Coming out of incarceration, the land mines are everywhere and the trip wires are near invisible.
Your children hardly know you — and may not want to. Your siblings don’t trust you. Your spouse may have moved on. Your parents are exhausted. Your boss, if you are lucky enough to land a job, watches you like a hawk, ready to pounce if you make a mistake. Also watching for a mistake? Your parole officer.
It’s a lot, but James-Brian “JB” Byers understands it well. What he learned in the 18 months he spent in prison – and the months spent rebuilding his life post-release — now helps him as a facilitator for the Prison Society’s program to smooth transitions home, Building Connections.
In a series of workshops held in several state prisons and, for the first time, in a county jail, Building Connections covers “a whole range of things … from trauma, both as a survivor and perhaps a perpetrator of, physical and mental health care, substance use, difficult conversations with your employers, your family, or kids,” said JB, the Prison Society’s family and community support manager in Western Pennsylvania.
Building Connections is a re-entry program that begins behind prison walls.
“When I was in there, I saw what it did to my parents and my children and what it did to my life,” said JB.“It was a process to reconnect with my brothers, my community,” he said. “How do I make this right with all of you? Some people are still judging me.”
As he readjusted, regained his social work license, and restored ties with his children and others, he promised his parents, who had supported him throughout, that he would help people coming out of prison and their families.
“This is how we connect,” he said. “This is how we stay part of the community.”
Building on a proven model
About a decade ago, Andy Peifer, the Prison Society’s family and community support manager from Eastern Pennsylvania, and Joseph Robinson, the mentoring program coordinator, developed the Building Connections curriculum from reentry workshops they were holding at two state prisons outside Philadelphia.
JB’s work at the Allegheny County Jail is the Prison Society’s first foray into offering the program on a contract basis at a county jail as part of the Department of Human Services’ significant reinvestment into the jail’s Reentry Center in 2025.
“It had been developed, tested, and tried out” in Eastern Pennsylvania, said Matt Dugan, the Prison Society’s Western region director. “That allowed us to have instant success here.”
Matt said the program has earned plaudits from Allegheny County government officials for the curriculum and because “they value the professionalism in which we deliver it” — on time and on budget.
JB presents Building Connections sessions four days a week — three days for men and women in Pittsburgh’s Allegheny County Jail and one long day in sessions for the men at the State Correctional Institutions Greene and Fayette.
In a recent survey at Allegheny, every participant said the classes helped them believe in themselves more. They all felt connected to JB. They believed the skills they learned would help them when discharged, and they would recommend the course to others.
“I can be honest and felt safe,” wrote one. Another praised “the openness of discussions — how open it was; the discussions were deep,” while another valued learning “how to deal with past trauma.”
Difficult conversations
Many sessions revolve around role-playing common situations. For example, a sister might invite her brother to stay at her home after he’s released from incarceration, but what if her husband and her brother never got along in the past. Would it be different? How?
Strategies and pre-planning form the core of the course. How do you handle the boss who is a jerk? How do you deal with setbacks? “We have to reframe setbacks as [an opportunity for] growth rather than proof of failure,” said JB.
JB wants people on the outside to understand that “folks feel as anxious about coming home as families are about them coming home. How’s it going to go? There’s a lot of fear, so there needs to be some understanding on both sides.”
The key, he said, is to become skilled at having difficult conversations and then to just keep on talking.
Making connections, building support
Also important is pre-building a post-incarceration support network.
When things get rough, “Who are you going to call?” JB said.
It can be difficult to ask for help — pride or shame may get in the way. But, JB teaches, it’s important to seek support, even from a person who isn’t the same race, gender, or age.
These concepts have been central to the Building Connections curriculum from the start.
Building Connections “is the glue that makes all the other things stick,” said Kirstin Cornnell, family and community support director. “You need to have the social-emotional skills in order to keep your job and your housing. You need to have these skills and tools to have tough conversations.
“We’re the bridge in that transition from the inside to the outside.”
