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http://archive.jsonline.com/news/crime/community-plays-a-role-in-helping-ex-prisoners-b99718342z1-
379536211.html/

Community plays a role in helping ex-prisoners

By Gina Barton of the Journal Sentinel staff

May 14, 2016 6:01 p.m.

(1)
Montpelier, Vt. — Whenever Travis Papineau's
parents left town, things went wrong. He logged
onto the internet and did things he shouldn't. He
got drunk, then got behind the wheel. He acted like
a delinquent teenager, even though he was a grown
man.

(2)
He always ended up back behind bars.

(3)
A registered sex offender, Papineau had been in and
out of prison for years. But this time, he had a plan.

(4)
And he had friends: Community volunteers he'd
been meeting with every week for three months,
since he'd last walked out of a cell in January 2015.

(5)
Alone in his parents' house, the phone seemed to
weigh 100 pounds. Papineau forced himself to pick
it up, punch in the number.

(6)
Mary Mullaney answered, as she had promised she
would. For the next 90 minutes, she stayed on the
line.

(7)
And the demons fled.

•••

(8)
Papineau, 32, is among more than 200 people who,
after getting out of prison in Vermont, have
participated in a re-entry program known as Circles
of Support and Accountability. Each Circle contains
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an ex-offender, a coordinator and a handful of

volunteers who work with parole officers, landlords,
employers and therapists to prevent high-risk sex
offenders and violent felons from committing new
crimes.

(9)
Several communities around the nation,
including Madison and the Fox Valley in
Wisconsin, have adopted versions of the Circles
model. But all of them lack a critical element that
makes Vermont's effort so successful: a statewide
network of community justice centers — funded by
the Department of Corrections — that marshal
volunteers and resources to help keep former
prisoners crime-free.

(10)
Vermont's program, which began in 2005, doesn't
only benefit ex-offenders, those involved say. It also
increases public safety. Research backs them up.
Preliminary results of a University of Vermont
study show that just one in 30 sex offenders
involved in Circles was reconvicted of a felony,
compared with roughly one in five of those not
involved — a reduction of 86%. For violent
offenders who had not committed sex crimes, the
reduction was 80%.

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MARK HOFFMAN

Papineau wipes a tear during the Circles gathering. He has been meeting with his Circle for 16 months and has gotten used to reaching out
when he needs help.

(11)
"By treating people like they are not disposable, you
are actually helping to reduce victimization," said
Kathryn J. Fox, a sociology professor who co-
authored the study.

(12)
In addition to helping with basic needs, Circles
tackle another problem: the tendency for former
prisoners to fall in with their old crowds — and
their old criminal behavior.

(13)
The initiative aims to replace those groups with
responsible, caring people who can help ex-
offenders fit into law-abiding society.

(14)
Longtime volunteer David Santamore sums it up
this way: "If somebody goes to jail and comes back
into the same situation with no support, it's like
rescuing somebody drowning, drying them off and
then throwing them back in the river."

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•••

(15)
Circles of Support and Accountability got its start in
Canada in 1994 when a notorious pedophile named
Charlie Taylor got out of prison.

(16)
The morning after Taylor was released, all the
schoolchildren in the region of Ontario where he
would be living found 8x10 photographs of him on
their desks.

(17)
The teachers warned: If you see this man, call the
police.

(18)
In one of the classrooms, a little boy raised his
hand.

(19)
I've seen him, the boy said. He was at my house for
dinner last night.

(20)
The boy's father was a Mennonite minister. He'd
heard Taylor was being set free and had made a
decision: To keep the community safe, the
community had to get involved.

(21)
The minister, Harry Nigh, recruited members of his
congregation to befriend Taylor.

(22)
Robin J. Wilson, a clinical psychologist who co-
authored the University of Vermont study with Fox
and research assistant Megan Kurmin, was working
for the Canadian government at the time.

(23)
Initially, both police and citizens were outraged
that anyone would welcome a child molester into
society, Wilson said. But with time, people realized
that engaging with Taylor and others like him could
help ensure public safety.

