Volume II

“If nothing changes, then nothing changes.”

If you heard this phrase “If nothing changes, nothing changes,” you’d likely think it’s a cliché statement about self improvement and growth. You might even think it’s something you might hear in a recovery meeting, a motivational speech, on Pinterest, or on a poster about life in a library... What most people don’t know is that those words are a weight held in the Arkansas correctional system. That quote has been recited in classrooms, printed in workbooks, and repeated for decades across programs that have been run by Arkansas Community Correction (ACC). Those programs designed to help people change their thinking before they return home.

The roots that dig deep from that statement goes all the way back to the recovery movement of the mid 20th century. It first was adopted in the early Alcoholics Anonymous literature and Narcotics Anonymous meetings. It was to serve as a reminder that sobriety and healing require real transformation, not just time. In other words, actions and steps forward are what create that change. The words were never meant to shame; they were meant to empower. It said “…your life doesn’t change because the calendar turns, it changes because you do.” When therapeutic models began to influence prison reform in the 1980s and 1990s, especially as addiction and cognitive-behavioral programs entered correctional facilities, that same statement was brought inside the walls for a purpose. It became a pillar of rehabilitation programs across the country. Why? Because it was considered a good way to influence and help people in prison or on supervision look inward and reflect on their choices they’ve made.

Arkansas adopted many of those national models as part of its transition from the Department of Community Punishment to what became Arkansas Community Correction. The state introduced classes like Thinking for a Change, Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT), and Substance Abuse Treatment Programs. These were all structured around one core idea: You must change your thoughts to change your life. The slogan was printed on walls, repeated in group circles, and drilled into inmates or participants who were more often than not, desperate to prove that they were capable of change. What most of society doesn’t realize is that the problem was never the message, it was how the system lived in it.

Inside our state’s ACC facilities, the phrase became an influence for people to be urged to reinvent themselves through classes and self-reflection while surrounded by a system that rarely changed its own environment, practices, and/or priorities. The same change that is always demanded of participants is not reflected in the structure of the institutions we have. While the curriculums tell them to process trauma, the system denies consistent access to licensed therapists. While people are told to find stability, the funding for transitional housing and job training remains minimal still to this day. While what little programs we have preach personal accountability, the institutional accountability has lagged behind. There is endless FOIA data year after year proving that less than three percent of the Department of Corrections’ combined budget goes toward rehabilitation and programming.

There is a historical shift from rehabilitation to management that has reshaped the entire meaning of that phrase altogether. What started as a mission to guide towards inner transformation has gradually become a slogan of compliance. It’s something people are told, not something they’re being helped to live. Over time, “If nothing changes, nothing changes” has been absorbed into the bureaucracy of parole reports, progress logs, and mandatory classes. It’s now nothing but paperwork and that looking pristine, instead of actual practice and actionable steps reflecting it.

If we take time to trace it back to its origins, it would show where the rooms of recovery circles, the early days of reform likeminded corrections and how it was never meant to excuse anything that hasn’t changed. Ironically enough, it’s meant to expose it all. This is a mirror for the system as much as for the individual. The statement challenges every structure that repeats old cycles while expecting new outcomes. That includes the state itself. Additionally it’s a derivative of the definition of insanity from Narcotics Anonymous that was mentioned in Volume I.

When we say "If nothing changes, nothing changes,” we’re not borrowing a cliché. We are working to restore its originally designed purpose. We’re saying that until Arkansas addresses the trauma, poverty, and policy that feed this cycle, no amount of slogans or step-programs will create the kind of restoration this state claims to stand for nor the claim that they’re actually doing it.

Volume I

When someone breaks the law, punishment feels like the natural response. It sends a message: “There are consequences for your actions.”

I think we can all admit that to some degree, that accountability is 100% necessary and unavoidable. But here’s the truth a lot of us don’t say out loud when we should… Punishment doesn’t equal change alone. You can lock a person up, you can extend their sentence, you can cut them off from the outside world. But when the day comes that they walk out of the prison gates (and remember that a large majority eventually does), what’s different? If nothing inside addressed the trauma, the addiction, the poverty or the circumstance that brought them there in the first place, then nothing has truly changed.

