It’s Not Easy Getting Out

Community is vital.

When you are paroled from a Texas prison, you are given $100—no health insurance, no transportation (not even a driver’s license), no job, no apartment, no church, no support group. You must report to parole (weekly, biweekly, monthly or periodically), which has the authority to send you back to prison if, in the sole determination of parole, you fall out of line. During incarceration, you made few personal decisions, received minimal medical care and some job training, and had limited connections with the outside world. During parole, you can make more decisions, but you are still imprisoned. 

Understandably, when inmates are finally eligible for parole, their minds go to how wonderful it will be to be free again, to join family celebrations, to have many of the things they were not permitted to have in prison. What a shock when the reality of living in the free world is radically different from what the inmate imagined. How difficult it is to retain hope and the belief that your life makes a difference.

I was discussing this life hurdle with one of my brothers who has been out for almost three years. He shared with me a message he recently sent to one his incarcerated brothers who is coming up for parole. He gave me permission to include the unedited message on my blog. 

“You think you gonna chill out here bro? You're freedom and it's celebration will happen and continue to happen throughout all life, but this shit out here ain't no joke bubba.

Better set your mind on going to work, not just as in a job but on yourself also cause you about to step into a war zone where reality hits like a hammer from the gods.

I can say this because it is something we all deal with coming home and I been out almost 3 years now and I'm still in the trenches of adapting and figuring shit out.

Always around bro, be in touch. Community is important. We gotta lift each other up in a real way. Good luck”