll hear in their voice if they’re not into it, or if they’re interested. If not, say thanks, and call the next person.

  • If they say “Well, maybe. Tell me more . . . “, you now have permission to tell them about your friend. First name only, at this point. Share all the winning details – their hard work, why you and your team believe in this person, why they’re ready for a long term lease. Let your enthusiasm for your friend show! Some landlords want to make their rentals part of something meaningful and helpful to their community. You are bringing them the gift of a great candidate who comes with your whole team’s support!

  • Set up a meeting with you, the landlord, and your applying friend. Go together, but when you get there, let your friend do all the talking. You’ve opened the door. Let the landlord be won over by this person transforming their life, and make a decision based on their personal interaction. If you get this far, many times the landlord will give the person a chance. You’re there to show them it’s less risky than they may have feared and they’re not getting scammed. They can see other community members vouching for and taking time to invest in this person! 

  • Once your friend is approved, your team can help with the (often huge) move-in fees. 

  • Your church can celebrate! Put the word out, have others in the congregation show up with a truck to help your friend (and anyone in their home) move. Bring pizzas! 


This is a coming home celebration. This is where you feel the heart of God, like a parent, swelling with joy inside your chest. This isn’t social work. It’s more than that. In Jesus’ parable of the wayward child who returns, the father exclaims, “My child was dead! Now they are alive!” 

This is the language of resurrection.