The reality former criminals face when released from prison | Four Corners

[Music] Mark how are you mate how you going nice to meet you Danny from L how you going man good all good yeah sweet did do you want me to grab your bag or anything for you you're a good brother they gave you everything yeah everything yeah yeah mad it's markk Doyle's first taste of Freedom after 2 years on the inside are you hungry I'm starving what do you want to eat brother I don't know we go to magazine all right brother let's get going eh we go get a feed the 55-year-old has been in and out of prison for most of his life the Mac is only down the road anyway so we'll go there yeah what about our family brother um Mom and Dad are gone they passed away go love them and yeah my brother's had contact now for over 20 years with them any kids no no no kids think back at yourself all the jail I've done in that the time I've left would have been a shame to have kids and leave them out there on Christmases and birthdays and all that I've spent more time inside than I have out Mark Doyle's odds of staying out of jail aren't good across Australia almost half of all prisoners are back in inside within 2 [Applause] years they were going to put me in a Ming for two weeks and then I was on my own Mark has no family and no home and just to be released and fall out on the street it's just you end up back on the drugs and you're depressed and you just want to take drugs to block all them fors out yeah I just go for a quick there's no rush P yeah it's all good there's no no rush I got to go bathroom before we go as well but this time he's got a bed at one of the few places in New South Wales lot of mountains around here where he might get a new start Australia spends $6 billion a year jailing offenders but just a fraction of that on helping them stay out [Music] hey how you going man man what's up good to see you that's good man up you filled out one of these before just fill out as much as you can if you need help with anything yeah I don't have a phone number so and day it's the 20 theth of February I'll take you to your room so we've got a basket here your Tor trees toothpaste soap a razor a towel do you need anything else our clothes if you any clo I'll be right yeah I'll I'll go I've got a couple of days worth that's all is that your only bag yeah cool I'll show you your own so just in here so I'll get you your pin your PIN for the door right imagine now if you hadn't come here exactly what you'd be doing right now B back yeah for 60 years Rainbow Lodge has been helping men coming out of prison to be eligible they must be at high risk of both homeless and reoffending no no there's two approval so I approve and the board has to The Lodgers manager is Claude Robinson I've spoken a mar I think the philosophy of Rainbow Lodge is we take the men that no one else takes we're not a punitive Center so we use restorative [Music] practice that's men on parole like Mark that's so hard that bit there are on a 3mon program to help them transition back into mainstream Society that's a crack in your wind screen the lodge has room for eight of them at a time with Denny picking up a young Cy lad here at Rainbow uh we're the largest provider of post incarceration accommodation in New South Wales for men or women and we have 32 places a year out of that 19,000 that's released across New South Wales barely more than 2% of people leaving prison get a bed in such a program it's estimated half of all those leaving prison in New South Wales about 10,000 people end up homeless so they might be entitled to three nights temporary accommodation and normally that'll be in an establishment that's riddled with drugs and antisocial Behavior but at the lodge the men are supported to gradually readjust to normal life each of the men are responsible for keeping their rooms Clean cleaning the bathrooms and the toilets and the common areas and there's a cooking roster so um one of the residents will cook each night which we find is a really important part of the program the way our prison system works you know it's very inflexible and structured and then we release these people into the community and suddenly you know they got to pay rent clean their house you know get to appointments on time did Harry make it did you make it you know the evidence tells us that people go back to prison because they find the level of personal responsibility in the community without a transitional support to overwhelming [Music] [Music] for men whose mistakes have seen them cast out by the world Rainbow Lodge is a light in the darkness the same is true for the boss I feel really priv that I get to do the work I do you know um my life could have turned out so differently you know I was a resident here 17 years ago you know when I was released from goldn prison in 2006 7 and 1/2 years in [Music] prison every time I didn't think it could get lower it got lower during his time in Goldin jail his parents died leaving him a $6,000 inheritance the reality was unfortunately within 6 weeks of getting out I um you know I'd shut up all that money you know in the histor hotel in King's