Restitution. 

Probation. 

Subsistence.

All of these fees and programs can fall on those coming out of the criminal justice system, requiring their participants to not only learn to navigate a changing world outside the prison walls, but the requirements to keep them there.

“Minor stresses of having to make their own decisions and go out on their own time can can really mess with the guy’s head and cause him to get himself back into trouble,” FHN Alumni Patrick Flynn said.

Flynn is a case worker at Dismas House, a halfway house in Downtown St. Louis contracted through the Federal Bureau of Prisons to help in an incarcerated individual’s transition back into society. They provide counseling, employment, and residential resources to their clients.

“The halfway house is stressful to a lot of guys,” Flynn said. “And it’s hard because the only thing I can relate to is like when I was I went to boot camp in San Diego. You were in boot camp, and it felt like life stopped. But you could look out the window and watch the city move forward. And I can only imagine that’s how it’s like being in the halfway house.”