Sheridan1

Dan Sheridan
Professor Mangini
English Composition II
26 April 2015

Life after Tragedy

Staying out of prison and living a quiet, normal life is Derek Vinyards main objective
after being released from prison. Constantly looking over his shoulder from past mistakes that
still haunt him, he will not let his family down this time and will do whatever it takes to keep
them safe. Finding a job throughout the rest of his life will be difficult due to his prior
convictions, but with stable guidance in his life he will be just fine. Derek is faced with two
options, which is to take advantage of the resources provided to him or turn back to his old life of
hatred and crime. Living the life as a parolee and ex- gang member is tough, still feeling the
pain of Dannys death Derek is fighting to stay out of prison and support his family.
Ten long years has passed since Danny Vinyard, the younger brother of Derek was
murdered in his school bathroom. Still feeling like the death of his little brother lays on his
shoulders for leading him down the wrong path, Derek will not let his family down again. He
will never forgive himself for his brothers death but living a better life helps him cope with the
pain thinking that is what Danny would want from him. No longer on parole and free to live his
life on his terms he decided to leave everything in the past and move on. The Vinyard family
knew that they could not stay in Venice Beach due to the trouble Derek caused in the past and

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having to constantly look over his shoulder from his ex- gang and the blacks who killed Danny.
Derek moved a few hours north to Sacramento to escape his crazy life which was his best option
to stay out of prison or dead. It is likely that Derek would end up back in prison, according to
the New York Times California Prison Disaster report it shows that Californias recidivism rate
is among the highest in the country and Derek is faced with many challenging obstacles to stay
free prison (New York Times). According to the 2013 California Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation report, inmates who are incarcerated from three to five years like Derek was
have the highest recidivism rate of 67.6 percent. This study also shows that males in California
are more likely to commit new crimes and sent back to jail than women. After the first year of
being released the recidivism rate for males is 46.4 percent, after two years it increases to 58.3
percent and three years 62.4 percent return. Lastly, over a three year span of being released 64
percent of the white race returns to prison
(Nathan,Beard,Toche,Beyer,Babby,Allen,Grassel,Maxwell,Nakao and Office of Research. 8-53).
This information shows that Derek is fighting a battle everyday trying to stay clear of
incarceration. A few weeks after being released, Derek began attending programs that allow
felons to ease their way back into society and find jobs to help him remain free. These programs
helped him tremendously with finding jobs because no one would give the felon a chance after
completing a background check. Derek is a family man now, he stays busy with work and taking
care of Doris. Working two jobs, one as a part-time trash man during the day and at night,
working as a chef at a well- known four star restaurant has kept him from being incarcerated. He
has been working as a chef for six years and is next in line to take the head chef position. In his
spare time, Derek volunteers in the local community to work with young, troubled kids to share
his experience so they do not make the same mistakes he did. Doris health is rapidly declining

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due to smoking so Derek has taken control of the household and has to support everyone and pay
the bills. While working at the restaurant, Derek met a waitress who was able to look past his
past mistakes and give him a chance. They have been dating for three years and are recently
engaged with a baby on the way.
Derek Vinyards biggest obstacle he faces every day is to remain out of prison. After
being released from prison one of the most important elements a parolee has is to find
employment. According to xamire.com: Felony Friendly Network, there are numerous job
fields that hire felons, from auto mechanics, restaurant jobs like chefs and servers to the
Salvation Army and Goodwill (Felt). It will be difficult for Derek, but felons like himself are
able to find employment. There are also various programs parolees can attend to succeed in
society like job training programs, substance abuse programs and GED training which reduces
recidivism (Text of the Second Chance Act of 2007). The Second Chance Act was passed by
the House on November 13, 2007, by Senate on March 11, 2008 and finally signed into law on
April 9, 2008. Mr. Davis of Illinois explains the Bill which gives parolees hope to regain their
status in society and remain out of prison, this article provides information that the Bill was
designed to improve the experience for people returning home after being incarcerated. He
shows that there are seven main purposes, which are to help with education and job placement;
substance abuse services; programs that provide supervision; programs that focus on offenders
and their families to help rebuild their relationship while incarcerated and even after re-entering
the community; mentoring programs; programs that provide victim services, like counseling and
security; and programs that protect communities from dangerous offenders to determine when
the offender should be released from prison (Text of the Second Chance Act of 2007). With
this act in place Derek has numerous resources provided to him that will allow him to be a part

