700,000 People Get Out Of Prison Every Year
Legal Restrictions
There are 48,000 legal restrictions on those with criminal records, according to Prison Fellowship. For example, in Colorado, you can’t call a bingo game (or even help with one) if you have been convicted of a felony. New York applies a similar restriction. In Michigan, you can’t have a dog that's part wolf. In Oklahoma, you can't own or operate any coin-operated device like machines at a laundromat or even a gumball mach- ine. In Texas, no one convicted of a felony can ever be involved in the formation of a corporation. Some states block any person with a criminal record from becoming a barber, hairstylist, cosmotologist, manicurist or massage therapist. When these restrictions are unrelated to a person's crime, it makes it unnecessarily hard for people with a criminal record to provide for themselves and their families. June 2019 Tempe AZ Public Defender's Conference Tempe, AZ ********* April 2019 New York City Columbia University/The Osborn Association NYC, NY ********* April 2019 New York City Friends Seminary NYC, NY ********* March 2019 Kansas The Village Initiative Kansas City, KS ********* February 2019 California University of California Irvine, CA ********* February 2019 Arizona All Saints Episcopal Church Phoenix, AZ ********* February 2019 Arizona Liberal Ladies Fountain Hills, AZ ********* November 2018 Arizona Gold Canyon Heart & Home Phoenix, AZ ********* April 2018 Oregon Second Chance Tour Salem, OR ********* February 2018 St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church Glendale, AZ ********* February 2017 Graham County Substance Abuse Coalition Safford, AZ ********* November 2017 Columbia University Center for Justice New York, NY ******* November 2017 Faith Lutheran Church Phoenix, AZ ********* October 2017 DKB Foundation Second Chance Summit Atlanta, GA ******* September 2017 ASU Project Humanities ASU Student Pavilion Tempe, AZ ******* ********* *********** |
Comments from Simulations:
"Educational. Eye-opening" "Inspiring. Difficult. Insightful" ******* "I'm usually an optimistic person, but I found this simulation soul destroying! I couldn't do anything right!... I felt that I was being set up for failure, however hard I tried to follow the system. I got more & more depressed & just wanted to give up. Even though some organizations (the food bank & probation officer) showed kindness & offered positive help, I still felt like a failure." ******* "Helpless. Why bother to try?" "Frustrating. Mad. Sad" ******* "My experience with the re-entry simulation for prisoners was an eye-opener. As I started my "pretend" process back into the real world, I became confused as to what I needed to do first. I was given quite a good start with a family and money , but it was still a very big challenge." "Super stressful. Live changing." "Inmates are never done with their sentence, even after they're released.." ******* "This event opened my mind and made me more respectful towards reentry." "Do this on every university campus." ******* "It seems as if one is destined for failure when released from prison & that's such a shame. I needed some I.D., which I managed to lose. I had to hock my radio to get money to pay my parole officer & I got back $5 less because they didn't have the correct change... I couldn't get money for my plasma because I didn't pass the drugs tests & after two failures, wound up in jail." Before I went to jail, they did a body search. It was similar to how it would be done in a real prison. Without giving the details of this search, let me say that it was humiliating!" ******* The re-entry simulation was an extremely valuable learning experience for me. I've been out of Social Services work for more than 15 years & a lot has changed. I was staggered by the services the re-entry folks had to pay for. In my day, the county paid for parole, probation & drug tests. I was familiar with the waiting lines & poor access to treatment. Transportation costs are very real, especially when the Social Service offices are only open till 4 PM and are across town, & require bus transfers to get there. It makes it worse if you have a daytime job & cannot get the time off to see your probation person. The system is set up to make folks fail & return to jail or prison. A great learning experience for every community. |