Your turn: Restorative justice can create safer, more prosperous communities

Intense emotions have emerged around the SAFE-T Act, particularly the aspects that end the traditional cash bail system. My father-in-law always said, “Pause when agitated.”

It seems prudent to pause, take a collective breath and reframe the conversation.

Deeper conversations about people who are incarcerated can help reduce fear, increase understanding, and improve outcomes in a way that benefits all stakeholders.

The enactment of the SAFE-T Act is an opportunity to look at the big picture. What is our goal?

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If the goal is to achieve a safer community by reducing recidivism, then we need to ask if the current system can be improved.

Under the current system, people frequently lose their job, their car, their home, and even relationships while being locked up before ever being convicted.

When they come out, they now have additional barriers, which makes it incredibly difficult to be successful.

Our current corrections system is also largely punitive. There is limited opportunity for accountability, healingor growth.

Another option is restorative justice. Restorative justice focuses on repairing the harm of crime and engaging individuals and community members in the process.

Restorative justice recognizes that most individuals who commit crimes, especially violent crimes, have themselves been victims of crime and neglect. The communities that are showing improved outcomes are addressing underlying trauma, recovery and healing.

In "The Body Keeps the Score," Bessel Van der Kolk writes, “We have learned that trauma is not just an event that took place sometime in the past; it is also the imprint left by that experience on mind, brain and body. This imprint has ongoing consequences for how the human organism manages to survive in the present.”

Knowing the impact of past trauma doesn’t excuse behaviors, but when we have an understanding of what trauma is and how it shows up in the brain and body, we can respond accordingly.

I have been working since 2019 as a volunteer trauma-informed yoga instructor at the Winnebago County Jail as part of the Prison Yoga Project, which was founded in San Quentin Prison in 2002.

This practice supports healing and recovery for local incarcerated individuals.

Studies have shown that incarcerated participants of yoga and mindfulness classes experience a reduction of stress and anxiety; calmer temperament; emotional control and anger management; improved rational decision making; and reduction of chronic physical pain.

I share this practice because I have experienced firsthand the power of yoga to support healing from trauma. This practice is a tool and a resource.

Stored trauma creates a disregulated nervous system. Our practice helps regulate the nervous system. When we are internally fortified we are able to make choices out of security, love and abundance rather than safety andsurvival.

Our society frequently wields guilt and shame as weapons. Guilt and shame are destructive; they lead us down a dark path. Instead, we can learn to practice both accountability for our past actions and compassion for ourselves.

We can practice grace for ourselves. That is a path to healing for individuals and a safer community for all.The people I practice with are decent, intelligent, caring people. They can be successful if offered opportunities instead of obstacles.

And ultimately, don’t we want them to be successful?

The majority of incarcerated individuals will be back in our communities. Consequently, it’s in everyone’s self interest to support healing and recovery for them.

So what might it look like if our community invests in people? What if instead of barriers we offer resources? We can implement community supported solutions by providing and managing connections within the community to meet individual needs.

That’s a path to becoming a community that values humanity and supports healing, while growing our collective emotional intelligence.

Restorative justice gives us the best chance to create safer, more prosperous communities.

Stacy Morrissey is a Rockford resident and a program director and facilitator for the Prison Yoga Project.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Your turn: Restorative justice can create better communities