Re-Entry

Frequently, people who are locked up return to communities lacking basic resources to survive or thrive and succeed in the free world.

Starting with the attempts to find a place to live that will be safe and restorative. Housing is a critical need, indeed some people are still locked up in IL because they do not have anywhere to be released to. Other obstacles include job discrimination, keeping food on the table, securing transportation to available resources, finding medical care, and getting help with mental health challenges. 

We strive to make a difference by equipping congregations to walk in solidarity with people as they identify their own needs.

"Fifty years ago rehabilitation was a primary goal of the system." Nowadays it's not. "The situation we're in now is completely unprecedented," Marc Mauer says. "The number going through the system dwarfs that in any other period in U.S. history and virtually in any other country as well."

-When They Get Out

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Resources

Fast and Furious
The Waiting Room (Article)
The Marshall Project: "For many released into the harsh environment outside Chicago’s Cook County Jail, it can be impossible to find their way home."

When They Get Out: How prisons, established to fight crime, produce crime (Article)
The Atlantic: "Popular perceptions about crime have blurred the boundaries between fact and politically expedient myth. The myth is that the United States is besieged, on a scale never before encountered, by a pathologically criminal underclass. The fact is that we're not."

Inmates who learn trades are often blocked from jobs. Now Something's being done (Article)
NBC: "Half the states bar ex-cons from getting the occupational licences they need to re-enter the workforce. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say it doesn't make sense."

More In-Depth
Write to Release Review (Book)
"Compilation of Write to Release Review is a compilation of work produced by students who participated in our (Write to Release) creative writing classes"

Multimedia
An Ex-Con's Guide to Better Prisons (Video) ​
Prison Night: "An ex-inmate reflects on his time in prison and questions whether a change in attitude towards teaching and rehabilitation, could reduce re-offending"

Life On Parole (Video)
Frontline "With unique access, go inside an effort in Connecticut to change the way parole works and reduce the number of people returning to prison. In collaboration with The New York Times, the film follows four former prisoners as they navigate the challenges of their first year on parole."