A person’s life shouldn’t be over once they’ve been handed a prison sentence, especially if their offense was a misdemeanor or the sentence relatively short. With the latter, this means that the defendant will likely return to the world, rehabilitated and ready and reenter society. However, there are plenty of hurdles that exist to prevent re-acclimation for ex-convicts. If this relates to things either you or a loved one are experiencing, you may be in need of advice. Here’s how you can get your life back on track following an arrest.
Understand What You’re Up Against
The first thing you’ll want to do after being released from prison is to become familiar with what you’re up against in terms of societal expectations and restrictions. Unfortunately, for some individuals, misdemeanors and mugshots may follow them around. And this is something that exists in most countries, Australia included. According to an article released by ABC, most ex-prisoners experience homelessness or unemployment within the six months post-release from prison. This can be due to the fact that some employers won’t want to hire an ex-con, making it more difficult for people to find work and make a living, even though some companies have found success in hiring ex-prisoners.
This can make it all seem very bleak, but try not to lose hope. If you know what you’re up against and can plan for the potential issues you may face, you stand a better chance than someone who reenters society without any preparation. Your arrest record doesn’t have to be a red mark on your face for the rest of your life.
Check Out What Information Exists of You Online
Another thing you can do to prepare is to see what information exists on you online. You can search mugshots in your county to see what information about your arrest exists online and is free for anyone to look up. That way, when you apply to jobs, you can be upfront about the information that exists on you online but also specify why it won’t impact your ability to do the job.
You can also go back to the courts to find out if you can have specific things removed from the internet or records, depending on the severity of your past crime. Finding out what exists online in your court proceedings will help you in preparing explanations for people. Whether it be a future manager or a new friend you hope to make, you can preface what this information means and set the narrative before they have the chance to search the internet and make their mind up before hearing from you first.
Find Work and Budget for Your Future
Lastly, after you’ve researched what obstacles you’ve faced and prefaced what your court proceedings mean to those who matter, you can get a job and fully reenter society. You can get back to some honest work and set up financial security for your future. And once you’ve got a job, you can create a budget to cover your current and future financial needs.
Depending on those needs, you may require cash fast. Maybe you and your spouse expecting and need more space to nurture your family. No matter the reason, a simple loan with weekly, fortnightly or monthly repayments may help you get to where you need to be. You can then use your paychecks from work to pay off that loan and earn financial freedom through monthly payments. You can even budget for extra repayments if you’d like to pay it off sooner. The skies the limit so long as you carefully plan.
