Customer Reviews

Beyond Bars: Rejoining Society After Prison

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As a prior offender myself, I read this book with great interest. I personally have been out of prison for some time now, earned a Doctorate, and I am now employed as a tenured track professor. I research and publish on Criminal Justice Policies and outcomes.

For most offenders surviving their return to society (re-entry) is a daunting task. Re-adjusting to society, learning how to deal with your prior offense with employers, new associates and friends, and developing a solid understanding of what is and what is not helpful as you try to make your way back into society: well, knowledgeable guidance is most helpful and hard to get.

So many earnest parolees have difficulty coming to terms and learning all of this, all at once. This book informs on all these issues and more in an intentionally easily readable fashion.

I would recommend families or friends of inmates getting out of jail/prison to get them a copy of this book and have them read it several times. It will help understand what they are facing and how to best deal with it.

For college and university courses, this is a solid book to use as a reader to help students see and understand the many problems ex-convicts face re-entering society, and the type of coping skills they need to develop to make it on probation or parole.

With 1 in 31 Americans in jail, prison or under some form of criminal justice supervision, this is a timely and desperately needed book by two authors who know what they are talking about. I most highly recommend this book.

This book really opened my eyes to just how difficult it is for one to make it in the outside world after doing a stint in prison. For those looking to turn their lives around after doing their time, they enter a world where not many people want to give them a second chance. Many employers will not consider hiring ex-cons and many other employers can't even if they wanted to. When they do find a job, their ex-con status automatically makes them the prime suspect or scapegoat if anything goes wrong in the office (such as a theft). In this book, Jeffrey Ross and Stephen Richards carefully outlines all of these minefields and gives good advice on how to steer clear of them.

For example, the book recommends that you avoid owning a car (at least during your probation period) due to the simple fact that cops run plates of cars as a matter of routine while on their shifts. When a plate number comes back as registered to somebody who is on probation, more often than not, they are going assume the worst and pull that car over to check things out. Anybody who has seen a few episodes of COPS will know how quickly those "routine stops" can take a turn for the worse. If a passenger in your car is doing or holding something illegal, even if you don't know about it, guess who's going back to jail.

The United States has a staggering amount of people who have gotten tangled up in the criminal justice system, many of whom initially got in for relatively minor, non-violent offenses. But once you get a felony rap on your record, the odds are against you going forward, especially in the age of the Internet where neighbors and employers can easily access your record and blacklist you. One of the main reasons the criminal recidivism rate is so high in this country is because first-time offenders coming out of prison find that their criminal record has tarnished them for life, closing many of the doors that lead to a productive and law-abiding lifestyle. This book does not sugar-coat the obstacles that these people are facing but does give them straightforward advice on how to keep themselves from violating their parole/probation and going back to jail.

The authors of this book make an excellent case for overhauling the way we currently release prisoners back into society. Even to this day, most prisons literally release people with nothing but the clothes on their back, a bus ticket and maybe $25 in pocket money. Is it any wonder that many of them end up coming right back to prison? It seems that prisons these days are not about rehabilitating people but warehousing them. Until we as a society get serious about reforming the system, we can expect this revolving door to continue.

As a PhD student in Criminology who has focused a large portion of his studies on the issue of reentry, I can tell that there is a vital need for resources such as this book. Prisons in America do not do a good job helping prisoners make the transition from the very structured environment of prison to the unstructured environment of the free world. There is also a lack of resources available for people who are released from prison available through prisons, probation and parole. This book provides valuable information for inmates and their families, as well as for criminal justice professionals working with them.

In Beyond Bars, Jeffrey Ross and Stephen Richards give good practical advice in a straight forward style.

The main focus of this book is on the days and months right after release from prison. It also includes information on preparing for life after prison starting long before release and has three good appendixes to guide you to sources of help.

If you or someone you know you know will be transitioning from prison to life outside, read this book to avoid the pitfalls that send so many people back to prison.

I just finished reading this book recently and had to comment on it- for anyone who is currently behind bars, is under control of the criminal justice system, who is or has a friend or family member with a criminal conviction in their past, this book is a valuable resource and should be used as a guide throughout the re-entry process.

