Friday, November 14, 2014
What would you change to make the halfway house more effective?
As I wrote in the previous post, I would implement changes that would make halfway houses more like a successful business operation. First I would visualize the outcome that I wanted to achieve. Then I would put a plan in place that would lead me to the outcome. Finally, I would execute the plan in methodical ways.
The halfway house experience focuses on the wrong outcome right now. Administrators emphasize the need to fill out a bunch of useless forms. It wastes resources and time by requiring people to participate in classes or programs, regardless of need. In my case, the fact that I served 25 years in prison was the data point administrators uses to determine how they should manage me; they did not concern themselves with the disciplined adjustment I pursued through each of the more than 9,000 days that I lived in prison. The fact that I had higher academic credentials than they had infuriated my case manager, as she didn’t believe someone in prison should have access to university studies. I would remove people who had that mindset.
My vision would be to prepare more individuals for law-abiding, successful lives as contributing citizens. Accordingly, I would establish plans that would make the best use of my resources. Rather than treating everyone the same, I would reward those who pursued excellence with greater levels of liberties. Such a plan would encourage more people to pursue excellence. All of my accountability metrics would focus on the outcome I wanted to achieve rather than on maintaining the bureaucratic process. Living in a halfway house is like living in the DMV, with too many processes that have no apparent value.
Days since my release from prison: 459
Miles that I ran today: 0
Miles that I ran so far this week: 26.48
Miles that I’ve run during the month of November: 77.28
Miles that I ran so far in 2014: 2,127.42
Miles that I need to run in order to reach my annual goal of 2,400 miles: 272.58
Miles I’m ahead of schedule to reach my 2,400-mile goal by the end of 2014: 31.59
My weight for today: 168