Network in 
the Prisons
Network in the Community

"Never forget that a saint is a sinner who keeps on trying."
                                                                     
- Nelson Mandela                            









                                                           
                                         DONATE NOW
 
 

   " All my life, I used my hands to hurt people. When I crochet, it's a good feeling                
 to know that my hands are now helping instead."
Young father at Bronx shelter with  baby daughter wearing a blanket made by a Network Community  Member at  Otisville Correctional Facility.
FROM PRISON WITH LOVE

The words above were spoken by a participant in Network's Therapeutic Community at Otisville Correctional Facility while taking part in the 
From Prison with Love initiative in  2014.  

A group of men in in the Network Therapeutic Community have spent the last two years learning how to crochet baby blankets. It's an unlikely hobby occurring in an unlikely place, but when those approached about volunteering for the project heard that the goal was to create blankets for underprivileged mothers, they wholeheartedly  embraced the project. In early summer 2014, twenty beautiful hand-crocheted baby blankets left the prison for the Bronx where they were presented to WIN (Women in Need) for mothers and babies residing in one of their shelters.


NETWORK IN THE PRISONS

Network in the Prisons Therapeutic Communities in six New York State prisons are home to 400 incarcerated men and women who are building healthy, functional and pro-social lives in 
preparation for release.  Often, the Network Community--a caring environment that allows its members to recognize and develop the potential with which they were born--is the first real "home" some have ever had. You could compare it to a small village in which all are stakeholders, responsible for the quality and functioning of community life, and spontaneously look out for and support their neighbors.  
Organized around mandatory therapeutic session, Network also encourages its 
members 
to educate themselves and find out what's on the other side of the mountain.
Classes are currently running in 
Substance Abuse Prevention, Spanish Language, 
Transformative Education, GED Preparation, Anger Management, Job Readiness, Healthy Manhood, Thinking Outside the Cell, Financial Literacy, Fatherhood, Entrepreneurship, Philosophy, Current Affairs.
Woodbourne Community Members celebrate their achievement

In the Words of One Network Member
    
Change 
requires patience, honesty and a willingness to work hard, to be committed-these are the traits that I've witnessed firsthand as a new member of Network.  I have never seen nor
 experienced 
such a raw 
desire for growth 
than in my first weekly Network meeting.  
 By 
my second meeting, I personally experienced emotions that have been hidden within me for  many years. In the small group setting, I not only cried but was blessed with the chance to share words of encouragement and be encouraged by my new brothers.  These men, myself included, within the span of three hours, expressed feelings of remorse, accepted responsibility for their wrongdoing, to both their victims and their own loved ones, and, above all, expressed a strong need and commitment to rehabilitate themselves and work on all those areas that led them inside these walls.
                     
The Women of Network
Battered and bruised!
Many studies show that up to 75% of incarcerated women experienced physical, psychological and/or sexual violence before prison. In Network, women come together to heal themselves while also helping their peers in the group to heal. 


 
NETWORK IN THE COMMUNITY
Members of the Network Reentry Team 

When prisoners come  home, Network is there to help with transition. In 2014, 500 individuals released from incarceration received therapeutic support at 6 sites in New York City and all needed reentry services, directly and by referral, to ensure full and safe reintegration to the community.
Network's therapeutic sessions, grounded in sound theories of behavioral change and often led by Network-trained formerly-incarcerated men and women, have proved to be a highly effective means to help re-entrants deal with the adjustment problems common to transition to the community.

In the U.S., when 100 people are released from prison,  75 go back within 3 years.

In New York State, when 100 people are released from prison, 40 go back within 3 years.

When 100 people are released from prison and have gone through Network, whether behind bars or in the community, only 8 go back within 3 years!


Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help Network continue its work.  The whole community benefits when individuals who have paid their debit to society are allowed a second chance that they have earned.
undefined
Like us on Facebook