After-Care Agencies and the Indigent
| Date | 01 April 1965 |
| Author | Ernest W. Goldsborough |
| Published date | 01 April 1965 |
| DOI | 10.1177/003288556504500107 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
43
AFTER-CARE
AGENCIES
AND
THE
INDIGENT
ERNEST
W.
GOLDSBOROUGH
Administrative
Assistant
and
Supervisor,
Pennsylvania
Prison
Society
THIS
PAPER
will
examine
specific
facets
in
which
poverty
and
deprivation
have
wrought
extreme
hardship
upon
offenders
already
seri-
ously
disadvantaged
in
many
ways.
The
focus
will
be
upon
the
role
and
function
of
after-care
agencies,
the
kinds
of
problems
they
face
and
their
attempts
to
deal
with
a
client’s
problems
both
as
an
offender
and
as
an
indigent
person.
There
are
many
areas
of
poverty
which
one
can
visual-
ize
beyond
economic
deprivation.
Most
private
after-care
agencies,
as
other
such
community
resources,
are
seriously
handicapped
by
inade-
quate
budgets
and
lack of
qualified
personnel.
Similar
programs
relating
to
the
entire
correctional
system
affect
the
level
of
services
available
to
the
offender
and
his
relatives.
When
an
offender
reaches
the
point
of
having
established
a
record,
he
is
marked
with
a
handicap
in
terms
of
a
nearly
total
community
attitude
of
rejection.
Whereas
much
in
our
correctional
system
is
still
related
to
a
cus-
todial
emphasis
and
fragmented
programs,
the
offender
in
particular
who
completes
his
maximum
time,
lacks
any
kind
of
adequate
prepara-
tion for
living
outside
prison
walls.
With
these
serious
handicaps
in
correctional
programs
and
services
and
the lack
of
communication
and
coordination
of
efforts
between
those
involved
in
the
correctional
proc-
ess,
many
are
released
to
flounder
in
a
sea
of
confusion
and
conflict.
In
passing,
it
might
be
well
to
mention
that
at
any
point
in
the
process
of
separation
from
confinement
in
detention
or
prison,
problems
are
bound
to
be
prevalent.
The
need
for
integrated
helping
services
is
apparent.
However,
in
terms
of
our
original
purpose,
we
shall
limit this
paper
to
the
more
salient
and
typical
problems
faced
by
the
offender
and
agency
in
terms
of
after-care
and
indigency.
It
might
first
be
well
to
recognize
that
with
practically
all
of
the
clients
who
come
to
an
after-care
agency
for
help,
there
is
a
real
need
for
solution
of
practical
problems,
while
casework
help
and
support
with
other
problems
is
being
offered.
The
latter
involves
a
great
deal
more
time
and
skill.
Our
client
often
brings
so
many
problems
that
it
is
mandatory
to
establish
some
priority
to
enable
him
to
grasp
some
sense
of
direction
in
planning.
His
lack
of
preparation
for
meeting
problems
manifest
in
his
beginning
re-adjustment
are
most
frequently
colored
by
his
personality
patterns
and
feelings.
He
most
often
demands
or
over-simplifies
and
minimizes
his
needs
and
problems,
while
invest-
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