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(24)
Within 10 years, the project had expanded
throughout Canada.

(25)
"Finding a place in the community to be and to
positively associate are incredibly important
elements of building a balanced, self-determined
lifestyle free of risk to re-engage in harmful
behaviors," Wilson said.

(26)
Ex-offenders involved in Circles, he continued,
"learn that there can be people who care about
them, which leads them to care more about
themselves and, by extension, others."

(27)
Taylor remained crime-free until his death in 2005.

•••

(28)
Vermont's program grew out of the state's long
history with restorative justice, which teaches that
victims, offenders and communities all need to be
healed after a crime occurs.

(29)
John Gorczyk, who served as commissioner of the
Vermont Department of Corrections from 1991 to
2003, is credited with bringing the concept of
restorative justice to the state.

(30)
One of Gorczyk's first steps when he took over the
department was to hire a market researcher.

(31)
"It's like being a CEO," he said of the
commissioner's job. "I thought it was important
that we get a better handle on exactly what the
people of Vermont wanted from justice and
corrections."

(32)
The research showed that only 37% of people
viewed the corrections department favorably,
according to Derek Miodownik, the department's
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restorative and community justice executive. As for

what they wanted from offenders, the public did not
express a need for punishment, he said.

(33)
Rather, they wanted offenders to acknowledge their
guilt, accept responsibility and commit to being
crime-free. On the flip side, respondents wanted
the corrections department to provide safety for the
public as well as accountability and treatment for
offenders. They also wanted everyday citizens to
have a role in the administration of justice.

(34)
The first step in fostering that involvement was the
implementation of community reparative boards, in
which volunteers worked with low-level offenders
to help them understand the impact of their crimes
and to make amends.

(35)

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Then, in 1998, the corrections department

partnered with local governments and nonprofits to
set up the community justice centers. The centers,
originally funded with federal grant money, are
neighborhood organizations that work with ex-
offenders and area residents to repair the harm
done by crime.

(36)
"If you want justice, you have to have a phone
number to call, someone to talk to," Gorczyk said.
"We were trying to move all of justice into the
community."

•••

(37)
As a result of Vermont's smaller population, lower
crime rate and more liberal criminal justice
policies, far fewer people are incarcerated there
than in Wisconsin. On any given day in Vermont,
about 8,300 people are under community
supervision by the Department of Corrections. In
Wisconsin, there are about 67,000.

(38)
The Vermont legislature voted to make restorative
justice a statewide policy in 2000, and lawmakers
have consistently increased funding for it over time.

(39)
Today, there are 20 community justice centers
around the state of Vermont. Their annual budget
stands at about $2.5 million. That includes a
$600,000 increase for fiscal year 2016, designated
specifically to sustain "restorative reintegration
services" such as Circles.

(40)
Wisconsin's truth-in-sentencing laws, meanwhile,
are among the toughest in the nation. And while
some criminal justice leaders here, including
Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm
and former state Supreme Court Justice Janine
Geske, have embraced the concept of restorative
justice, its implementation has been much more
piecemeal.

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(41)
Through Chisholm's office, some offenders
participate in community conferencing groups,
where they discuss their cases with the victim, a
facilitator and a community representative. The
parties may ask each other questions, which often
leads to emotional insight.

(42)
For inmates at the maximum-security Green Bay
Correctional Institution, restorative justice takes
the form of a program called Challenges and
Possibilities, which aims to help them change their
behavior by understanding its impact. Volunteers
include victims of violent crime, who share their
stories with the offenders.

(43)
Nonprofit organizations such as Goodwill
Industries of North Central Wisconsin and
Madison-Area Urban Ministry facilitate Circles in
Wisconsin. For fiscal year 2015, the state
Department of Corrections' support for Circles
totaled about $250,000, which was allocated
toward the Goodwill effort, according to spokesman
Tristan Cook. The state's total budget for re-entry
services that year was $11.6 million.

