Although the story of intentional community reintegration for parolees includes a remarkable drop in recidivism (re-offending), it supports so much more than that.
For much of Todd Cawley’s life, he lived in cycles of addiction, crime and incarceration. However, today the trajectory of Todd’s life has been radically impacted by his faith, healthy relationships and practices, and giving back to the community as he invests in those whose lives have also been decimated by addiction and the pattern of crime that often follows.
Enjoy Todd’s story as he talks about not only walking free of crime and addiction, but reveals a life where he is once again a contributing member of our Canadian society:
As many of you know, Better Life has held the Correctional Service Canada (CSC) Faith Community Reintegration Contract (FCRP) for a number of years. Much to Better Life’s surprise, a Florida-based corporation undercut the financial bid of the most recent contract (without providing support in all the designated regions…), and consequently gained a number of the FCRP contracts across Canada, including ours.
While this came a quite a shock—particularly since Better Life has been recognized by CSC as a national leader in faith community reintegration best practices—after many conversations and much prayer, the Better Life team believes our future is as bright as ever.
We recognize this as a moment to reaffirm our identity and sense of mission as an organization.
From the very beginning, Better Life was shaped by what Christians call the gospel. The belief that our identity and very nature can be radically transformed by a Creator God who loves us so deeply He sacrificed Himself on our behalf. As the Gospel of John says so eloquently, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
As Better Life, we believe that the gospel compels us to look at every human as being created in the image of God, and therefore, having dignity and worth—no matter who they are, no matter what they’ve done.
I truly count it a privilege and an honour as Better Life’s executive director to have a front row seat to witness the actions of men and women who love and follow Jesus as they invest themselves in serving the ‘least of these.’
Moving forward, while Better Life no longer holds the CSC FCRP, our team are able to continue to provide faith community reintegration support by meeting with men and women within the Correctional Institutions and assisting them into church communities that provide life-changing and eternity-altering support.
We plan to continue to work closely with our wonderful network of church communities, Correctional Institution Chaplains, Institutional and Community Parole Officers, Halfway Homes, Substance Use Treatment Centres, and our friends through the community reintegration network.
That said, up to this point, Better Life’s funding was largely through the CSC contract, which is no longer the case. While we have reduced our organizational costs as quickly and substantially as we can, the fact is there are still many financial commitments that Better Life needs to continue in order to to facilitate healthy reintegration support.
For instance, some ongoing needs are our toll free number, that allows offenders and parolees to connect with their Better Life chaplain, our online presence that allows us to communicate the stories of transformation provided through church communities, and a reduced level of staffing retained to support the many actions that are need to connect men and women as they gain parole with a church community, and all the other services that are an essential part of a healthy reintegration experience.
In the midst of so many good and worthy requests for your financial support, you may ask, “why should I give to Better Life?”
Why?
Because this often overlooked ministry is a clear expression of Jesus’s ministry and mission. Jesus was clear that a commitment and investment in ‘the least of these’ (including those imprisoned—Matthew 25:39) is a clear expression of a genuine follower of Jesus (No, we don’t invest in the least of these to somehow earn God’s favour. But, as authentic followers of Jesus, our lives are invested in those who Jesus is committed to.)
Because supporting parolees through a church community of people who love and follow Jesus is both life-changing and eternity-altering. What Better Life has experienced over and over again is the transforming power of God through His people and church to give parolees a hope and a future.
Because supporting Parolees through church communities radically impacts our society for good. A former Correctional Service Canada (CSC) Regional Chaplain noted that recidivism (reoffending) drops by over 80% when parolees are reintegrated back into society through their church community.
Can you imagine the impact that has on our society as a whole?! We constantly read headlines about our broken prison system, the terrible consequences of untreated substance use and mental health, not to mention horrible examples of reoffending.
But what church community reintegration shows us is that when a man or woman with a criminal past is welcomed, supported, discipled, counselled, provided opportunities for employment and education, transformation is possible, and that individual can again become a contributing member of our Canadian society.
In our next Better Life post, I want to share one of the amazing stories of transformation with you. But for now, for the reasons listed above, would you consider an investment into the ministry of Better Life as together we join Jesus in His mission of ‘setting the prisoner free.’
As Better Life has worked together with faith communities across the Pacific Region, we hear many different responses to the invitation to provide reintegration support.
