"When it was my time to walk out of those gates, I didn't feel like we were picking up from where we left off because we never left."
Tanaine Jenkins
Reentry does not start at the gate. It starts years earlier, in every letter, every photo, every phone call that reminds someone they still belong to a family and a future. We sat down with reentry strategist Tanaine Jenkins to talk about what families can do, and what most people get wrong about the period after release.
The role of family support during incarceration
Tanaine is clear: the families who show up during the sentence are laying the foundation for the reentry that follows. Consistency matters more than intensity. You do not have to do it perfectly. You have to keep showing up.
"Mail call is more important than you know, and it's the time of the day that we all look forward to."
Tanaine Jenkins
What is the Second Sentence?
The Second Sentence is the period after release when someone is free on paper, but still navigating a world that has changed while they were gone. Employment barriers, housing barriers, strained relationships, and unfamiliar technology can make the first year home harder than people expect. Families who understand this do not treat release as the finish line. They treat it as a new beginning that needs support.
What families should understand about reentry support
Reentry is not a single event. It is a long arc of rebuilding. Expect good days and hard days. Expect mood swings and moments of overwhelm. Your steady presence matters more than fixing anything. Listen first, and help second.
Adapting to technology changes
Someone who went in before smartphones, gig apps, or modern banking is coming home to a different world. Offer patient, practical help. Set up accounts together. Walk through apps slowly. Share your own passwords and logins when it makes sense. Treat tech coaching as part of how you show love.
Practical ways families can help with jobs and housing
- Help them build a resume that is honest about their history while leading with their skills
- Connect them with fair-chance employers and reentry organizations in your area
- Be ready to offer a landing place, even temporarily, so they are not stuck
- Research local bonding programs and work opportunity tax credits that benefit employers who hire them
- Celebrate the first paycheck and the first rent payment like the milestones they are
A message of hope for current supporters
Tanaine's message to people still in the thick of it is simple: your love is working, even when it does not feel like it. The letters you are writing, the photos you are sending, the calls you are taking at inconvenient times, those are the threads being woven into a homecoming. Keep going.
Every family who walks this road well is proof that incarceration is one chapter, not the whole book.