Rites of passage are rituals that mark the major transitions in a human life. The journey into incarceration is a rite of degradation, which carries a person from an identity of “citizen” to that of “prisoner,” “felon,” “convict,” and “outcast.”

But there are few if any rites of restoration that exist to elevate people back into the arms of the community. Ritual4Return exists to fill that absence.

Words like convict and prisoner are more than just legal labels. They are social identities. These names stick to a person and, too often, the broader public defines people by the crimes they’ve committed. People who have been incarcerated often carry feelings of shame and stigma for many years after they are released from prison. Sometimes, these feelings last the rest of their lives.

Ritual4Return was designed by using the insights from more than seven decades of literature in anthropology, sociology, and criminology. This body of work  points to the power of ritual and rites of passage as tools for helping to welcome people back into society after incarceration. Ritual4Return begins with the organizing concept that those closest to the problem are closest to the solution, and ends with a premise—articulated by criminologist Jeremy Travis—that to confront the many crises associated with mass incarceration, we must “close the gap between ‘us’ and them’.”

R4R is a 3-month course. A maximum of 12 participants meet for 2.5 hours one evening per week. During each session, participants explore the many aspects of their own experiences getting into, through, and out of prison. Reading from a wide variety of source materials and then trying to understand them through dialogue, writing, movement exercises, and theatrical devising techniques, participants will explore— individually and together— themes like Home, Sin, Judgement, Punishment, Exile, Bondage, Trauma, Grief, Freedom, Repair, Forgiveness, Justice, and Homecoming.

The process ends with a one-time-only public ritual marking and celebrating the end of incarceration and the beginning of an individual’s new identity within the community. This ritual performance is the centerpiece of a daylong gathering that opens the conversation to family members, loved ones, and other community stakeholders. Our goal, broadly, is to change the narrative around those who have been incarcerated and who are working to lead positive lives after coming home.

Ritual4Return opens a public space for people to share stories, and to position those stories as the catalysts for deeper dialogue between people — “us” and “them” — who often don’t see themselves in the other.

If you are ready to tell your story, reintroduce yourself to your loved ones and community, announce the next chapter of your life, and be warmly welcomed home, we invite you to reach out to find out how to join the next cohort!