cross you know and this is the insanity of it I I woke up that last morning and just before that you know every couple of I wake up with my girlfriend I will stop using when there's 20,000 left when this you know and I woke up that last day and there was no money left and I was just filled with such dread and Terror and I thought my rational thinking was that I would go to center link and say to them that I'm on the run from paral which I was and and that I don't want to rob anyone so can you give me a counter check and I thought that that they would go that's a really good idea you know and I just remember the the person saying you know just like laughing and me going there's no way you get in the counter check and I was so desperate you know I um you know I jumped the counter and you know robbed him of his phone and all that and um like I still connect to the shame of that you know as um like you know someone who's got children who goes to work and that I just think I still think of that man cuz I still think of that like all he did was going to work that day you know he had I had no right to do what I did to him Claude gave himself up did another term of prison and got clean he spent the next decade rebuilding all these different people encourag me to keep going you know and uh the opportunity came up you know nearly 3 years ago to come back to Rainbow Lodge as the manager [Music] [Music] [Music] just sort of focuses your mind but it also just allows your mind to sort of drift upstairs Nathan schaltz is doing everything he can to stay sober and out of prison it wasn't until like I spent extended times in in like a confined space that you just have to find other ways to allow your mind to be free he's been at the log for 5 months last year the 38-year-old pleaded guilty to a string of crimes including an aggravated break and Enter and a serious assault my last crimes there was there was a whole lot of it man um I ended up you know taking a few cars and then getting on the drugs and breaking into some homes and just doing putrid stuff that you know no one should have to sit there and have to put up with you know these people work for a living these people you know acquire these things and have someone go into their home and and do the things that I've done you know take from it it's not it's not nice you know what I mean it's a new day and a new start for Nathan he's got his first proper job in 15 years they did that look at that of all the cars he could have pulled over he's pulled over the most sh looking little car some poor member of society that's just just struggling to get to work it's pretty [ __ ] with him in the truck is Rod he's also gone through Rainbow Lodge I found it OD building like newal cires and [ __ ] not really but not going to kill I just got yeah that's it yeah n definitely 24 years plus it's a enough you don't want to deal with it when you're in there what surprised us just stack it and take it yeah just stack them up yeah just St them up put in we've met a few times in um in custody but this is sort of like the first time we've caught up out here I'm going to crack it off together just shows that like there's a pathway to do it you know like what I'm doing it's not frivolous it's not it's not doing without [Applause] [Music] meaning what's something you be doing today after work Rod 200 again so I'm going away for the weekend nice um so this afternoon we're just going stopping to get all the food and so I got a full driveing I got a Fring that in the back nice so we're just going to go camping for 3 Days yeah nice normal stuff man it's the first time ever like yes oh I like it you know what it's actually good man it's actually really good continue stream to stay on saly road girls have called me to come upstairs cuz they found something in someone's room while Nathan's still at work the lodge staff find a problem in his room it's never good when they call me on the phone and and I know they're in the building oh well that's illegal that's yeah so it's a a camera that's panning the room which for us is concerning cuz there's a protected space here you know so we'll have to go through everything now yeah $600 dress yeah so things like this always concern us anything that's got a tag on it um so what's so you got those $1,000 worth of clothes women's clothes what's his income it's like $840 a fortnite or something and that's before they take out rent and stuff you know what I mean so sometimes they do get stuff that's donated not with the tag like that yeah on them not expensive items of clothing like that [Applause] a few hours later Nathan is back from work sa what's going on um the girls were upstairs cuz they're looking to do new furniture we found about $11,000 worth of women's clothes with bags on them they're all from Charities so it's just like buying like second and stuff like you can have look at it they're all from like just charity stuff so so this stuff here my partner you can have a look on the camera I showed I showed it to her the other weekend when she came up she didn't like another one so so you saying you got them from so you you just buy