" The defining ethos of Halden Prison is that the principle of normality best prepares people to leave prison and return to their communities as functional members of society. A relentless and pragmatic focus on what happens after release drives the philosophy. You can’t expect someone who’s spent months or years sitting in a cell to then hop up in the morning, make his breakfast, and go to work all day the moment he’s released. Just as teenagers are armed with more independence and more responsibility before they move out of the family home, you must prepare a person for the transition out of prison and back into the responsibilities of the community if you want that transition to occur with any measure of success. And in order to do this, you must also be realistic about the significant obstacles that a man released from prison is facing: he’s been absent from all his relationships; he’ll suddenly have financial obligations like rent and groceries and child support; he’ll need to find counseling and likely substance-abuse programs. "

― Christine Montross , Waiting for an Echo: The Madness of American Incarceration