Here is the second part of the excerpt from my class of younger inmates, ages 18-25. Ten of the 25 men in one of my mentoring groups came back to prison – all within 6-12 months after being released.
Here is what I said to the class:
“Good morning, men. It’s Saturday morning, December 10, 2022. I want to finish up what I was talking about yesterday, with some of the most common reasons why inmates who get released, violate, and come back to prison so fast. Here are the other top five reasons out of ten.
6. Unfavorable Environmental Influences
Most of us men in this room grew up in the ‘hood or projects, and had a lot of criminal activity around us. That’s where we learned our criminal ways – at any early age. But we are all grown now, and there’s no excuse why any of you shouldn’t change for the better. Also, we should never want to get out of prison, and go back to being around the same areas that are going to get us into trouble, or cause a major setback in our reentry into society!
7. Procrastination
Most of us go through life as failures, because we are waiting for the so called “right time” to start to do something good or positive with our lives. I’m telling you that’s a bunch of B.S. There is never going to be a “right time”. You know what I say all the time: ‘Be like Nike, and “Just Do It”’.
8. Lack of Persistence
Most of us are all good starters of things, but very poor finishers. You have to want to fix that, be mature, and understand that time waits for no man. You are not an exception, so bust your butt in all that you do!
9. Wasting Time
You have to go hard, AVOID being like others around you, and surround yourself with people who are positive, have positive goals and dreams, and will keep it 100% with you.
10. Having a Negative Personality:
This should be #1, but I listed this last as there is no hope for any of you who allow your emotions to mess with you, and to stop you from being positive. Also, you can’t go back out into society upset, talking crazy to people, and making people hate you.
If any of you have listened to me, you will start NOW to mitigate the 10 most common reasons why inmates come back to prison once released. You can come to me, or any of the other mentors, and we will help as best as possible to get you into the right state of mind. This time we are going to make sure you have a “PLAN OF ACTION” for the first six months, one year, and up to three years after your release.
I have faith in each of you and YOU CAN DO IT!”
Advocate/Mentor
Leonard E. Love