The modern economy affects us all in various ways. Men and women released on parole from prison find themselves poor not only because they have lost many years of their lives while behind bars, but also because, at least at the beginning of their release from incarceration, they do not have the money they need.

For instance, they do not have bank accounts and depend on social assistance such as welfare to make their new cell phones operational, to meet the costs of getting a driver’s license, to pay for dental visits and other immediate expenses. There is also a stigma associated with having been in prison which for some can last the rest of their lives.

Source: forbes.com

At Quixote House in Winnipeg we do our best to welcome a few of these men and try to assist them in making the immediate post-prison adjustments. The board and room of the residents are paid for as long as they are on parole, but the men are not without immediate financial needs and wants.

Their first pay check from post-prison jobs gives them the opportunity to buy things they had really wanted for a long time. One bought himself an expensive Swiss-made watch but continued to wear a cheaper one except for weekends. Until they pass the road test and qualify for a driver’s license bus passes, taxis or bicycles are needed to get around.

Source: Cnn.com

Their children, after years of separation from their parent, want their fathers to take them on trips to places such as mini-golf parks or the Winnipeg zoo, all of which cost money. Having worn the prison-issued clothing for many years, a shopping trip to buy new items of apparel is a rightful pleasure.

With their first jobs commercial concerns become interested once again in our residents. Fitness programs beckon them to join them. The banks begin to take an active interest in them. They want to issue them with credit cards. It seems that their past infractions can be forgiven as long as they now have some money.

As they move around the city they encounter people from their past who represent a temptation to find other, illegal or at least unethical ways of making money more easily than the low paying jobs they can now obtain.

Source: cbc.ca

Parole officers supervise them until their sentence is completed but eventually they need to commit themselves to a life of sobriety and honest, hard work, or to return to their former way of life. Many become recidivists, and would claim that it is the modern economy that drives them to enhance their life styles in various ways that they had used in their past lives.

Life both in prison and outside of it presents challenges and complications, and some prefer just to stay behind the walls of prison where all their expenses are met. The decision by our justice system to imprison so many Canadians, especially members of our First Nations, is one fraught with complications and needs to be taken carefully and rarely.