Reentry
Returning Citizens
Reentry Support
Entering society after spending several years in prison, brings a number of hurdles and challenges.
At PBMR, we offer hospitality to those in this period of transition, and offer accompaniment through case-management, housing, and restorative justice circles. We believe that through relationships and strong community, we can help individuals overcome the various barriers to their success post incarceration.
Care for the whole person.
Reentry works to meet both the immediate and the ongoing needs of returning citizens. In the weeks following release, an individual needs clothes, food, hygiene, and transportation,
not to mention strong relationships with those who can help them navigate a new world. We help meet these needs by connecting each individual with a PBMR Case Managers (link), who can support the returning citizen in continuing education or finding employment.
Beyond immediate physical needs, PBMR creates spaces for this
community of men and women to process together. Transition from prison to society is filled with countless ups and downs, and we recognize that we cannot do this alone.
The Hospitality House
One of the most powerful ways PBMR supports returning citizens is through the Hospitality House. Just across 51st street from Main Center, the Hospitality House provides housing and community, two critical components of successful reentry, to returned citizens who served sentences of at least 20 years.
Residents at the Hospitality House are embraced by a community of peers who have overcome the vice of incarceration and are working to advance restorative justice principles in Back of the Yards.
TESTIMONIES FROM
OUR RETURNED CITIZENS
I’d been in prison since I was 16, so when I got out, everything was surreal. PBMR made the transition bearable. When I walked out of prison, I was coming home and I had nothing. My family wasn’t there. The conditions in halfway houses were terrible. When I came to Precious Blood, all of the sudden it went from chaos to having peace. The emotional turmoil of such a shift is very difficult, so they gave me a space where I didn’t have to worry about bills, food, a roof over my head, sudden evictions, etc. It gave me a degree of safety so I could begin to reconstruct. They’ve been that presence of support every step of the way."
Raphel Jackson
I came home to absolutely nothing, and Precious Blood opened its arms to me...They had just opened up the hospitality house. They extended their hands—game me somewhere to stay, helped me get employment. They helped me with the necessities I needed—to have clothes, food...they did everything for me.
Michael Harrison
