Henry's Story: Coming full circle after incarceration
Moving Day: Full Circle
When our Maud’s House program closed its doors in May 2011, our facilities manager Henry was one of the last people there—hauling furniture out of the two houses that have served recently released inmates for the past three years.
It was only fitting; you see, Henry was the first client to live at Maud’s South. In fact, one of the things he carried out that day was the dresser he’d put his few belongings into on the day he was released from incarceration.
Henry’s Release: Finding Freedom
Henry spent several years in federal prison in Oregon for marijuana trafficking. While there he found himself spiritually. “I took advantage of the monastic environment to gain more spirituality,” he explains. “I changed my way of thinking. Instead of blame and grief and pain I see things with appreciation. I now live with the spirit of thankfulness.”
When Henry was moved to a halfway program at Spokane’s Geiger Corrections Center in 2009, he brought that spirit of thankfulness with him, but was still ready to get out and move on with his life.
“After six months at Geiger I had the opportunity to get out,” recalls Henry. “But I had no place to go. I didn’t have a job. I didn’t have a home. They won’t let you out unless you have a job or someplace to go.”
Fortunately, Henry had participated in Responsible Renters classes and a 12-step Moral Recognition program run by staff from Maud’s House. It was there that he first met Tim Blessing—the director of Maud’s House.
“I was so relieved to find Maud’s House just in time. If it had been just a week longer I would have been issued another six months.”
Tim had promised Henry that his first night in the house he could have whatever he wanted for dinner.
“I couldn’t wait to get to the house and have that barbequed steak Tim promised me,” Henry recalls. It was the first he had eaten in many years. But the taste of freedom still eluded him.
“In Geiger, at the halfway house, they were constantly monitoring us. I had five or six staff documenting everything I did. It didn’t seem like much freedom. The fear of things always being like that was one of the biggest obstacles I had when I was released” When he first came to the house he called all of the staff “monitors” even though they encouraged him to use their first names.
“There’s a certain fear you have when you come out of prison,” Henry explains. “As soon as you have a hiccup or problem they send you back. But Maud’s House is a place where you can find your comfort zone without that fear of making mistakes.”
“It took a week or two for me to realize the advantages of the program beyond just being released from prison,” says Henry. “The staff helped me get my license, put a résumé together, do a job search. It became clear that it was more than a job to the staff that was there. They were just good, compassionate people that cared what happens to this guy. When I realized that, the fear of being monitored or making a mistake faded away.”
Maud’s House: A Home & Family
As Henry rebuilt his life he also built relationships with each person in the house.
“Maud’s gave Henry a place to call home,” says Tim. “It was a family when he didn’t have anyone to support him. It was a place to laugh, enjoy himself and let his guard down. The guys all cook their own meals and take turns mowing the lawn and cleaning the bathrooms. As he did all that stuff he started to open up.”
Tim and Henry develop a particularly strong bond.
“We talked a lot about spirituality,” says Tim. “As he became more open to sharing his past, he told me about his spiritual journey and shared it with others. He refined his spirituality in the process. I think here is where he shaped his new identity, spiritually and otherwise.”
Tim recalls that Henry became a sounding board for all the other guys in the house. He was also a mentor to them, helping them look for work or helping them find resources. If a Resident Advisor wasn’t right at hand Henry would show new residents the ropes and teach them some of the rules of the house.
“I think he kind of showed the other guys that he wasn’t defined by who he was. And neither were they,” says Tim.
“The staff showed me so much compassion, acceptance and non-judgmental understanding that they became my close friends,” says Henry. “They were my family.”
Moving On: Henry Moves Out
Meanwhile, having a home at Maud’s House gave him the time and space he needed to find work. Henry started classes at Goodwill where he practiced job interviewing, fixed up his résumé and learned how to explain his offense to potential landlords. After just a couple of weeks he found a job with a building maintenance company. Before long he had saved enough money to move out on his own.
“The day he moved out was bittersweet,” says Tim. “We were so proud but we also knew we would really miss him.” He thanked each of the Resident Advisors who helped him during his ten-week stay at Maud’s House. “The thing is, he did most of the work himself,” adds Tim.
Another Obstacle: A New Direction
Then another obstacle appeared in his path. Just as he was settling in to his new apartment, the company Henry worked for lost a big contract and had to lay him off.
“Being unemployed in my 50s, with a felony conviction on top of that, is a scary thing,” says Henry. But he found a way to soldier on. While he looked for a new job he took a part-time position delivering pizza to make ends meet. After two months delivering pizza, Tim heard about a building maintenance position at Volunteers of America and encouraged Henry to apply.
“When I got the job, I was just so thankful,” says Henry. “In fact, my first day I was so focused on doing the job well that I completely forgot to go do the urinalysis drug test required for my parole. I’d been clean for years but when you miss it they count it as ‘dirty.’ They could have sent me back to prison. But the fact that I had the support system of the folks at Maud’s and all the work I’d done there made my Parole Officer willing to see the bigger picture and be forgiving. Otherwise, it could have been very scary. Instead, Maud’s gave me a chance to be an asset to the community again—working, serving, paying taxes.”
In fact, Henry impressed his Parole Officer so much that he was released from supervision a year early. Henry has now worked at Volunteers of America for a year and a half and has risen to be the head of the maintenance department, caring for all the needs of more than nine buildings throughout the Spokane area.
Maud’s House: A Legacy of Service
Henry is just one of 113 men who called Maud’s House home during the three-year program funded by Spokane County, which recently made the difficult decision to end the contract due to budget cuts.
The program was a collaboration between three local social service agencies: Volunteers of America provided Responsible Renter classes and housed and provided case management for men coming out of Geiger; Transitions offered housing and support to women being released; and Goodwill helped both men and women prepare their resumes, practice interviewing and find jobs that would allow them to provide for themselves.
“The program allowed us to welcome these men into our home until they were ready to go out and make their own,” says Jon Carollo, who served as director of the program. “Some of these guys were incarcerated for decades. Some of them missed CDs entirely—they went straight from eight tracks to Mp3 players. When they come out they have to acclimate to a completely different world.”
“Maud’s House was a place where men could live in a home environment,” adds Carollo. “It was staffed with people who cared, who made eye contact and offered a listening ear while teaching men how to hold down a job and get the trash out on time. We were able to give so much more than if we’d just put them into individual apartments and checked up on them once a week.”
When asked if he thought Maud’s House would live on in any way, Henry responded: “The legacy of Maud’s House is that the people who went there will continue to serve the community. The perfect example is my job. It isn’t just work and gainful employment. I feel like I get to help lots of people by assisting with all these programs that are at Volunteers of America.”