Originally published in the Dictum Vol. 39, No. 1/February 2015
Editor’s Column
The Prisoner Re-entry Program
by Katherine M. Caola
This year, the Young Lawyers Division (YLD) has taken on the enormous challenge of developing the Prisoner Reentry Committee. As you will note, most of this edition of Dictum is dedicated to the Prisoner Reentry Committee and the work it is doing through the Prisoner Reentry Program with Martin’s Place.
I have a personal passion for this program and the community it serves. Shortly after graduating college, I accepted a position as a paralegal. In that position, I had access to what some view as the worst segment of society—individuals accused of having committed crimes of the worst degree. These people were accused of crimes involving murder, drug distribution and drug trafficking.
Soon after accepting this position, I realized many of these people were not what you might expect. For instance, the accused leader of a drug trafficking network was trying to earn enough money to send his young daughters to private school, so they would not grow up in the street, like he had. In a frank and candid conversation with this client, we discussed the fact that a minor felony conviction when he was young stopped him from receiving aid and being able to further his education. His story hit home when he noted he was young and foolish, but who isn’t? The difference between us, he pondered, was simply a foolish act that prohibited him from continuing his education and left him searching for an alternative way to care for his young family.
While I did not, nor do I, condone illegal activities, this conversation brought into perspective the reality of life, and how things are not always black or white; there is a very real grey area. It is the ability to see the grey area that exists in everything that sets a good lawyer apart from a great lawyer. Recognizing the middle ground and developing that storyline helps develop the ability to recognize issues and arguments, and predict legal complications that may arise. Understanding a client’s life circumstances helps lawyers develop alternative solutions that may work better for the client, regardless of the type of law you practice.
As lawyers, we train to look for the technicality that will allow for the results our client seeks. The Prisoner Reentry Program, taps into these same skills and can hone them as well, all while helping a population in need. In working with the Prisoner Reentry Program, not only do you learn to find the grey areas, but you also realize that messy, unpredictable, and unexpected events occur, and you learn how to handle these events when they inevitably arise. What we, as lawyers, must learn is how to use that information to the client’s benefit. The Prisoner Reentry Program allows for this training and development in the areas in which prisoners face the most challenges.
Participants have the unique and rewarding opportunity to help a portion of society that normally is unassisted, in resolving the obstacles faced in returning to society following incarceration. These obstacles range from resolving municipal court fines to coping with astronomical arrears from child support accrual. Needed assistance can be as simple as reading and explaining a piece of paper to as complex as making several court appearances.
To help prepare attorney volunteers for the program, the Prisoner Reentry Committee has developed a training seminar, set for Saturday, Feb. 28, 2015, at the New Jersey Law Center in New Brunswick. The free program provides participants with six continuing legal education (CLE) credits if they commit to assist a prisoner re-entering society with a legal challenge. The commitment could range from a phone call with an ex-offender explaining his or her child support order to representing a client on a motion to convert fines to jail time.
The program will provide training in family law, municipal court and criminal law, corrections and public benefits, and public policy changes and challenges. Speakers will include former Governor Jim McGreevey, United States Attorney Paul J. Fishman, Acting Attorney General John Jay Hoffman, and Jersey City Mayor Steven M. Fulop, to name a few.
I encourage young and more seasoned lawyers, with all levels of training, to attend the prisoner re-entry training on Feb. 28. This is a unique opportunity to hear from attorneys with vastly differing perspectives on a number of issues the reentry population experiences. Regardless of what your level of experience is, you will learn something through this training, including how to defend a municipal court offense, what information is important for a federal court judge, whether child support arrears can be reduced retroactively, and the use and application for public benefits and whether ex-offenders are eligible for them.
Please click here to read more about the seminar brochure and to register.
Katherine M. Caola is the editor of Dictum and has a criminal and family legal practice with the Caola Law Group.