University of Virginia Library

OAR Puts Them On Their Own Two Feet

By ANDY BALLENTINE

"Make Charlottesville and
Albemarle County a better
place to live. Salvage lives.
Deepen your life."

This appeal introduces a
brochure describing OAR,
Offender Aid and Restoration
of Charlottesville-Albemarle, an
organization dedicated to
rehabilitating inmates in
Virginia's prisons. It has
branches in Roanoke, Newport
News, Fairfax County,
Richmond and Charlottesville-Albemarle.

OAR volunteers view
prisoners in two ways. They see
them, first, as a major cause of
local crime. Many are
"repeaters" who have been
jailed up to 20 times.

Volunteers also see prisoners
as frustrated and embittered
hard-core poor. OAR "help
them help themselves."

The group depends upon
volunteers to carry out its work.

The only paid person in its
local branch is its full-time
director, Wayne C. Shannon.

"We had a lot of trouble
finding a secretary," says Mr.
Shannon. "After trying at many
places, we finally found a girl
through the Neighborhood
Youth Core."

The Charlottesville branch
now has 44 volunteers. "This is
far beyond what I had hoped for
as an initial response," says Mr.
Shannon.

The local organization
started in October and began
working in the Albemarle
County and Charlottesville City
jails in January.

There are fewer people in the
Charlottesville area than in any
of the other branch areas, and
the number of volunteers here
was not expected to be large.
However, only the Fairfax
branch has more.

The local OAR works with
an advisory board including city
and county sheriffs and local
judges.

Local opinion "has been
generally favorable," Mr.
Shannon says. "There has been
no one in marked opposition.
They have accepted the fact
that the jails are forgotten
institutions. All we do is stand
by and condemn."

"Instead," says Mr.
Shannon, "we want to give
prisoners a chance, to help them
plan for the future, and to help
them develop a self-respect and
hope. We want to put them on
their own two feet."

One measure of OAR's
effectiveness is how much it
reduces the number of repeat
offenders. The local branch has
dealt with 38 offenders, and
only one has returned to jail.

However, because the
organization has been working
only for a few months, this rate
is not expected to continue;
more of these offenders may
repeat.

"We do think we'll cut down
on the number of offenders,"
Mr. Shannon says. "The other
branches have been operating
longer and they report between
65 and 90 per cent effectiveness
in this area."

Mr. Shannon stresses that
there are not ready solutions in
this field. "What we have done
in punishing people hasn't
helped. To use a cliche, 'they
haven't learned their lesson.' "

The young organization is
trying to implement several new
ideas.

Before OA their
work, Charlottesville City Jail
inmates had nothing to read.
Through OAR work, the jail
now has a 250-volume library.

Mr. Shannon speaks of the
possibility of bringing
readily-available medical
attention to inmates. There is
now one doctor on call, and
when he isn't available, the
university hospital is the only
place to turn.

The possibility of group
therapy with a trained
psychologist is also being
explored.

Mr. Shannon especially
favors the work-release
program, where an inmate
would leave the jail in the
morning, work and get paid at
an ordinary job during the day,
and return to the jail to spend
the night.

OAR always needs more
volunteers. However, a
volunteer must agree to enter
the program whole-heartedly,
according to Mr. Shannon. He is
asked to work with prisoners for
a full year, spending a minimum
of six hours a month as a
volunteer.

To quote the OAR brochure,
"To enter the life of an offender
doesn't sound like much, but
for the offender, it means a
chance to salvage his life."