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As Formerly Incarcerated People Return to Their Communities in W.Va., This Network of 'Resource Brokers' Is There to Guide Them

Amanda Page

May 11, 2021 |

100 Days in Appalachia |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, West Virginia

The West Virginia Council of Churches formed a network of community reentry councils to help people leaving prison line up basic necessities, from housing to employment. The councils use their members' community connections as a bridge between prison officials, who won't release people if they lack plans for a place to live, and returning citizens, whose housing, counseling, and employment needs can determine the difference between success and another stint in prison on a technical parole violation. Grants from two foundations helped the Council of Churches expand its network during the pandemic.

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People leaving prison in Michigan still face hurdles to getting an ID

Angie Jackson

May 11, 2021 |

Detroit Free Press |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Detroit, Michigan

Michigan prisons and the state's secretary of state teamed up to provide people leaving prison on parole with the one thing they often lack: valid personal identification papers. Without a Social Security card or state ID, people struggle to get hired, rent housing, or open a bank account. In the program's first six months, more than 1,200 people got IDs. That's only a third of those eligible. Private groups have taken up some of the slack. The state says it should provide get the service fully up to speed by late 2021.

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Bringing a Veterans Treatment Court to Sedgwick County

Carly Willis

May 10, 2021 |

KSNW-TV |

Broadcast TV News |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Wichita, Kansas

Kansas' only veterans treatment court started small, but it has proved the concept to Sedgwick County officials who want to copy its success. Veterans courts provide treatment in lieu of conviction and punishment for veterans charged generally with non-violent, less-serious offenses. The costs are much lower than for incarceration, with greater benefits to the defendants. National statistics show a 14% recidivism rate, much lower than for the criminal justice system overall. In Johnson County, 41 veterans have gone through the 18-month program; none have reoffended.

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Drug treatment program is helping local inmates overcome addiction

Megan Sanctorum

May 06, 2021 |

WRTV-TV |

Broadcast TV News |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Columbus, Indiana

The Bartholomew County Jail's drug treatment program started in January 2020 with a rigorous application process, followed by about 400 hours of group and individual therapy for incarcarcerated people with drug abuse problems. The therapy attempts to unlock the reasons why each person's previous attempts to get healthy have failed. All but five of the 49 graduates so far have stayed out of jail and stayed in touch with the program, which helps them after their release with housing and job searches.

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Huge success for Mother's Day bailout, as annual Philly effort blows past fundraising goal

Michaela Winberg

May 06, 2021 |

Billy Penn |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Philadelphia Community Bail Fund freed more than 400 people from jail in 2020, thanks to $3 million donated amid the COVID-19 crisis and racial justice protests. Organizers of the Black Mama's Day Bailout, an annual targeted campaign that gave rise to the community bail fund five years ago, expected donor fatigue this year might limit their work. But they exceeded the 2020 Mother's Day campaign, freeing 25 women, in part from sales of art made by formerly incarcerated women in a partnership with an arts co-op. Cash bail penalizes people too poor to afford to remain free before trial.

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National bail fund to expand in the Deep South

Aaron Morrison

May 04, 2021 |

Associated Press |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

Since 2018, The Bail Project has turned $41 million in donated money into cash bail to free more than 15,500 people in dozens of cities from pretrial detention. The project grew out of the work of Bronx Defenders, which saw over a decade the people it bailed out nearly all showed up for court dates and most did not get into new trouble while out of jail. Now the Bail Project is expanding with new offices in four Southern states, a reflection of the region's high incarceration rates and racial disparities. In the campaign to end cash bail as a penalty for poverty, bail funds serve as a stopgap.

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Portland's Bybee Lakes Hope Center: A jail no more

Jim Redden

April 28, 2021 |

Portland Tribune |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Portland, Oregon

Multnomah County sold its unused Wapato Jail to a developer whose nonprofit partner has used grants and donations to turn the former jail into Bybee Lakes Hope Center, a residential treatment program for unhoused people. After two weeks in temporary homeless-shelter status, people can opt to enroll in a three-month treatment program, something that 65% of them have agreed to do. That program combines sober living rules with job training and other services. Nearly 200 people have completed the program. The center is working on a large expansion project providing hundreds more beds.

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Part 2: “There is no Champion” — Granite State News Collaborative

Jordyn Haime

April 22, 2021 |

Granite State News Collaborative |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, North Conway, New Hampshire

White Mountain Restorative Justice offers juvenile and adult court diversion and victim-offender mediation programs. WMRJ aims to guide first-time low-level offenders through restorative justice processes to hold offenders accountable, repair the harm caused by crime, and prevent reoffences.

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In Nation's Incarceration Capital, a New D.A. Is Freeing People From Prison

Katie Jane Fernelius

April 21, 2021 |

The Appeal |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New Orleans, Louisiana

In his first months as the New Orleans district attorney, Jason Williams has pushed a prosecution-reform agenda that not only limits who gets sent to prison on the front end, but also takes a backward look at who should be let out of prison. Nearly two dozen people convicted by non-unanimous juries have been granted new trials. Some people have been granted early release from prison after conviction under unduly harsh sentencing laws that no longer will be enforced. Williams' ultimate goal is to restore community trust so that necessary prosecutions have community support.

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In Vermont, Isolating Inmates Kept Covid at Bay, but at a Price

Danya Issawi Derek M. Norman

April 21, 2021 |

The New York Times |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Vermont

Vermont is the only state where no people incarcerated in prison died of COVID-19 in the first 12 months of the pandemic, and its infection rate is relatively low. The prisons took steps that other prison systems either didn't try or didn't do soon enough, including universal testing at least six times over the year; strict isolation of newly admitted prisoners for 14 days; occasional lockdowns of up to a month; early releases from prison; and keeping corrections officers housed separately from the community. The isolation measures hurt people's mental health, including one suicide and one attempt.

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