Compassion In Action has worked since 1994 to assist Nebraskans confined by the state prison system to successfully transition from being inside to back on the outside. It’s a faith-based organization that relies on mutual aid and community engagement for prevention and to ease confined people into reentry.

According to the Prison Policy Initiative site, Nebraska stands out nationally for its incarceration rates. It’s collected data records that 25,000 people are system impacted, whether it be criminal justice facilities, probation or parole. Only about 2,336 people are released from Nebraska correctional facilities each year. According to Teela Mickels, founder and CEO, Compassion In Action, it cost more than $40,000 annually to incarcerate a single individual.

Compassion In Action takes these statistics and whittles them down to human-beings. “You listen to people, find their value,” says Teela Mickles, founder and CEO, Compassion In Action. “You don’t judge based on your personal experiences. You must validate people; they need to see their worth.”

Mickles took personal tragedy and learned how to serve. With a new devotion to her faith and determined to support her children, she felt called to work with people impacted by the criminal justice system.

“I found peace in my faith, and I brought my five kids to the women’s prison to sing and uplift through songs. We started writing letters and found connections,” Mickles says. “You can’t preach at people; you need to understand them. We need to help people discover who they are and identify their worth. This is how you break a cycle.”

According to Compassion In Action’s Pre-Release Education/Reentry Preparation Program provides confined individuals the opportunity to self-explore underlying, unresolved issues during their incarceration to make changes from within to change their behaviors.

“We focus on the human-being. Our curriculum helps individuals discover triggers and where they went wrong,” says Mickles. “It peels layers down to the person they forgot; maybe a person they never knew.”

Organizations across the US are tackling system impacted communities and how and where resources can best serve. People cycle through correctional facilities in the millions, and re-arrest rates are high. In 2019, a report showed that 45% of formerly confined people were arrested again within a year of release.

“We disarm mindsets and labels and help identify triggers in order to build new lives and prepare for reentry,” says Mickles. “Some people we work with don’t know they have skills; we help them find and learn job skills. We find sponsors and make connections for what they need for reentry before out of confinement.”

According to LISC, the consequence of incarceration drives household and community poverty. Both adults and children are displaced from homes. Wages are lost, and there are incarceration-related debts to government agencies. Upon reentry, people encounter major obstacles, including heavy debts, hurdles for employment and challenges finding stable housing. The risk of homelessness is 10% higher for formerly incarcerated people than non-incarcerated people.

“You need to have compassion and empathy. People need access to the resources these organizations offer,” says Bruce Kuenning, program director, Hope Net. “People tend to be hands-off and don’t want to get involved, because it’s unfamiliar; they are not apt to get involved.”

Like Compassion In Action, Hope Net works with people impacted by the criminal justice system. It seeks to identify those needing reentry support and connect them with necessary resources.

“There’s no one-stop shop for these resources, unfortunately,” says Kuenning. “You need preparation before you hit the streets. Not everyone has support on the outside. I always tell people, once outside, it’s a lot of phone calls you will make to get hooked up with all the different resources. Sometimes, there are long wait lists.”

Kuenning has personal experience with the criminal justice system. Thirty years ago, he spent two years confined in a federal prison. He believes this experience helps him support and directly understand the circumstances of the people he works with.

“I was fortunate; I had family supporting me through reentry. Not everyone has this,” says Kuenning. “A lot of the issue is funding. People know something needs to be done, but they want to distance themselves from it. Support from family and friends can help people get through the other side.”

Kuenning and Mickles met years ago when attending the same church in Omaha. Kuenning recalls Mickles being a special person with a lot of hope and love to give. He has watched her mission evolve through the years and hopes Compassion and Action and Hope Net can collaborate in the future.

“It’s easy to throw people in the bad bucket,” says Kuenning. “Getting involved helps the community see the human-being. This is the goal of places like Hope Net and Compassion In Action.”