The Abraham House Alternative to Incarceration program is
rigorous. It accepts up to 12 men at a time, who live at 342 Willis
Avenue under the supervision of our counseling staff headed by Fr.
Peter Raphael.
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| The Selection Process |
The selection process is rigorous because the program is
small and the men are expected to live together as a “family." To win
a stay at Abraham House, offenders must demonstrate a willingness
to change behavior and a serious desire to pursue a new
kind of life. As one prisoner put it, “I am fed up with myself. I tried
it my way and it didn’t work.
Now I have come here and I will listen.”
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The selection process; Offenders who wish to apply are interviewed,
along with their lawyers and their families. We insist on contacting
families and working with them to help reconnect with offenders,
as we employ a holistic approach to working with program participants.
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| To Be Considered |
To be considered, an inmate must be a first-time
offender and cannot have been convicted of a violent or sex crime
or arson. On entry, the offender must be drug-free, and he will be
subject to drug testing throughout his stay at Abraham House. An
offender testing positive will be expelled from the program. In this
case, and the case of a prisoner who cannot or will not adapt to
the rules of the program, the offender is returned to the jurisdiction
of the courts and prison.
Normally, offenders are placed in the program by judges as an alternative to incarceration for one to three years. The prisoners may be entering the sentencing process or be at the end of serving their term. In the latter case, they are paroled to Abraham House for at least one year while remaining under the jurisdiction of the courts, which demand an accounting of the offenders’ progress in the program usually on a monthly or bimonthly basis.
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Resident's
Room : Rachel Cobb |
To graduate from the Abraham House Residential Program and
win freedom from a judge, an offender must meet minimal educational requirements
(receiving a General Equivalency Diploma), be counseled on a regular basis
for social and substance-abuse problems, be drug-free, learn to take personal
and community responsibility, seek to rebuild family connections, and get
a job and keep it.
Fr. Peter says, “If a new resident is not ready to contribute, that indicates
he is the wrong place. If an offender says, in effect, this is not my garage;
this is not the right place for him. Here you get dirt on your hands in
many ways. Everyone works.”
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We realize that each person is unique and has different
potential. Some prisoners will make it through the rehabilitation
process to graduation and some will not. As Fr. Peter puts it, “Sometimes
a man does not have the strength to do 1 ½ years at Abraham House and opts
for 13 years in prison.”
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For those who graduate, the odds of successfully launching a new life
are excellent. Among those who complete the program the rate of
recidivism is less than 1% as opposed to the New York State
average of 70%.
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Rachel Cobb |
Women Prisoners: A small number of women are accepted in the Abraham House alternative-to-incarceration program and allowed to live in their homes. They must go to Abraham House daily and meet the same requirements.
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