ACCOMPANIMENT THROUGH THE SYSTEM

YOUR PRESENCE IS POWER

In my first year as a volunteer jail chaplain, one of the guys who got out and contacted our ministry was Zane: a towering white guy—standing at 6 foot 6 inches—with a shaved head, huge hands, tattoos crawling around his arms, out of his shirt and up his neck. Not the pretty  tattoos we see these days, but the old fashioned kind, scrawled in prison cells when guards aren’t watching. Zane used to cook and sell meth. He’d had an encounter with Jesus, he said, in our Bible studies, and wanted to know if the kind of love we talked about as chaplains was available outside of the jail prayer groups, out here in our community.

He took us at our word.

Zane had lots of court debt. Old misdemeanors, traffic fines, convictions — they each come with a pile of fees that balloon with interest in courts, then even higher rates from the collection agencies who buy the debt. These legal financial obligations (LFOs) are a primary barrier to reentry, one of the biggest “stones” that seal millions of formerly incarcerated people  into a legal and financial underground. 

When Zane asked me to go to a little municipal court with him, to ask the judge to let him set up a payment plan and take the hold off his driver’s license, I had no idea how to help. I just tagged along, really.

We took off our belts to walk through the courthouse metal detector, then found some seats in the pews of the courtroom. I sat there for two hours with Zane, who got out of his seat often to pace in the lobby. I watched, listened, and tried to figure out the liturgy of the legal rituals playing out.

Zane’s name was eventually called and he stood before the judge and pointed backwards to me as his “community support,” as he tried to describe positive changes in his life. The judge’s eyebrows actually went up; it was like my scrawny presence in the courtroom actually meant something. He granted Zane leniency, offering to wipe the entire debt if Zane showed three months’ consistent payment of $50.

Once we got outside, this large, intimidating man slumped into the posture of a little boy and hugged me.

“Bro, none of this would have been possible without you.”

“Are you kidding? I didn’t do anything.”

“You don’t get it,” he said. “I was f—ing terrified to be here today. I was sweating and nearly had a panic attack being in a courthouse again. If you weren’t with me in there, I would have taken off and left. Like three times. But I didn’t because you were here with me. I never woulda crossed this fear if it wasn’t for you.”

That’s what your simple presence can do.

You don’t have to be an expert. Just be there.

PAY ATTENTION

You don’t have to be an expert. Just by paying attention and keeping track — of details, paperwork, dates, basic stuff — you are offering the mental capacity your person might not have when they are so overwhelmed.

While you support your person’s new practice of putting all appointments into a calendar (in their phone is most common now, and they’ll never forget it at home or on their bedroom wall), you should also keep early appointment dates in your calendar and remind your person of important dates coming up. Clarify that you are giving them a ride, or that  another team member can.

In prison, you don’t need a calendar. You don’t need to keep track of your schedule. You live inside an automated machine. All jobs, visits, classes only happen when you get a “call out.” Your life happens on an assembly line, a conveyor belt.

Learning to control the sudden free-flow of time into an invisible grid of calendar dates and daily hours is quite an existential transition, if you think about it. You can help with that.

ONLINE ACCOMPANIMENT

During the pandemic, most of the offices our releasing friends needed to visit closed. This showed us that much of what was done in person can be done online. This can simplify some things, but can also be a barrier if our friend has no computer or internet, or little experience with clunky websites and professional jargon.

So, accompaniment looks different.

Find time to meet up in a space you both feel comfortable. Have a nice beverage or lunch.

Start wading through websites. Google the phone numbers, write it all down, keep track. 

You know how much you love waiting on hold for Comcast customer service? Oh wait, you hate it? Well, folks just out of prison are even more intimidated and will hang up as soon as the press-a-number options feel overwhelming. So just putting your phone on speaker, making one call at a time together, setting up evaluation dates, re-visiting online portals… that’s how we roll away the stones and practice resurrection in this digital era. 

