By Marci Laehr Tenuta
Journal Times | Posted: Friday, December 12, 2008 12:00 am
For four years, the Community Re-entry Program here has been helping newly released prison inmates find a way to change their lives. It's a daunting, frustrating and often overwhelming task for both the participants and those who work with them.
But the program has recently been re-energized with a new program coordinator who brings more than talk to the mission.
"I understand where these guys are and the transition they have to make," said Frank James II, who took the job a couple of months ago. "I have a passion to see these guys who come out of incarceration succeed. I understand the barriers they face once released."
Breaking down barriers
James said the Community Re-entry Program attempts to diminish those barriers by connecting former inmates with resources for jobs, housing and organizations that help people with addiction issues.
He helps the participants set up short-term and long-term goals for the future. James said he helps them make a positive plan for their life.
He coordinates law enforcement, corrections, social services and other community partners like the Workforce Development Center, Gateway Technical College and the faith community. They network to provide resources for the participants.
James said the program offers holistic services so that the participants can have all the tools they need to be contributing citizens and maintain their freedom.
Jim Schatzman, the director of Racine Vocational Ministries - which oversees the Community Re-entry Program - said that when former prison inmates are released, their networks are often shattered. Their families aren't happy to see them, their girlfriend is often with someone else and they don't have anyone to turn to - except maybe the friends they got in trouble with in the first place.
"It's chaotic," Schatzman said. "They need someone to talk to. That's hard to find when you come out."
Too often, they end up turning to their old friends, and despite promises to themselves to live a life on the straight and narrow, go back to their old ways.
"They need someone to say, 'I've been there. Stay calm. What's the next right decision?' " Schatzman said.
That is where James comes in. "He's had to walk that walk," Schatzman said. "Frank is this huge symbol in the flesh. He can say, 'I'm right here. I've done it.' That's a powerful visual."
A decision to change
James grew up in Racine after moving here from Chicago in the late 1970s. He was heavily involved in the Vice Lords gang. "I got into some big trouble with the law," he said. "I was sent to Ethan Allen (School for Boys in Wales)."
An angry young man from a dysfunctional family is how James describes his younger self. He said he turned to the gang because it gave him control in a way he didn't have control of his life at home.
Born Timothy Allen James, when he was 14 his father changed his name to Frank James II after himself, because he was so proud of his son's growing street reputation.
As soon as he turned 18, James was charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide and armed robbery. He was sent to prison.
"While I was there, I had a defining moment," James said. "I made the decision that I wanted more out of my life."
It happened the moment he walked through the doors of Dodge Correctional Institution. He said up until that point he didn't believe he would be sentenced to prison. But James realized he was never going to go to juvenile detention again. He was in the big house, and life would never be the same.
While he was in the Racine County Jail prior to his sentencing, James accepted Jesus Christ. He became a born-again Christian in prison.
"For the first week or two, I began to introspect," he said. "I asked myself, 'How did I get to this point?' "
Then he asked himself what he really wanted. The answers were: to grow spiritually, to further his education and to give a different life to his children.
"I knew if I wanted something different, I had to do something different," James said.
Making a new life
When he was transferred to minimum security at Winnebago Correctional Facility and given the option of work or school release, James began his first semester at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.
During that time, he got his first glimpse of the woman who would become his wife. As the choir director at a multicultural center, Yolanda James visited the prison, sang and gave a brief testimonial.
"When I looked at her, I was awe-struck," James said. "I wanted a young lady who loved the Lord."
It was at UW-Oshkosh that he officially met Yolanda.
They sometimes studied algebra and prayed together in the library. One day, James asked her to pray and fast with him over the weekend.
"We came back that following Monday and I told her, 'I believe the Lord is telling me you're going to be my wife,' " James said. "She wasn't shocked."
In fact, he said his wife later told him that while they were praying one day, God told her that James was her husband.
The couple dated for two years after James was released from prison in December 1989. They have now been married for 17 years and have two children.
But after his release, James' journey to a new and better life was far from easy.
Despite being an active student at UW-Oshkosh with a job and a place to live, when he was released, he was paroled back to Racine. He wanted to be paroled in Oshkosh instead.
James was sent here and had his old friends coming to visit. They told him he would be back to his old way of life in two weeks.
Instead, he fought for a transfer. He chronicled his achievements from prison and letters of support.
That James was granted the transfer was a miracle, Schatzman said. "When you are first released, you have no pull with probation and parole," he said. "A blessing seemed to show up."
Helping others achieve success
James said he doesn't know what would have become of his life if his transfer had been denied but, thankfully, he will never know.
From 1995 to 1997, James continued to work in Winnebago and also spent two years working at a church in Watertown.
In 1998, James and his family moved back to Racine, where he took a job with the Southern Wisconsin Center and started his own church. For the past seven years, he has been working at True Life Church as one of their pastors.
He is currently in the process of finishing his degree in human services through the University of Iowa.
James has left his old life far behind, although he sometimes still runs into or hears about his old friends. "A majority of them are locked up," he said. "Some are dead. Some, sadly, are doing the same thing. A few have families, jobs and are law-abiding."
Many of those old friends respect what James has done with his life, as do the participants in the Community Re-entry program - especially those who know about his former reputation.
"A lot of these guys need someone to believe in them," James said.
Working with other partners in the community, James said they hope to do even more in the Community Re-entry Program. They would like to start working with prison inmates before they
are released.
The national recidivism rate is 66 percent, Schatzman said. After four years, the Community Re-entry Program has lowered the recidivism rate for its participants to around 30 percent. They want to reduce that rate still further.
"I'm very excited about what (James) brings to our table," Schatzman said. "He inspires me. His spirituality, his friendship, his energy inspires me."