Bringing Restorative Justice in Correctional Environments assumes a central role in the Resilience Prison Project. It fosters accountability, empathy, and reconciliation among adults in custody, those harmed by crime, and their families. This transformative approach has shown profound impacts on participants within custody and our dedicated volunteers.
Restorative Justice is defined as a philosophy centered around healing and repairing the harm caused by crime. It urges those responsible for harm to take ownership, make amends, and engage in dialogue with those harmed by crime or their families. The ultimate goal is to restore and strengthen relationships. This fosters healing and reconciliation.
How We Work
Within the Resilience Prison Project, restorative justice seamlessly integrates into our transformative learning community. The program includes Crime Sharing with NVC Dialogue. Here, participants, equipped with Nonviolent Communication (NVC) skills, share their crimes using NVC dialogue. This facilitates the expression of actions, emotions, and needs empathetically. It promotes a profound understanding of past actions.
The program involves Mock Parole Hearings. In a controlled and supportive environment, participants engage in mock parole hearings, challenging them to connect with themselves and reflect on their past actions. This process encourages self-reflection and personal accountability. Yet, this is not the only benefit to introducing restorative justice in correctional environments.
Adults in custody also have the opportunity to engage in Dialogue with victim surrogates. These surrogates act on behalf of those harmed by crime. These dialogues promote healing, understanding, and closure for all parties involved.
What to Expect
The benefits of restorative justice in correctional environment extend to accountability. Our program encourages adults in custody to take responsibility for their actions. This fosters personal accountability. Through dialogue and connection with surrogates, adults in custody develop empathy and work towards reconciliation. It provides a sense of closure and healing for all parties involved.
Restorative justice promotes the building of positive relationships. Plus, it encourages adults in custody to make amends, strengthening their connection with their families and communities.
In the quest for true justice, about 95% of adults in custody will return to our communities. Moreover, the remaining 5%, potentially ineligible for rehabilitative programs, will either support or hinder the successful rehabilitation of the other 95%. Therefore, we invite everyone to be a part of our Transformative Learning Communities, contributing to growth and healing vital for both individual and community resilience.