(44)
Some of the Wisconsin Circles function like support
groups, in which a number of ex-offenders come
together weekly to talk among themselves and with
volunteers.

(45)
In Vermont, each Circle contains just one former
prisoner, and only sex offenders or felons at high
risk of reoffending are eligible. Probation and
parole officers screen potential participants, who
are then interviewed by justice center directors.

(46)
Once selected, the ex-offenders commit to meeting
with their teams at least once a week for a year. The
group can continue meeting beyond that time if all
agree.

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(47)
In addition to meetings, volunteers can provide
transportation and help with simple tasks that may
be unfamiliar to longtime prisoners, such as using a
cellphone or deciding which groceries to buy.

(48)
At first, Circles are an artificial means of support,
said Susan Wells, a probation and parole officer
who supervises 45 sex offenders in Vermont.

(49)
"But then they develop trust. If you've been in jail
for a long time, you are really rusty, at best, in how
to make a good decision. The group is there to help
them figure it out."

•••

(50)
Throughout Vermont, Circles are deeply integrated
into the release process.

(51)
Two key strengths of Vermont's approach are
assistance with housing and close coordination with
probation and parole officers, according to Fox, the
University of Vermont researcher.

(52)
Based on the preliminary results of her most recent
study, Circles seem to be most effective when used
with sex offenders.

(53)
"But I don't think it has anything to do with sex
offending; that's my theory," she said. "I think it has
to do with the fact that they tend to be the ones who
tend to be more socially isolated. They have more
restrictions. They have more desperate conditions.
They just have a harder life."

(54)
Sex offenders subject to lifetime registration are
barred from public housing anywhere in the
country. That challenge is magnified by the fact that
cities and towns often place additional limitations
on where they may live.

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(55)
In Milwaukee, for example, an ordinance passed
two years ago bans registered sex offenders from
living within 2,000 feet of any school, licensed day
care center, park, recreational trail or playground.
As of January 2015, all but 55 residences in the city
were off limits to them.

(56)
Housing is an issue in Vermont as well, especially
for people on the sex offender registry. Finding
somewhere to live is the motivation for many ex-
offenders to apply for Circles, Fox said. Community
justice center officials build relationships with
landlords, who in turn agree to rent to Circle
participants because they have extra supervision.
The program also may provide temporary housing
or short-term loans for rent and security deposits,
which former prisoners can repay through
volunteer work.

(57)
Some participants in her study, Fox said,
disengaged from the group once they had a place to
live. But others embraced their Circles.

(58)
"Over time, they saw the benefit later with these
other relationships," she said.

•••

(59)
Cooperation among Circle members and parole
officers is another essential element of the program.

(60)
"If the parole officer sees it as a partnership and
appreciates what the (Circle) can do that they can't,
and they have good communication, that's when it
works the best," Fox said.

(61)
For example, the parole officer can't socialize with
the former prisoner or take him shopping. And
while Circle volunteers have more frequent
conversations with the ex-offenders, they can't keep
secrets from the parole officer or from each other.

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(62)
"The people in the ... program understand that we
won't worry alone and we won't keep secrets from
one another," Wells said. "That keeps everybody on
the same page."

(63)
Usually, after a conversation with his team about
breaking a rule such as drinking or using a
computer, the ex-offender (known as the core
member) ends up calling the parole officer on his
own. If not, the coordinator, who is employed by
the community justice center, makes the
notification.

(64)
If the violation isn't a crime and doesn't put the
community at risk, the parole officer and the team
may work together to fashion an appropriate
sanction, Wells said. Those might include writing
an apology letter, attending additional therapy
sessions or wearing an ankle monitor.

(65)
Otherwise, the offender can be sent back to prison.

(66)
Yvonne Byrd, director of the Montpelier
Community Justice Center, recalled one core
member who made troubling comments at two
meetings in a row. His coordinator called the parole
officer, who in turn called the police.

