WHAT’S HAPPENING?!?!

THE LEBANON COUNTY REENTRY COALITION IS HOSTING A REENTRY SIMULATION!!!!!

WHAT IS A REENTRY SIMULATION?

A reentry simulation - is an experience that allows the community to imagine what the first four weeks is like for someone exiting incarceration. Because the event is only two hours, with each quarter hour representing one week, it serves as a snapshot for your imagination. Each participant is provided a history of a real person’s experience and issued tasks to carry out. It allows people to imagine the process of release and reentry with more accuracy than we are exposed to by the popular media.

The room in which the simulation takes place has a large circle of tables. Each table represents a community agency such as: the jail, the homeless shelters, the bank, faith-based services, the food pantry / grocery store, a pawn shop, treatment, the courts, and other entities that are utilized in the first four weeks of reentry.

Each person’s given history explains: You are being released after X amount of time in prison. You have X amount of money in your release packet, and you have X amount of probation. You must complete community service, meet with your probation officer, acquire shelter, attend treatment, and avoid high risk areas.

In 15 minute intervals, each participant runs around to each table, seeking bus passes, housing vouchers, employment support, etc. If they don’t get to the front of the line or complete their tasks by the end of the 15 minutes, they may wind up sitting behind the jail table - reincarcerated.

This is a brief overview, but the overall feeling participants endure is frustration. This is because reentering the community can be frustrating.

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Even though it is frustrating, the event is a simulation, so there are breaks and opportunities to relax and reflect. Also, we are the Lebanon County Reentry Coalition, so we cannot avoid being the fun and fantastic group we are, so it will be just as enjoyable as it is frustrating!