Some faith communities and their members feel that providing reintegration support is an important expression of their faith. They’re all in, and they want to provide support as effectively as possible.
Others respond with desire to get involved, but feel overwhelmed by questions.
Our hope at Better Life is that having clarity around a REINTEGRATION STRUCTURE AND SYSTEM answers many of your questions and gives you confidence that you can help develop a healthy reintegration pathway that can literally be life changing for a parolee and an invaluable contribution toward them experiencing a better life.
However, we recognize that Structures and Systems only take us so far.
We experience this in our own life. At times we have great aspirations, sometimes expressed in New Year’s resolution. But living out our resolutions can be another thing entirely.
This leads us to acknowledge that we’re all individuals who are made up of many different influences—our families, our experiences, and our habits, to name a few.
What type of influence has each of these areas had on our life?
As human beings, we each respond to varied circumstances in different ways. Specifically, we experience and are impacted by trauma in very different ways.
In your own family, your experience growing up may have impacted you in a radically different way than a sibling. You could have experienced very similar circumstances, but how you experienced those circumstances and integrated them may have been very different for each of you.
The same is true for a parolee.
You’ve listened to their story, you’ve created a pathway together that you hope will lead to a healthy reintegration experience, but so much of an individual’s experience, their growth, their ability to overcome painful experiences and trauma, and to believe that they can live a different and better life, rests with them.
With this understanding, we want to assure you that not only is Better Life made up of an experienced team of Reintegration Chaplains, but that we are a part of an invaluable network of organizations and caregivers committed to healthy reintegration.
The Better Life Reintegration Chaplain who, in many cases, has provided an inmate support for a year within the prison, who has worked with the inmate’s Correctional Team and has supported them to complete the recommended steps so that they can have a positive parole hearing outcome, is now available to support you as you support that parolee.
While the Better Life reintegration chaplain doesn’t remove their support from the inmate as they enter parole, they shift their primary support to you as a caregiver.
When you have questions, when you wonder what healthy next steps should be, when you’re concerned about certain patterns of thinking, or behaviour, and wonder what to do next, the Better Life Reintegration chaplain is available to provide you with support.
This is also true of the connections Better Life can provide you with various reintegration partners—often beginning with the parolee’s Parole Officer. Through the Parole Officer you can gain a clear understanding of what the parolee’s conditions are, as well as specific areas that may need attention (work, education, therapy, certain thought patterns, etc.)
Beyond a connection with a parolee’s Parole Officer, Better Life has close relationships with many Reintegration Partners operating in various regions and areas of specialization.
At Better Life we are here to support you. We believe that you can make a life changing difference in providing reintegration support, and we want to support you to do that effectively.
Thank you for joining us for this series on providing healthy reintegration. We’re grateful to be on this journey with you.
In the current Better Life Integration and Support series, we’re looking at the ingredients of healthy reintegration.
In the previous edition, we addressed the importance of mentors and volunteers understanding the Reintegration Structure.
We picture this Structure as a bridge that begins in the Correctional Institution and extends into the community. We envision the four essential components of the bridge as the support, the onramp, the main body of the bridge, and the offramp or exit. Each one of these stages requires specific types of support.
In this edition, we will look at SYSTEM. In other words, what works within the STRUCTURE of Reintegration to make the process function effectively?
Specifically, what can a mentor, volunteer, and community of faith provide to help a parolee have a healthy reintegration experience and move towards becoming a contributing member of their society?
At Better Life, we believe that a clear and healthy pathway can be created to support the the best possible outcomes for an individual’s reintegration.
We’d like to suggest a System that develops through three invaluable questions.
Let me underline that these questions are ones you can ask in conversation together with the parolee during the first month of parole.
In other words, everything that you and the parolee experience together is a product of developing a trusting relationship, which the reintegration pathway is built on.
So let me encourage you—don’t feel like you have to rush. Let the relationship develop, and out of the relationship, ask these three questions that allow a pathway to be created.
This is such an invaluable question. It’s obvious that a parolee has been places that have had a serious impact on their life.
It’s a question that addresses their crime, and in relationship to their crime, the conditions that they now have for their parole.
It’s also a question that address an individual’s challenges in life. For instance, a therapist once asked a group of men in a high security prison how many of them dreamed as little boys that they would be in the place where they are now? Of course, not one of them raised their hand. No one dreams of being incarcerated as a young boy, or young girl.