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of society again. The job- training programs will benefit him greatly with experience and
recommendations. Also, the program that helps families rebuild their relationship is vital for him
because you could see how much agony and pain he caused Doris while she came to visit him
and prison and help them cope with Dannys death.
Recidivism is when an inmate is released from prison and commits a new crime or
violates their parole and is sentenced back to jail. The California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation report provides that 10.3 percent of offenders who commit second degree murder
return to prison, 47.1 percent that commit manslaughter return and 64.8 percent who are charged
with the possession of a weapon. Lastly, the three year outcome of this report shows that 42.3
percent who are released violate parole, 39 percent have successfully stayed out of jail, 7.1
percent commit property crimes, 5.6 percent drug crimes, 3.5 percent commit a crime against
another person and 2.4 percent commit other various crimes
(Nathan,Beard,Toche,Beyer,Babby,Allen,Grassel,Maxwell,Nakao and Office of Research 8-53).
For the crimes that Derek committed, he is likely to be charged with possession of a weapon
again because that has the highest percentage and in mostly every scene someone has a gun or
weapon of some sort.
The studies from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shows that
the odds are stacked against Derek to return to prison. With the correct guidance and support exoffenders like him can strive and be successful, but it will not be easy. The services and
programs that are available by the Second Chance Act gives criminals like Derek more than
enough incentive to succeed in society. With help from the State of California and taking
advantage of the resources that are provided to help parolees, Derek changed his life around for
the better.

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Works Cited

James, Nathan. "Appendix A. Section-by-Section Summary of the Second Chance Act."

Offender Reentry: Correctional Statistics,Reintegration into the Community,and
Recidivism. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 27. Offender Reentry: Correctional Statistics,Reintegration
into the Community,and Recidivism. 12 Jan. 2015. Web. 18 Apr. 2015.
<https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL34287.pdf>.

Babby, Wayne, Denise Allen, Kevin Grassel, Dionne Maxwell, Matthew Nakao, and Office of
Research. "Overall CDCR Adult Recidivism Rate,Time to Return,Recidivism Rate by
Demographics." 2013 Outcome Evaluation Report (2014): 23-50. 2013 Outcome
Evaluation Report. Jeffrey Beard,Diana Toche,Bryan Beyer. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Adult_Research_Branch/Research_documents/Outcome_evalua
tion_Report_2013.pdf>.

"Senate Judiciary Committee Passes Second Chance Act." Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly
19.31 (2007): 6. Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Apr. 2015.

Permalink: http://search.ebscohost.com.libdb.dccc.edu/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=aph&AN=26153074&site=eds-live

Tony Kaye, David McKenna. 20 November 1998. American History X.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120586/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Felt, Susan. "Jobs, and Programs for Felons in California - Page 1 of 2." Jobs for Ex Felons. CA
Employment Development Dept, n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2015. <https://xamire.com/felonsjobs/california>.

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"Text of the Second Chance Act of 2007." GovTrack.us. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.
<https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/110/hr1593/text>.

Durose, Matthew R., Alexia D. Cooper, and Howard N. Snyder, Recidivism of Prisoners
Released in 30 States in 2005: Patterns from 2005 to 2010 (pdf, 31 pages), Bureau of
Justice Statistics Special Report, April 2014, NCJ 244205.
http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/rprts05p0510.pdf

"The California Prison Disaster." New York Times 25 Oct. 2008: 22. Academic Search Premier.
Web. 28 Apr. 2015.

Permalink: http://search.ebscohost.com.libdb.dccc.edu/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=aph&AN=34931782&site=eds-live