The thing I liked about this book is that it was written in a very straight-forward manner; not a bunch of academic fluff, but practical advice that real people can access easily and use, advice that will help those understand better the reality of their own unique situation as felons and what they can expect on the outside. It is a guide that can (and should) be referred back to often. Topics include: finding a place to stay, finding work, dealing with your parole officer, pursuing higher education, family life, debt, staying clean and out of trouble- all the issues people re-entering society will face. I also liked that this book took a look at the both the male and female perspectives of re-entry, noting the unique challenges women may face in the process.

A key ingredient in any success is sufficient access to the right resources. These can from from all sorts of places - from books and videos, seminars, social service agencies, mentors, etc. One needs to acquire accurate and useful knowledge that, when acted upon, will directly help them toward their goal. This book is one of such valuable resource for the person with a criminal record. If read and applied, it will aid you on your journey and in the many important decisions you are faced with in the aftermath of a conviction.

You need to give this book to your sister or bother when they are coming out of prison. This book opens your eyes to how hard it is to get back into the general public. It also gives you an over view of what to expect and how to stay out and not go back. It goes through the steps on how to be successful on the outside. It was also an easy read and easily understood.

Sent this book also to prison and so many have read it already and more are waiting to read it. Everyone is getting some thing out of the book. Thanks

Beyond Bars is practical book on a topic of urgent importance that is all but invisible to the larger society. Just as prisons are hidden away from us, so are the many obstacles that stand in the way of offenders' successfully rejoining society after prison. Reentry is a lonely and often demoralizing process. This beautifully written and engrossing book lays out in careful and even painstaking detail the challenges that confront returning offenders and offers thoughtful guidance on adaptation and survival in the free world. Beyond Bars is essential reading for offenders reentering society, for their loved ones, and for justice professionals who want to make a positive difference in their lives of their clients. Beyond Bars is, moreover, a wonderful counterpart to Behind Bars: Surviving Prison, also by the same authors. Robert Johnson, American University

This book certainly is useful for people who are in the reentry phase and their families but also for people who are lucky enough to avoid prison with a probationary sentence. In that regard, Ross & Richards offer a mixture of tough love, compassion, even humor -- taken together, here's word to the wise...

I like the way the introduction -- chilling information regarding the incarceration industry-- sets up the rest of the book. With the astonishing USA incarceration rates driven chiefly by the draconian "War on Drugs" and exacerbated by the histrionic media crime-focus, this is not just a handbook for folks in the post-prison milieu. If this book doesn't seem to be about you, it surely is about your neighbor or your co-worker, or your kid's classmate's dad and, as the authors make clear, you think you're so smart they never caught you in your youthful folly?

So what makes this book important is the immensity of the problem -- the sheer numbers of folks deemed criminal -- thus driving a wider application than what Joe Convict should know. Though I take issue with one "technical" psychological declaration, the over-all authenticity and accuracy of this book contribute to its importance for those who are concerned with American social and cultural infrastructure.

Thomas H. Steinberg, Ph.D.

I caught the tail-end of the authors interviewed on NPR. I purchased the book for both myself and my brother (who is currently serving time at State level).

My brother, at first, thought the book would not be helpful. He was reluctant. However, he read it and thought that although some of it was common sense, that it held some good helpful topics. He even took a few of the items to his group session to discuss with other inmates to get their feedback. He felt like the book was realistic and did not talk down to inmates and was trying to be helpful.

I thought that it helped me to get a good picture about what difficulties he would be facing coming out of prison and also gave me insight into things I have no knowledge about...like the parole process etc. I also would have never thought about some of the things discussed such as why it is best not to own a car ..and if you must own a car, what ones would be best.

I do think that the book was a little light on the unique aspects of 'violent offender' re-entry. I think finding a job for violent offenders will be more difficult and wonder if there are additional aspects that could have been addressed.

However, I think the book is a must read for everyone about to re-enter as well as those friends and family members that will be the support structure for those re-entering.