Sean Hendricks has endured several horrific experiences that would force some people into a mental health institution.
However, on a cold and rainy day he is definitely happy and content.
While standing inside the gymnasium of a local youth center he looks at a mural on the wall. The mural depicts a young man being saved by an angel before the forces of evil can destroy him.
In a moment of reflection Hendricks smiles and calmly says, “That reminds me a lot of my own situation. So many times the devil has tried to pull me back into the darkness, but Christ has brought me into the light. If we never endure the darkness, how can we appreciate the light?”
Hendricks, a former prison inmate, would like to share that hope and optimism with others who are still in prison or have left recently. But achieving that goal might take a tremendous amount of hard work in communities across the country.
America’s prison population is rising fast, according to a recent report released by the Pew Center on the States. One in every 100 adults is currently in prison and the inmate population grew by more than 25,000 in 2007 alone.
Those statistics seem to coincide with a study by the U.S. Department of Justice, which shows that African-American men continue to be jailed at a faster rate than their counterparts in other racial groups. There are more than 3,000 Black male prisoners per 100,000 Black men, compared to only 1,261 inmates per every 100,000 Hispanic males and 487 prisoners per every 100,000 white males.
Also, one in nine Black men ages 20 to 34 is behind bars, while one in 100 Black women ages 35 to 39 are in prison, compared with one in 355 white women in the same category.
Most criminal justice analysts contribute the rise in the prison population to tougher state and federal sentencing laws imposed since the mid-1980s. Many observers, including Hendricks, believe the laws have affected Black males at a disproportionate rate.
“Unfortunately many sentencing laws favor white offenders,” said Hendricks. “Not all Black men sell drugs and steal cars, so why do we make up of over 40 percent of the prison population when we’re only 12 percent of the overall population?”
Byron Alston, a former gang member and inmate, believes a large part of the increase is caused by a higher rate of recidivism, or Black men returning to prison due to a lack of opportunities available to them upon release, especially in the area of employment.
“If someone got out of prison and they have no way to make a living, then what do we expect to happen?” asked Alston, who is now a community activist and director of Save the Youth, a local organization that helps at-risk youth and former inmates.
“If a person has been locked up for several years, they need help getting acclimated to the social and economic changes in society,” said Alston.
Hendricks agrees with Alston, and they both know ex-inmates who had difficulty finding employment or lost it once supervisors discovered their legal past.
“Most of the guys I talk to who have been released from prison say their biggest challenge in getting ahead is finding a job,” said Hendricks.
Hendricks, who robbed safes, was released from prison in 2004 after serving 15 years at a facility in Carlisle, a town in Southern Indiana.
Racial tensions were sometimes high between angry urban Blacks and angry rural whites, and Hendricks had to endure experiences such as stints in solitary confinement, 23-hour lockdown, inmates throwing human waste at each other and administrators making unkind remarks about his father, the late community activist Charles “Snooky” Hendricks.
Upon his release, however, Sean Hendricks began to turn his life around by connecting with business mentors, and began volunteering at Christamore House, a community service center on the Westide. He now works with Alston at Save the Youth, which provides youth mentoring, youth recreation, court advocacy and employment assistance.
“It’s nice being able to help youth avoid the same mistakes I made,” said Hendricks.
Alston noted that not all inmates receive the help that Hendricks had because many organizations that serve ex-inmates are struggling financially, which he says is shameful in a city with many affluent individuals.
According to Indianapolis Deputy Mayor Olgen Williams, help is on the way for ex-inmates trying to turn their lives around. The city, he stated, is creating a department devoted to helping people establish normal, stable lives after being released from prison.
“Each year Indianapolis receives over 5,000 people coming home from state and federal prisons,” said Williams, himself a former inmate who turned his life around and became director of Christamore House. “That’s why finding a solution to this issue is so important to the mayor.”
Williams added that the department, which has not been named yet, will be directed by someone who pulls together efforts by faith-based organizations, GED education providers, businesses and job-training program instructors to provide a “one-stop” center for ex-convicts trying to establish stability. Businesses will also be asked to review hiring practices as they relate to
“Far too often guys leaving prison are just thrown out there and no case worker is there to help them, so this department is a great idea,” said Hendricks.
For Williams, the cause of the prison population increase is simple: Too many people are committing more crimes.
“They have to look at why they are committing those crimes,” he said. “At the same time people who have paid their debt to society deserve a second chance so that they can take care of their families, rebuild their sense of pride and dignity and move on with their lives. We want to help them get that second chance.”
Note: The Recorder will update readers on information for the new city department for ex-inmates as it becomes available.