(67)
"They went to his apartment and caught him before
he did anything and he went back (to prison) and
he's still there. That's not a bad thing," Byrd said.
"What I tell people is: 'You need to know that if
you're planning to get out and try to get away with
breaking the rules, you're more likely to get caught
if you're in our program.'"

•••

(68)
Accountability also includes more subtle things,
such as calling out lies, offering reminders of

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positive choices and getting a feel for the core

member's mood when things go wrong.

(69)
For example, at a recent meeting a core member
told his team he'd been robbed the day before —
and he was pretty sure he knew who was
responsible.

(70)
"Did you have to talk yourself down from getting
really angry and wanting to go after the guy you
thought did it?" asked Alfred Mills, re-entry
specialist at the Montpelier Community Justice
Center and coordinator of the team.

(71)
In the old days, the man would have gotten a crew
together and beaten up the guilty party. But now,
after six months of meetings with his Circle, he just
shrugged.

(72)
"It's like karma," he said. "A kick in the pants for all
the stupid stuff I did in the past."

(73)
Mills later followed up: "How do you feel about
your own judgment right now?"

(74)
The reply was encouraging: "I feel really good. I
know what I want. I know what I'm doing."

•••

(75)
What kind of person would sign up to spend time
with a sex offender or a violent criminal?

(76)
Many are retirees, according to Fox. Others are
ministers or people who see such service as a
religious calling.

(77)
All lean left on the political spectrum.

(78)

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"They already possessed a critique of the criminal

justice system and already believed the criminal
justice system was too punitive," Fox said.

(79)
Extensive training teaches volunteers how to set
limits, such as not giving the core member money.

(80)
The training also aims to tap into empathy for
former prisoners.

(81)
One way to do that is by discussing all the rules core
members must live by. For example, they can't
drink, so blowing off steam by having a beer with
friends isn't an option for them. Many are not
allowed to drive, so they can't easily head for the
mall or the mountains after a hard week.

(82)
The training prioritizes security. For example, one
team with safety concerns convened its meetings in
the community room at the police station.

(83)
In the 10 years of the Vermont program, no core
members have victimized volunteers on their
teams, Byrd said. She credits both the screening by
the parole officers and the small number of
program participants. The Montpelier justice
center, where she works, operates eight Circles at a
time — the largest capacity in the state.

(84)
"We're not naive," Byrd said. "People have risk
areas. Someone who is a pedophile probably isn't a
thief, isn't addicted to substances, probably won't
take your money or your purse, and may be
nonviolent in every other way. We know their
profiles and we know where their risks are."

(85)
Katy Knuth, 34, who works at a restaurant and is a
partner in a perfume business, has served on three
teams so far.

(86)

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As one of the younger volunteers and a single

woman, she keeps clear boundaries, rarely meeting
with ex-offenders one-on-one. But she's almost
always up for group outings with her current team's
core member, whom she has grown to genuinely
like.

(87)
"That's pretty wild," she said. "Never did I think I'd
be going bowling with a registered sex offender and
laughing and having fun."

•••

MARK HOFFMAN

Papineau rides his bike home after a Circles of Support and Accountability gathering April 11. He’s saving up for a car.

(88)
Last July, about three months after making the
phone call from his parents' empty house, Papineau
moved into his own apartment. He's still saving up
for a car, so he rides his bike to work at Dunkin'
Donuts, where he is entrusted with the
responsibility of opening the shop in the morning.

(89)
He has been meeting with his Circle for 16 months.

(90)
"He's made some strides he's never been able to
accomplish," said Wells, his probation officer.

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(91)

Both she and Papineau credit his team with helping

him do that.

(92)
"I have no friends. I have my family and that's it,"
Papineau said. "These are people who weren't my
family who I could talk to. ...It's widening my social
circle some."

(93)
Since that first phone call, Papineau has gotten
used to reaching out when he needs help.

(94)
Not long ago, he was feeling down on himself after
a particularly difficult therapy appointment.
Afterward, he biked to the home of one of the
volunteers on his team. They watched "Shaun the
Sheep" and laughed like crazy.

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