What we know is that a parolee has had certain experiences and responded to those experiences in a way that wasn’t healthy, wasn’t contributing to society.
On one hand, we don’t enter the work of providing reintegration support as a therapist, a psychologist, or psychiatrist. It’s not our role to provide professional therapy. But knowing a person’s story not only makes a caregiver aware of the comprehensive help that a parolee needs, but also recognizes the importance and supports the fundamental and life-giving experience of being known.
To emphasize this point, a parolee may not believe this is true. They may experience shame, or guilt and may have had their desire for secrecy reinforced over and over again within the context of a prison. Sharing their past may not come easily. However, we understand that hiddenness and secrecy do not bring about healing and growth into our life.
Our starting point on the road to a healthy reintegration is a person’s story.
Listening to their story (not judging or questioning, but listening), communicates the value you place on them and the care you desire to give them. The details of an individual’s story may come out over time, but as trust is built, this will be the outcome.
Before we move onto the second question, let me circle back to the connection between a parolee’s story and their conditions of parole. This is important because the most often asked questions by faith communities are, “Will we be safe? Will our community be safe? Will our children be safe?”
In response, there are a number of conditions that a parolee must follow.Some conditions are general and will apply to all parolees, and some are very specific, depending on the parolee’s crimes.
For instance, an individual who has had a sexually related offence, or an offence against a minor, will have very clear conditions restricting them from settings where there are minors present.
So, in summary, through a parolee’s story, we also learn of their parole conditions and supervision and can understand how best to provide safety for our faith community and for the offender. (Parole conditions also will be proactively shared with the faith community representative supporting reintegration.)
Through listening to the parolee’s story and offering support we begin the journey of providing a trusted relationship foundation that healthy reintegration is build upon.
The importance of this question may not be so obvious.
But a Better Life board member, a criminal law lawyer, puts the question into perspective like this:
What would it be like for you to be judged every day of your life for the worst day or moment of your life?
It’s hard to even envision, isn’t it?
What the question illustrates are the challenges that a criminal history and incarceration bring.
For instance, one ‘lifer’ who went on to experience faith and become a prison chaplain himself, tells of his experience on the day that he was released for parole. The prison guard looked at him and said, “See you back soon!”
Often this is the sentiment communicated. It’s informed by the way many inmates become institutionalized, and can sometimes begin to feel it’s easier to stay incarcerated than to face the many challenges reintegrating back into the community will bring.
As we ask a parolee the question “Where are you going?”, we are inviting the parolee into the experience of envisioning their life in a new way.
A way that is often impacted by the hope of their faith, and how their faith practices can allow them to see both themselves, and life around them in a new way. In many respects, this is one of the most important areas of support a caregiver can provide.
While the diversity of faith beliefs envision hope, love, forgiveness, grace differently, I was impacted through my conversation with an Imam who asked, “Adam, how can we hold an individual’s past and crime over them for the rest of their life, when God tells us that he forgives those who earnestly repent? If God can forgive, why don’t we?”
Again, there are distinctions between the many different faiths, but the Imam’s question was an important one to answer and have clarity on for any caregiver who is providing reintegration support.
We could ask, and answer, what elements of my faith can enable the parolee I’m working with to both envision and experience a life of forgiveness and contribution within our faith tradition?
In many respects the answer to this question will be informed by the parolee’s answer to question number one, Where Have You Been?
Through listening to the parolee’s story certain elements, specific needs, come to light.
It may be, on one hand, that the parolee is very mature in their faith. In fact, they may be at a place in their faith that they can provide support and help for others. We have seen numerous parolees use their incarceration as a ‘wake up call,’ where they either come to faith, or become serious/committed in their faith.
There are also Prison Chaplains who do an amazing job of helping inmates grow in their faith so that they are actually more mature in their faith practices when they reach parole than many in their faith community. In other words, we shouldn’t assume that all parolees are in need of others to teach and train them.
On the other hand, most, if not all faiths, recognize that we ‘never arrive.’ There is always a deeper experience of our faith that we can enter into.
Again, this is why the first question, ‘Where have you Been’ is so important. Through your conversation with a parolee, you will recognize the level of experience they have had in their faith practices and engagement, and whether or not they are in need of professional therapy, or education, or housing, etc. Their story, their needs, their path forward will be distinct and unique to them.
