Hope Beyond

Hope Beyond is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to reduce the rate of this revolving prison door. These numbers cause massive overcrowding along with many other inhumane problems in the prison system: violence, safety, lack of good healthcare and mental healthcare, causing suicide rates to skyrocket, terrible nutrition, and many other challenges, including poor rehabilitation support. Reform is needed!

We at Hope Beyond believe that one area we can make a difference is rehabilitation for the individual. This is crucial for a successful transition for these felons re-entering society. The real meaning of Rehabilitation is: the action of restoring someone to health or normal life, through training and therapy, after imprisonment, addiction, or illness.

In 2005, the CA Dept of Corrections was renamed Dept of Corrections and Rehabilitation. CDCR’s purpose of this reorganization was to add rehabilitation to the system. But their attempt at it is still visibly lacking, given the rate of re-offenders. They do in fact offer some self-help classes: however none of these are mandatory, there’s no accountability, and many inmates attend with wrong motives. Even if they do gain from these groups, they are constantly subject to degradation and humiliation by those around them, amplifying the brokenness. Criminals are considered the lowest of lows, have been forgotten, and stripped of their identity.

Hope Beyond has recognized these monstrous deficiencies and the damaging lack of support. This lack negatively affects their success upon release. It also offers no help - and NO hope - to inmates who will never be released.