It is so exciting that President Biden agrees with the SAW Project mission! In his Presidential action dated March 31, 2021, he proclaimed April 2021 as Second Chance Month and stated: “After incarcerated individuals serve their time, they should have the opportunity to fully reintegrate into society.” We could not agree more.
Our mission at the SAW Project is to share details of effective supervision practices so that we can elevate the success of those working to turn their lives around and re-enter society. Yes, we do need to hold people accountable for illegal acts. We also need to allow offenders the opportunity to CHANGE their behaviors and start over once they have completed their punitive sentence. So many barriers are in their way and actively blocking success. Let’s not have our justice system also create barriers to successful community reintegration.
With our new ‘2-Minute Insights’ we interview justice-involved people on their views about creating opportunities for change. Here’s a sampling of their thoughts:
From Michelle C., a retired executive of Corrections Services and NGOs who believes people can change
From Scott K., a client working to change his life
From Toni W., a Day Reporting Center Director, who helped a client turn her life around.
See more at our SAW Project video library where new submissions are added regularly. In fact, we’re working to collect positive examples from all over the world, so if you have a personal story to share or a colleague from a unique area, please let us know!