Better Life’s recommendation is that through the first month, or even first quarter of relationship building, you create and make an agreement of what the next period of time together will look like.
For instance, you may agree to a six month period of studying or practicing an element of your faith together.
The agreement may also include intentional conversations about other critical areas. Perhaps, the parolee is also undergoing addiction treatment, or mental healthy therapy, for instance. A part of your regular time together may be to incorporate space to talk about how they are feeling as they address their challenges of addiction.
You’re not engaging with the parolee as a therapist, but you are giving opportunity for them to talk about their experience.
What we call a Commitment of Trust Agreement can be invaluable because it specifies healthy relationship boundaries, the expected frequency of meeting, the duration of support (e.g., We will meet for six months and then we will evaluate), and even what you will focus on in your time together.
As an example, the invaluable organization (CoSA – Circles of Support and Accountability) uses a very similar agreement that is phenomenally effective in reducing recidivism (reoffending) with parolees who have a sexual offence history.
What Better Life has discovered is that the benefit of a parolee engaging in the practices of their faith community—prayers, services, etc.—are enormous. Many faith communities are welcoming and supportive to parolees attending their community.
However, what often provides the highest impact is the individual’s experience of relationship. This may be in the context of a member of the faith community regularly meeting with the parolee for coffee and conversation. It may be inviting the parolee into a small group that engages in providing support together, or having the parolee experience an existing small group as a means of experiencing healthy relationship.
Let me encourage you, use these three questions like tools in your tool box to help you provide support that leads to a parolee’s healthy reintegration.
I wish I could have brought each of you to the Christmas celebration hosted by one of our Chilliwack-area team members and his wife.
What was so impactful was that, after an incredible meal, we had a time of sharing. Each of the men who had received Better Life support spoke about how it has been a life-changer for them.
In fact, men were phoning into the event because they wanted to share their stories and express their gratitude for the support they had received.
As I prepare online reintegration training for our faith communities, I recognize how complex the work of reintegration can be. There are many important details that need to be kept in mind.
However, at times, I’m overwhelmed by the simplicity. As I listened to men share stories about how their lives had been impacted through the support of a Better Life team member, what was mentioned most of all was the consistency: “You were there for me.” “You kept showing up.” “Your actions convinced me that you cared and that, because you cared, I mattered.”
As the larger Better Life community, let me say thank you.
I am deeply grateful for your support and for how investing in ‘the least of these’ can make an invaluable difference in supporting offenders to become valued and contributing members of our society.
Thank you for joining us in our mission of “Eradicating Recidivism, one life at a time.”
Merry Christmas and all God’s best to you and yours for 2022!
Adam Wiggins
General Director
Message from the Better Life Integration & Support Society Board of Directors
This has been a challenging year for our Society, yet we have continued to see wonderful results as men and women are being integrated back into our communities successfully.
This success has been due to the staff and volunteers that God has led into this ministry. Everyone has been used mightily in this work.
We would especially like to thank Adam Wiggins, our General Director, who has been inspired in his work with the Society. He took over at a critical time and has led us through some difficult and frustrating times. In spite of these challenges, Better Life has continued to grow in size and impact.
One specific challenge has been the delays in our bid to reacquire our current contract with the Correctional Service of Canada. This contract is our greatest source of funding and also gives us access to the bulk of our contact with inmates in federal custody.
The delay in our bid being assessed has hampered our ability to develop the necessary initiatives to be better equipped and to stabilize our resources into the future. Our existing contract was extended time and time again with no increase in our revenue and with no indication of the final decision. We recently were notified that no one was awarded the contract and that another submission will be required.
Please pray that the new bid, currently being prepared, will be successful and that our resources will continue to grow.
To all our staff and volunteers, may God bless you and your families. Thank you for your dedication and efforts in assisting the marginalized groups we support.
Merry Christmas and may you have a Happy and Rewarding New Year.
Yes, this comes from a different context, a different country, BUT it illustrates the difference, the hope, the potential that we can introduce into an individual’s life when they are ‘reintegrated’ from prison into a faith community. It’s a game-changer and a life-changer for many, and such a valuable investment!
Better Life Integration & Support Society 
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