The gates of Hades — no matter how they morph and change in the modern age — can’t stop the movement of Jesus’ people. (Matthew 16:18)

And it’s still time together, just around a laptop. Don’t forget to savor and enjoy this friend of yours. Take time to laugh, talk about your lives, take a quick break and go for a walk in the sun.

THE STOPS TO MAKE

Here’s a preview of the common ”gates” you will need to accompany your released friend through the first few weeks. (None of this should be new if you’ve read through your different roles in the STONES TO ROLL AWAY module from several months ago.)

DSHS

Also known as the welfare office. The second or third day out, you’ll either go to the office or do an online application and a phone call. Why? There are often (meager but) essential funds to help people in exactly this start-up season of need: Food Benefits, Cash Benefits, Health Insurance. It just requires wading through tedious applications, confirming their current zero-income status, and getting set up.

Health insurance will be  necessary for the next steps. And try to get an ID/DriverLicense voucher, if they’re available,  for the next stop.

DOL

Department of Licensing is the gatekeeper for breaking out of the underground. It can be harder than you think to get an ID card — proof that you exist in the modern age. That little prison ID they had in prison? Even though it’s issued by the state, it does not qualify as government-issued ID. (If you are  confused or upset by this, it means you are paying attention. This is how people are kept underground.) Jump through the hoops to get the ID!

Also ask for a printout of what is necessary to get their Driver’s License. (On the DOL website, you can usually find way to access license records.) For more detailed directions about this, see the ID & DRIVERS LICENSE guide in the Stones to Roll Away module. 

DRUG TREATMENT AGENCY

It’s very likely that DOC supervision will require a chemical dependency evaluation. Every community has their own “recovery services” agencies. Your releasing friend will need help calling that agency and setting up an appointment for an evaluation. (Now is where Health Insurance will cover the bill and move things along on the first call.) The evaluation results might recommend no treatment, or dictate weekly outpatient treatment (ie addiction counselor meetings or group meetings). If so, be encouraging to your person: “We got this. Plug it into the calendar. We’ll give you a ride. You are taking care of you first. You’re worth it. 

MENTAL HEALTH AGENCY

Many releasing folks, guys especially, downplay their mental health needs. We’ve had a lot of hopeful, healing, intelligent men start to unravel and go off the rails in their second month out because (we found out later) the short supply of mental health meds they were released with ran out. There is often shame behind asking for help with this.

I always say, “We want to support your mental health, and your whole health. You’re worth getting all the support you need to take care of YOU.”

Some DOC offices will require a mental health evaluation in addition to a chemical dependency evaluation. Sometimes they’re with the same agency, which makes things a little simpler. Set up the appointment. Help them ensure the pharmacy has their health insurance info so they can  get their prescription filled.

Down the road, they might be in a more stable place and decide with their mental health prescriber that meds are no longer necessary. But right now, they’re in one of  the most disorienting, stressful transitions of their life. It’s not the time to detox a brain off mental health meds.

COUNTY COURTHOUSE

Many folks leaving the underground have holds on their driver’s licenses — old traffic offenses with ballooning court debt sitting in some municipal (city) court. Our ID/Driver’s License module gives our full strategy on going directly to these courts, asking the clerk or judge to take the fine out of collections (if it’s in collections), and setting up a simple payment plan (ask for $20/month). That takes the hold off the license! Do that in each court where there’s a hold. It’s getting easier these days – it just takes time. Add calendar reminders to make those small monthly payments on time.

SOCIAL SECURITY OFFICE

This office is always terrible, not gonna lie. But it might be necessary to try and recover a long-lost SS Card. Your releasing friend might have worked with their prison counselor to obtain a SS card while still in prison. If not, go to the office, wait in line, and provide them with the documentation they need. 

Some releasing folks might have a more involved Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) application to reactivate, be it for a physical or mental disability. Ask your released friend if this is the case.