them from charity stores like so you can go to any of the charity stores but you you can go and have a look at any of the any of the things there but but normally the charity store won't leave the original have a look man everything's reduce reduce reduce reduce but yeah I'm going baring them because I'm going to donate them back that's what they they you can understand absolutely and that's my concern you don't find those sorts of things in those shops Nathan all right it's quite simple sorry can I just yeah I'm just jump you know they wouldn't be in the the Salos shop stores like this and I mean I guess and if but and if you did buy them you wouldn't have paid no they're done like 15 bus each it's just the the price of them that's concerning I'll be honest like we've had someone arrested here for doing this previously so like that's why well I'm not I'm not being silly like we take it really seriously you can keep all that stuff and you can look in everything you need to look into it's an absolute dead endway Ian got tags on them still you don't find those in those shops well obviously someone donated them in there and that's exactly what I'm going to do I'm donating them back that's why they're in that bag well we're going to keep them all here and feel free I I I I need to voice to you lot I'm concerned all right sorry for theen no no that's all right no worries cheers I could just tell by the way his reaction you know it's um yeah he's turning inside I can tell he was uncomfortable so you know I go at a minimum we're holding him accountable you know what I mean well we're mandatory reporters so we can be criminally liable you know which I think it's up to $20,000 fine in 2 years in prison for not informing the police of a potential committing of a crime um I think it was a the reason made sense that he had it all made sense um conveniently made sense I think inconclusive would be the findings out [Music] [Music] [Music] yeah Mark Doyle and Trent Hagen are more used to life inside prison than out Mark you know was put into care into juvenile centers and taken from his parents at a very young age you know abused um trauma response and part of that was you know obviously it's so painful to start drinking and taking drugs what's the DayDay Monday hey maliy h how you going with those mins um good it's defrosting come here actually after 2 months at the lodge marks feeling the pressure casew worker Lucy C is worried Mark tested positive for some ice juice and some marijuana this morning he was quite elevated and we didn't want to trigger any of the other guys so we asked him to maybe spend the day out and about until it kind of wears off a little bit he's come back he said he just needed to get something from his room um and he's heading back out again [Music] serly where did you say you were going sure all right have you got your phone on you still huh yeah you got it yeah all right I'll call you again soon pretty pretty elevated and doesn't think that um that's much of an issue which we say all the time that they say I'm fine I'm totally fine and you live you pretty much live with them so you can tell immediately when something's off but Mark thinks he's killing it at the moment so we'll see how he goes when he comes back I'll call him soon and um see where he's at keep an eye on him yeah will I be able to get some milk please absolutely absolutely oh give me one second the staff fear that one slip up can return these men to a spiral of more drug use and [Music] crime I think you went out for a walk I think you went for a [Music] walk they've been using forever um they're out in the community things are going to happen Mark says that he ran into some someone in the um in the city yesterday who just offered it to him um so it's not as simple as just saying no necessarily so and obviously if it's a repeat like if it's a something that happens every day then that's a big problem if it's a oneoff or if it's an every so often thing or you know it's very Case by case so hopefully Mark comes back in a better State dies later Mark's been caught again this time drinking okay the staff are deciding if they'll kick him out of the lodge and this is within a couple of days of each other no no like it's not been a couple of weeks and he's no I know believe me I was been thinking about it all night I know the pros and cons so does someone want to grab Mark only half The Men Who come to Rainbow Lodge finish the 3mon program oh here I'll take grab a SE Lucy come on Harry I never run here no I want here mark because it's not this is like you know it's not it's not funny I know I let I'll let you stay last night so you can have a think about it but my thing is my concern is like what's going to be different like we've done everything I'm not cuz from our point of I'm not sure what else we can do I'll go to groups every night when they're on you know I promise I give you my word it's not going to happen again you know I'm sorry CL I am I just you know and you know if you are to stay you know it the simple thing would be there's no more chances that's why want my St but there be no ringing claw you