WASHINGTON — American journalist Jason Rezaian says he can relate to the mixed emotions that the recently released prisoners freed from Russian custody are feeling, as they start their lives over in the United States.
"You're no longer trapped. You're no longer incarcerated," Rezaian told WUSA9 as he reflected on the mental process he underwent after being released in January 2016.
Rezaian, a Washington Post columnist was unjustly imprisoned in 2014 in Iran on charges of espionage for 544 days.
"When you get on that airplane and are surrounded by other Americans, you realize this is the end of that saga and the beginning of a new chapter," Rezaian added.
That new chapter with a reintegration program at a U.S. military facility known as post-isolation support activities (PISA).
According to local CBS station in San Antonio, KENS5, the three U.S. citizens freed from Russia will reportedly be flown to Texas for a medical evaluation. Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva are expected to undergo treatment at Brooke Army Medical Center to assist with their reintegration into society.
A manual from the Joint Chiefs of Staff says activities include medical checks and counseling sessions.
Rezaian says he underwent PISA following his release. "A lot in the first couple of days was recounting what had happened to me, sort of documenting the experience for myself," he explained.
What Rezaian says he was not prepared for, were the challenges of readjusting to ordinary life. He details them in his Post opinion piece titled, "Coming home after being a hostage abroad."
"I had taxes and penalties that had piled up over the years. My credit was destroyed. These are not things that anybody thinks about, and they aren't things that anybody in the government thinks about," Rezaian describes just some of the obstacles he faced.
Rezaian says the U.S. government can do more to support the social reintegration of returning hostages and unjust detainees. He says a start, is passing the Stop Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act. The bipartisan legislation was introduced in May, and was passed by the Senate but is pending in The House.