After being released from prison, ex-convicts often move into halfway houses. These institutes are meant to help reassimilate to life on the outside and provide necessary medical and educational services that the newly released may be unable to afford.
For all the good that halfway houses do, however, they often fall short in one regard: keeping individuals from ending up back in prison. Roughly two-thirds of former prisoners in the United States are arrested again within three years of being released.
Florida’s total prison population ranks third in the nation, with over 80,000 people behind bars. But one Catholic community in Florida’s capital city is trying to keep people out of prison by creating a meaningful community and sense of belonging for the formerly incarcerated.
Situated on an unassuming foothill in Tallahassee, Joseph House, which takes its name from the Old Testament figure who was sold into slavery by his brothers and imprisoned in Egypt, first opened its doors in 2018. The Rev. Dustin Feddon, the community’s founder, aimed to create a “dignified space” for the recently released and to help them “reintegrate back into society with people surrounding and helping them in that process.”
Father Dustin began his prison ministry as a seminarian and vividly recalls the “horrific conditions” that thousands of Florida’s prisoners live in. He recalled cells that were“essentially like large mop closets”: cramped living spaces not meant for two people to share and often without air conditioning.
“There are so many extraordinary human beings that are condemned and forgotten,” Father Dustin said, “and hearing their stories of where they’ve come from was powerful, on top of the fact that many of these men really didn’t have any place in particular [to go] when they were going to be released; they had no support.”
“They didn’t want to go back to the communities where they were taken from and then sent to these prisons, and probably about six months into my time there, I already began thinking that, eventually, I would like to see my diocese take on an initiative of creating communities for prisoners who have recently been released,” he continued.
What really put Father Dustin’s vision for a place like Joseph House into motion were encounters he had during his ministry with Pre, a prisoner at Santa Rosa Correctional Facility. Father Dustin describes Santa Rosa as “one of Florida’s most notorious prisons”; the facility has faced several accusations of racism and abuse perpetrated by its wardens.
“Pre became one of the more frequent visits that I would have,” Father Dustin said. “Pre, myself and other men that I was talking with at the time just started daydreaming about what something like what became Joseph House could be, and we talked about…their dreams of finding a place where they could come home to [might look] like.”
But even Pre doubted he would ever walk through Joseph House’s doors. “Father Dustin would be the first to tell you, I could’ve never seen myself coming here,” he said. “If you do 22 years in prison, you don’t trust anybody, and you think everybody’s lying.”
Pre not only doubted his ability to trust again but also began to question God; but he took a risk by putting his faith in Father Dustin and the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee immediately after the conclusion of his sentence.
“Father Dustin was at Santa Rosa Correctional to pick me up, and I went to where’s home now, which is Joseph House,” he said. “I didn’t have anywhere to go. I really needed Joseph House. Every time I talk about it, I tear up because it’s the second half of my life, it’s the new beginning of it, and it means so much to me. I can’t go back to where I was.”
Now a fully integrated member of Joseph House, Pre describes it as an “intimate” place where he has clicked well with the other members of the community and has found beauty in having people to “hold your hand.”
“Some people don’t like when I use that imagery, but you really do need somebody to hold your hand,” he said.
Father Dustin said Bishop William Wack of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee was a critical figure in launching Joseph House. Bishop Wack arrived in the diocese in 2017 and had previously run a house serving the poor and homeless in Phoenix, Ariz. Father Dustin thought that Bishop Wack “may be someone who would be very open to the idea of the church investing in something like Joseph House, and so things kind of happened pretty fast.”
Bishop Wack, who earned his masters of divinity in prison ministry, says the Catholic mission of Joseph House sets it apart from secular halfway houses. “What’s fundamental to our faith is the dignity of every person,” he said. “Again, you can have this in a secular house, and they can say, ‘We’re all special,’ and I love that. But it’s in our Catholic DNA.”
Bishop Wack also highlighted the ideal of mercy, which is “something that I love, and that’s one of the greatest gifts that Pope Francis is bringing to the church,” as something else that distinguishes Joseph House from other post-prison services.
Oftentimes, Bishop Wack sees people who come through places like Joseph House and “they think we’re all judging them. So we can insist that, ‘Yeah, you messed up, but you know what, God still loves you, and God gives us all a second chance, right?’”
Joseph House has not only given its members a chance to start a new life, but to pursue careers that may have never been possible without this community. By supporting the business and professional endeavors of their brothers, the men of Joseph House are on their way to achieving success in law, entrepreneurship and more.
“We have a brother, Andre, who’s interning at the Equal Justice Initiative and possibly pursuing a law degree,” Father Dustin said.
And in Pre’s case, Father Dustin shared that “he’s started his own pressure washing business, and we’re looking at maybe expanding his business into other things like managing houses and properties. We’re hoping to have a kind of industry that’s created by our brothers that can also allow other brothers, as they come out, to find employment within them.”
Through the mission of Joseph House, Father Dustin and Bishop Wack are taking part in an initiative that helps recently imprisoned members of society not only survive but thrive.
To read more about Joseph House and its mission, visit their website here.