know so and you you need to go to um the meetings whether it's na or I promise every night you know cuz I tell you you know that you're saving grace is that I'm worried that if you exit you you'll die yeah thank you that's your saving prce you know and I think jail is a good outcome for you if you're exited you know I I think you know you're at risk of dying yeah you can't keep doing this no I course yeah thank you all right cheers thanks about you though Mark it's not about me I'm just no no we're going two minutes and then we're going all right I'm go see you guys later 2 minutes um [Music] Nick Foley aged 33 is also on baale he's pleaded guilty to armed robbery thank you a he's back hey how you going good here at the lodge he gets access to programs designed to help the men break with the past nice big loud voice yeah you feel confident off yeah excellent my name's Nicholas Foley proud bu young man um I brought me here um um I'm sort of on my own Journey um we're all on our own individual Journey but um Nick came to the lodge after a successful stint at rehab actually at the lodge now you know which I'm pretty grateful for it's it's better than jail but like I'm actually getting helpy you know and um connecting with my culture a little bit more through this program here just learning a lot more about myself I think yeah that's me excellent it's a warm afternoon in mid April the TV room is getting a long overdue upgrade [Music] Mark is doing better he pitches in with his housemates yeah it's pretty good Lea for normal guys to do this one of me one of mink uh now do that one last here New South Wales spends $2 billion a year on prisons less than half a percent of that money goes to community programs like Rainbow Lodge it's a similar story across the country is it a reining oh sh the nose oh no you in that nose you right yeah show me yeah oh let's get the rest in that's czy well there two going to do it I'll just finish Tripp down the road and around the corner give us a look mate what have you done he's done himself get the door door man so I'm just going to go around and check the syringe containers claud's hearing rumors someone is using drugs [Music] you know the thing I find frustrating you know you spend all this time going about they want to change and they want to get out and see their children and all this stuff and then they're not out 2 minutes in there you know wanting to use if not using drugs that part of find frustrating yes there's something going on there energy though a suspected drug dealer has been spotted on CCTV um there was a guy in a red jumper walking up the alleyway who's kind of lingered and made eye contact with me as he was walking up and he looked pretty dodgy dodgy May looks as SS as not s at all he comes in whoa whoa what's it time it's a [Music] 90720 CL calls a house meeting all right I just want to speak to everyone just in general no one in particular but I just want to be really clear in the last week we've had two instances of the safety of this facility being breached right I've got the CCTV the the neighbors have come to me they caught a person dropping drugs here yesterday right so I'll be really clear if you want to use [ __ ] off stop being a coward don't use in this facility and [ __ ] it for everyone else leave Go On The Run do whatever you want if you want to use your choice but don't do it here cuz you screwing up for everyone else and you screwing up for the guys that are waiting in custody and I'm a bit sick of it so I've got the CCTV footage so it's not going to take long till we find out who's doing it and I guarant I tell you there will be consequences all right it just needs to stop no worry [Music] [Music] a few days later staff think they've worked out who's using hey can I open the [Music] door going on [Music] what turn go very gloomy in here right I'll let you know it is positive for pills for opiates oh what am I talking about it's positive for heroin of course it what am I talking about yeah as we knew yeah I'll take a photo oh can you put his in show fall it's not super strong but it's there yeah so so so you look at the things okay okay sounds op Nick now faces the very real Prospect of returning to jail I'm just a mar his lawyer in the DPP see what happens chicken in the EG here hello qu speaking hi how you going oh I've had better times if we can get him into day talks and he agrees to that you know and comes back now that's awesome awesome all right Champion you're a legend thanks M say I just SP to Chris you know cuz two things are going to happen they'll put in a detention application and you'll go back to cust or you'll keep using and go back to cast this is hard it was never going to be easy and don't think because you got off the method and you have to get back but don't think you're a fire anything like that it's not this is hard like this is like life changing you know and it is so can we make some calls and see what we can organize yeah yeah all right just hang in there [Music] Claude wants Nick to talk to the house come over here Nick we made no no cuz you know we're here to stand with you you know I tell you