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The John Howard Association
J T was the all - too - familiar
pattern. Fred Coles had dropped out
of high school and joined a gang of
boys who shoplifted for kicks. He was
caught and sentenced to Chicago's
House of Correction.
When released, he again resorted
to thievery. That brought him a year
in the county jail. Next, he broke into
a car. This earned a sentence at State
ville Penitentiary in Joliet, 111.
Now a tall, thin man of 23, Fred re
cently walked out of Stateville in a
prison suit with $25 in his pocket.
What will he do? He was the child of
a common-law marriage. His mother
had died when he was three; now his
father claims Fred's not his son. So
Fred has no home.
It's hopeless, you say. You've heard
that "once a thief, always a thief";
therefore a man like this is past help.
Then what is to be done? Let him go
back to stealing, the only thing he's
known? No, things can be different
for Fred thanks to the John Howard
Association.
With modest offices in Chicago, this
association is devoted to helping men
who are released from prison. For 55
years it has worked for crime pre
vention in its most challenging area:
keeping offenders from repeating.
It is estimated that one out of every
three men released from prison today
will return there within five years!
Sound discouraging? It used to be two
out of three!
Routinely, the John Howard Asso
ciation receives a list of inmates who
will be released from Stateville dur
ing the month. Every Saturday, two
case workers visit the penitentiary to
talk to these men and offer help. They
learn that some prisoners have fam
ilies waiting for them, some have jobs
to return to. Others, like Fred, don't
know what to do.
Fred's record showed that he got
along well in the institution, where
he was in a controlled environment.
Now he seemed anxious to make a
complete break with his past. Two
days after his release he went to the
association for help. .
He wanted a job, and enough money
to buy another suit, for he felt that
everyone recognized his prison garb.
Like so many ox-prisoners with
similar records, Fred had not been
taught any vocation in high school,
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and he was not equipped to do any
work which would give him satisfac
tion. Fortunately, our prisons are be
ginning to fill the gap in vocational
guidance, so that men like Fred can
finish their high-school education and
learn a trade. Fred had been assigned
to the prison furniture factory.
He told Mrs. Faith Jefferson Jones,
the association's case-work super
visor, that he would like employment
in that field. With his immediate need
for money, however, he had to take
the only job available: washing dishes.
He worked diligently for two days,
was half an hour late the third day
and was fired.
Mrs. Jones had sent Fred to an in
stitution where he could rent a room
cheaply. He had too much to drink
one evening, got into a fight, and was
thrown out.
Not a very encouraging specimen,
was he? Why bother with someone
like that? But Mrs. Jones, who has a
master's degree in social-service ad
ministration, did bother.
She sent Fred to take aptitude tests.
There he revealed superior academic
intelligence!
He displayed high interest in music
and literature, as well as in clerical
and selling areas. Now she knew in
which directions to work. After all,
the John Howard Association's object
is not simply to find a man a job and
shelter. It is to give him vocational
guidance, help him develop new social
interests, even help him solve do
mestic problems, if such arise.
Mrs. Jones contacted a friend of the
association, a manufacturer who had
proves ex-convicts can become assets rather than liabilities.
TDu37 DnDp
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8
by Gudrun Aleoek
successfully helped 15 men adjust
after prison life. He said he knew
someone in the furniture business,
and if Fred wasn't accepted there, he
thought he might be able to use him
in his own plant. He had dinner with
Fred, talked with him about his prob
lems, and left Fred with the feeling
he'd found a friend.
Fred was able to get assembly work
at the furniture shop, but there soon
came a slack period and the only job
left for him was running the elevator.
He disliked this intensely.
"Too much like a jail," Fred told
Mrs. Jones, and wanted to quit. But
she helped him to understand there
were times when he had to discipline
himself to do an unpleasant job in
order to get something better.
Fred stayed on. As he transported
passengers, it became evident that he
enjoyed talking with people so he was
given a chance in the sales depart
ment. He's still there. He now lives in
a one-room apartment and has a new
hobby, a record collection.
Fred's case shows how unique and
important the work of the John How
ard Association has become. It is con
vinced that with intelligent treatment,
many more men considered social
liabilities can become human assets.
This cannot be done, however,
unless the community accepts its re
sponsibility to help rehabilitate re
leased prisoners. During the Korean
conflict, as well as during both World
Wars, the association had little dif
ficulty finding work for the men who
came to it for help. They proved
satisfactory workers and made good,
sometimes excellent, adjustment.
Now the association is having more
difficulty placing its applicants. But
if a man is continually rejected, un
able to find work, what will he do?
He will be forced to think of himself
as a criminal and to seek alliance with
that class of men who consider them
selves a faction apart from society.
This is precisely what the association
fights to prevent!
The John Howard Association is
named after a homely, dedicated little
Englishman who fought for prison re
form in the 1770s. He visited every
prison in England and published re
ports of the injustices and distressing
For a directory of other pris
oners' aid societies throughout
the country, send a self-addressed
stamped envelope to
Mrs. Ruth Baker, Secretary,
International Prisoners' Aid
Association, 125 E. Wells, Mil
waukee, Wis.
conditions he had seen in his tours.
Depending on voluntary contribu
. tions, the association works for crime
prevention in Illinois through the re
habilitation of released prisoners,
prison reform, and public enlighten
ment. Also, it works in close cooper
ation with similar agencies in other
parts of the country. Looked upon as
one of the authorities in correctional
work, it has been contacted by com
mittees from many states for advice
on how to create similar societies.
Family Weekly. May 19, 1957