This is exactly why Arkansas Restorative Initiative (ARI) exists. I have personally seen and experienced what happens when the system invests in punishment and neglects restoration of lives.

I’ve dug into budgets and discovered that only about three percent of the Department of Corrections’ funding goes towards programs and rehabilitation. Three percent. In a system that is currently holding over 17,000 people, that number is truly devastating.

Through FOIA investigations, I’ve also uncovered records of repeated air conditioning and water failures in the heat of summer… These are fixed with temporary band-aids instead of long-term solutions. I’ve seen incident logs filled with drugs like K2 and meth. These are proof that incarceration by itself doesn’t stop addiction and cycles of crime. I’ve personally studied parole data that shows low-risk individuals waiting longer than they should while higher-risk cases sometimes move forward. Meanwhile, families are left carrying the heaviest of burdens. Those burdens consist of rising commissary prices, phone fees, and debts that grow while prison wages stay stagnant. Again, none of this changes through punishment alone. All it does is recycle the same people back through the same broken system. We must always remember: The phrase "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" is widely attributed to Albert Einstein. However, it was actually brought to popular process by Narcotics Anonymous (NA) in the early 1980s. This direct quote should serve as a proper reminder that for us to achieve new outcomes, we must adopt new strategies instead of repeating past behaviors that have proven as ineffective.  

Many people research on hat makes a difference and it all points to healing (addressing the root issues). That includes providing treatment for addiction, real mental health care, education, job training, and stable housing opportunities. These are the specific tools that transform someone’s life so that when they come home, they don’t return to the toxic cycle. They return ready to rebuild in our communities and within their family.

At ARI, we’re exposing what’s wrong to help we’re build for what’s needed. If we don’t recognize and acknowledge equally that there’s a problem, we will never be able to develop the solutions. This means creating statewide housing directories so people leaving prison don’t end up homeless. It means connecting them with fair chance employers who are willing to hire. It means turning hidden government data into public accountability so Arkansas families can see exactly how their tax dollars are being spent.

Yes, punishment has its place. However, punishment without healing guarantees that nothing will change. Healing root causes is what changes lives, strengthens families, and makes Arkansas communities safer.

Some may ask where rehabilitation, reform and implementation of programs to reduce recidivism developed. If we trace the history of prisons back to their roots, we will find that incarceration wasn’t always meant to destroy a person. The first “penitentiaries” in the late 1700s were constructed through the belief that confinement could create reflection. The word “penitentiary” actually came from the concept of “penitence”. Penitence was thought of as through structure, solitude, and purpose, people could rebuild themselves. This was one of our first attempts as humanity to believe that change was possible even in isolation. During this time, prisons were designed to influence redemption, not for vengeance only. The purpose of prisons was a place where a person could confront their actions through accountability, learn new thinking and develop better habits, and return to society changed. Unfortunately over the years, we ended up straying from that pillar of the foundation. Instead, prisons became places that stored people instead of rebuilding someone. Punishment literally replaced the true purpose.

That shift and thought process is what we’re seeing in Arkansas right now. Our prisons are holding over 17,000 people. Through FOIA, data research and insight, we have found that less than 3% of the Department of Corrections budget goes toward rehabilitation and programming. Most of our State’s budget caters to overtime to compensate for the debilitating percentage of vacancies in positions within our prisons, as well as maintenance. Some maintenance seems to be uncapped as well through our research. Many people in our society don’t realize that roughly 60% of new admissions are from parole or probation revocations that are typically minor violations, not new crimes. The narrative that is paraded strikes fear into our communities when in reality we have drifted too far from the reform model that defined the penitentiary system. There is immense amounts of data still proving what society originally believed. When we invest in humans for change, we see the most natural and real results. Arkansas’ own Substance Abuse Treatment Program lowers recidivism close to 14%, and Therapeutic Communities reduce it close to 17% compared to the state average.

Rehabilitation isn’t a soft alternative to punishment. It’s the original purpose designed to happen alongside it. The people who are considered the early prison reformers knew that reflection, structure, and education could transform individuals and communities together. We want to reclaim that power and truth, as well as share it with others. We strongly believe that when the system returns back to its intended mission to restore individuals… We’re able to reduce crimes and revive hope, together.