all the times you know yeah yeah um we just apologize to you boys out you know um like man make it like any hard than it already has to be like Floyd said you know hav struggling a little bit and I should reach out your boys a little bit more you know um yeah [ __ ] you got to do deep just try a lot harder you know I don't want to go back to jail either I want to say you know there's a good bunch of boys know um sorry if I made it harder for follow you know doing what I've been doing here and I'm thankful for that everyone so thank you for I know how difficult that is it's a big thing bro thank you for saying yeah thanks everyone cheers good all right [Music] retion [Music] confidence a week later Nick uses heroin again he's kicked out of the lodge it's a very different story for Nathan schaltz today he's hoping the district court will allow him to vary his bail and move into his own apartment is heyan Nathan's in a trial case management program for indigenous prisoners awaiting sentencing called the wmer list got you judge War hunt removes his wig and comes off the bench all right you look a bit tense today always tense coming yeah or you can have a y the main point of discussion for today will be Nathan's transition into his community housing and if somebody walked up to you on the street and offered you a taste what's the strategy there my strategy is I'd just be blatant and say mate I've just come from this stuff I've got 25 years of this stuff behind me please don't insult me with that and I'd just put distance between me and whoever that was politely but that would be the strategy yeah the prosecutor is worried about Nathan living fulltime in the community unsupervised in terms of M while I'm a practice he's a offensers are basically in simple terms the most serious the proposal for a few days I think it's Sunday Monday Tuesday while you're working and then the rest of the week at Rainbow obviously I find that a lot more of an attractive proposition than than complete um living on your own in the community you know what I mean I'd like to put the mob perspective on the table we are caught here between you know the Westminster system between the Western legal culture and what we would do and it is one of the hard things for us to do in here isn't it AE we want to see one of our people thrive and he's just received the tools to thrive so when is the point that we're going to let this man Thrive well that's all on the table everyone's heard that the judge decides to let Nathan live in his flat three nights a week down the track he will formally sentence Nathan for his crimes at that point he could still be sent back to jail taking those boxes thanks very much okay thank you very [Music] much the following week he moves in it's a natural happiness you know what I mean I'm not taking some sort of artificial form of Happiness it's it's comes from in here and up here and and it's a good feeling if I sit there and say oh it's going to be all rainbows and unicorns that's [ __ ] that's not what it's going to be you know I'm facing jail time like that's that's the reality of my situation and if I don't take this opportunity and don't show that you know the 20 years of [ __ ] that I've been doing has stopped just a normal Mar Society well then I don't have a chance I'll be back in [Music] jail yeah I know I'm going to make it I than enough all right enough Mark Doyle wants a future too this beats anything than a prison cell I don't know why I didn't wake up [Music] earlier it's been a hard life man and it's over the crimes of his past never leave him if I could pay these people back I would you know what I mean but I've Saed me time for it you know what I mean I've done a lot of time for it I think personally like thought what I've done that I no one should do time like that hey [Music] no one can rebuild a life on their own [Music] when I sat down the other day with Mark I could see in his eyes you know that and I connected with that if Claude gives up on me then I'm [ __ ] I'm [Music] gone time and again the evidence has shown that if we make the choice to help these men far fewer will re defend and we're all [Music] safer you know that connection of one human to another sometimes is all we need to cross over that precipice in a country that's recorded one of the highest reconviction rates in the world Rainbow Lodge poses a fundamental question for us all what's the har giving someone a second chance you know I I can always exit someone but I may never be able to get them back [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: ABC News In-depth

Views: 199,201

Keywords: abc news, australian news, abc news indepth, documentaries, long-form journalism, jail, prison, crime, drugs, alcohol, breakingandentering, chance, halfwayhouse, rehab, rehabilitation, inmate, criminal, recidivism, sentencing, bars, security, documentary, investigation, free, freedom, hope, truestory, prisondocumentary, sydney, australia, fourcorners, 4corners, heroin, robbery, freedocumentary, prisondoco, doco

Id: BeAiX44PUsE

Length: 46min 1sec (2761 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 03 2024