June 18, 2010
Brothers Keepers
Prison after-care program to open in July
By MARY ANN HUGHES (Message staff writer)
Robert Collins spent 20 years teaching survival skills to Air Force pilots and their crew members. He spent eight of those years “in the Arctic, in Alaska, dealing with men in stressful situations.”
“I think that prepared me for what I’m doing now.”
He’s the director of Brothers Keepers, a prison after-care program that plans to open its doors in early July. It will be housed in a former funeral home, located almost in the shadows of the Lloyd Expressway near downtown Evansville. Part of the building dates back to 1898, with a later addition in 1938. (Related story: Serge LeClerc to tell his story of redemption)
When it opens, it will provide housing to 15 men who are newly released from the prison systems in Carlisle or Branchville.
Most of the men will be on parole, they will be former Vanderburgh County residents, and they will not be sex offenders or violent crime offenders.
“Our goal is to meet their needs,” Collins said. That means offering the men a place to sleep at night, one cooked meal a day, some counseling, help in finding jobs, and the opportunity to connect with organizations which are already established, groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous.
Collins said that “92 percent of the people in prison are there as a result of drugs which forced them into the streets” and into crimes such as theft and robbery. Sixty-seven percent of those released from prison “will return to prison,” he said, and the optimum time to break this recidivism rate is “when they come out.”
He added that the “most success comes from the person who has been incarcerated 10 years or more. They say, ‘No more!’ Then we can work with them.
“Others will cycle through prison, and offend and re-offend.”
He said the men’s relationships with their families are often very bad when they are released from prison. “We are not in a hurry to put them back with their families, because often the families are so dysfunctional — and because often they’ve burned all their bridges behind them.”
The plan is to offer housing for six months up to two years for residents to “correct their hearts, minds and souls to be ready to face the world — in a new way that does not lead to destruction.”
Money to remodel the facility and to hire staff has come from foundations, local gifts and from Evansville area churches. Collins estimates “we’ve spent in the range of $50,000 — and a lot of that has been donated.” It will cost about $10,000 a month to pay for staff, food and utilities.
When the renovations are complete in 2011, there will be housing for up to 35 men, and two classrooms for them to work on their GEDs.
There will also be a chapel, where the residents will attend “men’s only” services which will focus around “men and men’s issues.”
Brothers Keepers is a faith-based organization, and board members are “Catholic, Lutheran and non-denominational.”
The title “Brothers Keeper” comes from Genesis, Collins said. “God asked Cain, ‘Where’s your brother?’ and he answered, ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ God didn’t have anything more to say to him — so it’s obvious we are our brother’s keeper.”